When we start to practice meditation, people usually get more curious about how to deal with their thoughts. "I want to silence these thoughts" or "These thoughts are too noisy" tend to demonize thoughts. However, please give up controlling thoughts because it is impossible. Thoughts are not you. They are visitors. They are randomly spontaneously arising. Let them be as they are. Don’t facilitate and entertain them. If you do so, these visitors want to stay longer. Just leave them as they are. (Sonomama)
In the Inner Sanctuary community, we practice being as you are/as it is because that is precisely your reality at that moment—no judgment, especially about yourself. You are perfect as you are. There is no other way! It's okay to have random thoughts, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Please leave them as they are. Don't chase them, don't deny them. Just leave them as they are. Then, you will realize they are not lasting. We are building the capacity of SONOMAMA, which is the power of as-it-is-ness. All there is is the way you are now. There is no anything else. You want to be you. You deserve to be you, right?
Thoughts are like clouds in the sky. The clouds are coming and going, changing their shapes by themselves and eventually disappearing. And the sky is always there.
Tibetan Buddhist monk Thubten Yeshe says, “Human nature is pure, egoless, just as the sky is by nature clear, not cloudy. Clouds come and go, but the blue sky is always there; clouds don't alter the fundamental nature of the sky.”
Remember, you are the blue sky. The blue sky doesn’t judge the weather. Similarly, do not judge your thoughts and leave them as they are.
And I appreciate the power of the Inner Sanctuary community! Join us and practice together 🙏🏼 More info about Inner Sanctuary is HERE
*Sonomama means “as-it-is” in Japanese.
His name is Zen—Lulu's father.
Writing and Photography by K E I K O