Being the Witness: Part 2 The Mind

In Part One of "Being the Witness"  zen-cuisine practice helped you become aware of how negative emotions, like impatience, impact your body. As you track the sensations, accepting the  effects of impatience on your physical body, you rest in the present moment. From this place, you can now begin to look at your mind. Do you see  it continuously generates thoughts? Thoughts about how things should be, how your life should happen. Indeed, the mind has set ideas about what should be going on. Have you noticed in the kitchen the mind is constantly spinning out stories of how your culinary efforts were in the past? Or will be in the future? The mind can become so attached to its set ideas it barely notices what is really going on in the present moment. Is there a way to end these endless mind-games? Zen-cuisine offers a definite "Yes" to this question. It teaches that freedom from repetitive thought patterns comes with practicing accepting the present moment instead of resisting what is actually going on.

How do you do this? First, gently rest in your breath. Simply watch your thoughts come and go. Don't follow along a path of thinking, just notice thoughts are there. Become the accepting observer of your experience. Practice being this witness and being conscious of any emotion that arises. Practice often, for this is another essential ingredient of zen-cuisine. Gradually you can let go of avoiding negative emotions. You don't need to suppress unpleasant feelings, numb yourself, or layer over upsetting thoughts. Instead, as an impartial observer, relax. and accept yourself as you are. If 'impatience' is what you are feeling in the present moment, then that's 'what is'.  You discover that as you practice being the patient witness, you become patient. You are able to be open to what's really going on, experiencing life as it truly is without adding unnecessary thoughts, opinions, or judgments about emotions.

Can you being aware enough to accept that impatience is nothing other than what is going on in the present moment?

Charlotte Joko Beck said, "when we can do that, we have slipped out of duality that there is a me, and there is a way I should be--we return to ourselves as we are." (Everyday Zen) Simply accepting 'what is' in each moment, even if it is 'impatience' offers us the opportunity to relax into our human nature. We return to reality of life in the kitchen as it is  unfolding in and around us.