The Label Causes the Suffering NOT the Physical Sensations

When you’re in discomfort it’s the label you give it that causes the pain and suffering not the physical sensations themselves. Last week gave me the perfect opportunity to talk about how any suffering that we experience is caused by the conversations in our head and more specifically the labels that we give things, not the physical circumstances themselves.

A Teaching Moment

I’ve been teaching meditation to a small group of people at a local church in Denville, NJ for quite some time now. As the weather warms up, the church itself starts to get quite hot. A little too hot for most people to meditate comfortably. So typically I run the air conditioner for about an hour before we start our meeting and that cools the place down nicely before everybody gets there. Then once people arrive I shut down the air conditioner so that the noise doesn’t distract us.

[ Check out the FREE Meditation Boot Camp to see how to set up your meditation environment for success]

That usually gives us enough time to meditate comfortably for an hour before the temperature gets warm enough that it becomes a distraction. So last week after everybody had left and I was packing up my gear, the temperature had already risen into the 80s and I was getting a little hot around the collar so to say.

This gave a perfect teaching moment. Whenever you start to feel discomfort of any kind, not just hot or cold, actually look at the physical sensations going on in your body using your mindfulness skills. If you focus in on the minute details of what’s actually going on, you’ll realize that there isn’t anything bad about being hot. But once you allow your mind to label it as such, that labeling overrides your observation of the physical world.

Once you label something you stop seeing and the new reality becomes what you called it.

So whenever you find yourself saying something is bad, or wrong or uncomfortable in any way, simply go back to being mindful and observing all the physical sensations that are occurring. As soon as you do that you take back control from your mind and effectively remove the label.

Remove the Label, Remove the Drama.

The more you are able to override your minds natural tendency to want to add labels to things, the quieter your mind becomes and you start to regain control over your thoughts.

Another way of looking at it is. If you stop complaining about things, your mind will stop finding things to complain about.

One place you can see this phenomena in action, is when somebody cuts you off on the highway in a dangerous manner. If you’re very conscious of what’s going on and pay really close attention, you will notice that the incident itself doesn’t cause any drama within your body. You only get that little shot of adrenaline when your mind starts to curse and complain that the other driver is going to kill somebody.

It’s a tiny delay between the incident, your reaction, then the change in your body chemistry. But if you can remain mindful, it is glaringly obvious.

The Label Causes the Suffering NOT the Physical Sensations

The world happens around you completely out of your control, but when your mind reacts to something, it is reacting defensively and aggressively and it’s that action that causes the little adrenaline rush.

If you can spot that in action, that little gap, you’ll quickly realize that it’s your mind that causes all the drama in your life. And it’s when your mind gives things labels that causes all the suffering.

More often than not, the reaction comes so quickly that its difficult for you to see the separation between the two. It’s like you almost have to deliberately go out into the world wanting to see that little gap before you’ll notice it.

As you practice meditation more and allow your inner being to become more peaceful, you will notice the gap and the separation between your mind and your body more clearly. And when you practice mindfulness, you’ll be able to observe the world more freely and will see your mind operating autonomously without any input from you.

If you can hold onto observing the world through your body and observing your mind as though it’s part of the world you will not get wrapped up in the emotional drama of your mind.

If you want to know more about how to practice mindfulness, here’s a really great place to start – “Easiest Way to Learn Mindfulness”. And if you’d like to incorporate meditation into your life, then here’s a really good guide to getting started with meditation, or start the self paced “Meditation Boot Camp”.

Looking for a jump start, then consider working directly with Mat. He’ll be able to get your practice up and running quickly and help you avoid the many pitfalls.

So remember – the Label causes the suffering, not the physical sensations. Just try to notice that and the world will start to transform around you.

Regards,

Mat Robinson
~The Gregarious Hermit

#LabelsCauseSuffering #Meditation #Mindfulness