The Stone Roses were THE band of my generation. It's 20 years this month since the release of their debut album, and I couldn't help smile at these lines on the way to work the other day:
"The pack on my back is aching, the straps seem to cut me like a knife / I'm no clown I won't back down, don't need you to tell me what's going down"
- Fools Gold - The Stone Roses
(Fools Gold wasn't on the debut album, but allow me a little artistic licence here.)
I was having a discussion with a mate a few months back about problems at work and my friend had said to me, "But you're the Monk in the City - that should be easy for you!" And as he said it, I felt an answer drop into place. Or I became 'unstuck'. Your friends can be your greatest teachers. It was like getting a wallop with a big Zen stick.
I've talked about 'duhkka', and that it is that stuck-ness that causes us to suffer. Often we don't even realise we are stuck somewhere until there's some sort of life event that rocks us back on our heels. Sometimes being rocked back brings a relief you’ve been hoping for months.
I'd been stuck in a place where I wouldn't allow anyone to get the better of me. I wouldn't back down. Working in the City, of course, you perceive a lot of injustice, and I’d taken on board the indignation and suffered both for others and by myself. When I talk about acceptance I don’t mean you have to like it. I don’t mean you have to repeat it, or follow it. But you do have to own it, bear witness to it. If you resist it without accepting it fully, it can grow into an unruly beast. Frustration. Anger. Stress. Depression.
One way you can tell you are stuck is when similar events reoccur more than once. In relationships for example, it might be going out with the same sort of man or woman and getting badly treated. It could be working for bosses you perceived as unfair, glory-grabbing, work-shy or even abusive. In reality they might even have been all or none of these things, but you can get stuck in the injustices anyway.
You can be so stuck in it at times that you’d rather self-destruct than yield, quit a job with nothing to go to, leave a job where you’ve built otherwise good relationships. Or you’ll blow out a girlfriend or boyfriend without owning your own bullshit, and move on to someone new, only to repeat the same thing.
Zen in the City is about being aware of your own patterns, being conscious, and seeing where you are stuck, and how you cause yourself to suffer - and others to suffer too. Only then you can take the pack off your back, change your patterns, evolve, and move towards being truly free, and stress free in your daily life.
- Fools Gold - The Stone Roses
(Fools Gold wasn't on the debut album, but allow me a little artistic licence here.)
I was having a discussion with a mate a few months back about problems at work and my friend had said to me, "But you're the Monk in the City - that should be easy for you!" And as he said it, I felt an answer drop into place. Or I became 'unstuck'. Your friends can be your greatest teachers. It was like getting a wallop with a big Zen stick.
I've talked about 'duhkka', and that it is that stuck-ness that causes us to suffer. Often we don't even realise we are stuck somewhere until there's some sort of life event that rocks us back on our heels. Sometimes being rocked back brings a relief you’ve been hoping for months.
I'd been stuck in a place where I wouldn't allow anyone to get the better of me. I wouldn't back down. Working in the City, of course, you perceive a lot of injustice, and I’d taken on board the indignation and suffered both for others and by myself. When I talk about acceptance I don’t mean you have to like it. I don’t mean you have to repeat it, or follow it. But you do have to own it, bear witness to it. If you resist it without accepting it fully, it can grow into an unruly beast. Frustration. Anger. Stress. Depression.
One way you can tell you are stuck is when similar events reoccur more than once. In relationships for example, it might be going out with the same sort of man or woman and getting badly treated. It could be working for bosses you perceived as unfair, glory-grabbing, work-shy or even abusive. In reality they might even have been all or none of these things, but you can get stuck in the injustices anyway.
You can be so stuck in it at times that you’d rather self-destruct than yield, quit a job with nothing to go to, leave a job where you’ve built otherwise good relationships. Or you’ll blow out a girlfriend or boyfriend without owning your own bullshit, and move on to someone new, only to repeat the same thing.
Zen in the City is about being aware of your own patterns, being conscious, and seeing where you are stuck, and how you cause yourself to suffer - and others to suffer too. Only then you can take the pack off your back, change your patterns, evolve, and move towards being truly free, and stress free in your daily life.
