The threads we build

Life is complicated. No event is without connection to past events nor to future events. There are linkages all over the place. There is an abundance of neuroscience that tells us how experience builds pathways in the brain. One event will trigger emotions, memories and physical sensations from the past. Sometimes we are quite aware of them, but most often we ignore, numb or pretend otherwise. But the links still happen.

In our technological, face paced life, we distract ourselves with all kinds of electronic tools. Sometimes we distract with food, alcohol, drugs, exercise and so on. Distraction distorts our interpretation of what is happening but it does not change the reality that the linkages are there.

So what are we to do if the linkages, or the webs of past experiences, are going off all the time. In essence it is now we respond to the linkages. The Buddhist nun Ani Pema Chodron speaks of the term "Shenpa" - a Tibetan word that means attachment. She offered an explanation of seeing attachment to the trigger from past events which then leads to a series of reactions. Once the trigger happens then "x" will happen which will lead to "y" and then to "z" and so on. Unless we interrupt the pattern.

Doing this requires that we observe the trigger happening and know that it wants to take us through a web of responses. We can play along or we can stay present in the moment and observe the trigger happening along with the desire for the subsequent events.

I know from my own experience, remaining present and not going down the pathway is a struggle - sometimes much more difficult than other times. Sometimes I am pretty successful at being present and observing and other times I am quite the opposite. Each even teaches me and that is the point. What is the shenpa meant to teach us and how can we learn from it? How can we find more presence each time it goes off? Can we be vulnerable in the pain that arises with the trigger?

© Peter Choate, 2016