The Jewel in the Ice - Vision and Transformation

Post here if you have been practising for a while, and you are starting to get your head around what this is all about. Also post here if you are a long-term practitioner with something to say about the practice.
Happy Buddha
Posts: 54
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 1989
Location: Leicestershire, UK and Europe
Contact:

Wed May 07, 2014 1:42 pm  

THE JEWEL IN THE ICE
Imagine there is a large block of ice. Inside is a jewel, a beautiful sparkling, and glittering jewel. We cannot always see this jewel, but we know it is there. We have felt it, seen it, been taken to moments of wonder by it. This jewel has always existed and always will. No matter how hidden it is, it always remains a jewel. Even if coated with dust and grime by decades of neglect all this jewel needs is a little attention to sparkle again

The jewel is the jewel of a joyful life. It is the jewel of a life lived with meaning and fulfilment. It is a life where angst and confusion have been replaced by ease and clarity. This jewel exists within us all and is our birth-right.

We may sense this jewel inside ourselves and wonder how we can enjoy its presence in our lives more than we do. It may seem like our life is not blessed with this jewel that sparkles. How can we experience this jewel of joy when we have a mortgage to pay, possibility of losing our job, or somebody we love leaves us? This jewel may seem to us at other times that it doesn’t exist at all – that it is just a fairy story.

The clue to why we don’t experience this jewel fully in our lives is in the fact that this jewel is embedded in the block of ice. Now if we have something in a block of ice how do we go about getting it out? If this jewel were buried in rock then we would have to smash the rock to release it, and damage the rock in the process. However, to release something from ice is a very different matter. We just put the ice in the sun; we allow the sun to melt the ice and whatever it is that lives within it will at some point be revealed to us. This is similar to the process that we must engage in for us to experience the jewel of joy more fully in our lives, and it is what mindfulness is all about. Mindfulness is like the sun, it melts and heals what it shines upon.

If this ice is what is stopping us from experiencing the jewel of joy then what exactly is it and how do we melt the ice through mindfulness?

The ice is basically our resistance to how life is in any moment. The ice is made up of our rigid views and judgements that life should be a certain way and should be free from pain. For example, when somebody criticises us what we tend to do is to go over and over what they said and go into blaming them for how we feel. This is one way we build up the block of ice. In this scenario we are reluctant to experience our own hurt. The moment we let go of our blaming thoughts and tend to the feeling of hurt the ice begins to melt. The mindful experiencing of sorrow itself melts the ice. Of course we may also decide to say something to that person but if we are willing to work with our anger then what we say will be much more considered.

Another way we build up the block of ice is to try and keep away any painful feelings from the past. For example, we may feel sad about something that has happened to us, but because we feel uncomfortable about feeling sad, we “freeze” out that experience. I have met many people in my work who think that feeling sad (or any other difficult emotion) is bad, for whatever reason. They believe if they feel sad it means there is something wrong with them or their life. However, sadness is a natural human emotion and is there to be experienced. If we don’t learn to turn toward our emotions with mindfulness and kindness we distance ourselves from the jewel and experience only the ice.

A joyful life does not mean we don’t experience pain. Paradoxically, pain is a facet of the jewel, but we make it into ice by trying to deny it, trying desperately to make it go away or by taking it personally. What we tend to do is to experience pain which a facet of the jewel and then create suffering – the block of ice surrounding it.

So to melt the ice and allow the jewel to bring you more joy, notice your rigid views that you cling to. Views like, “I don’t want this to be happening.” “Life shouldn’t be like this.” “My life will never be the same again.” Learn to let them go and come into the present moment which is simple and never complicated. Turn toward your experience as it is, hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing and feeling without your mental and emotional overlay and you will be slowly melting the ice that keeps you from living a stress - free, joy filled life.

SUMMARY
Dear all, above I have shared the introduction to my mindfulness course. I share this in the introduction because I think it is important when sharing mindfulness to give people a vision. To speak only to the intellectual mind with dry concepts is often not enough, we need also to speak to people's imagination - images and metaphors do this. The metaphor/image of the Jewel in the Ice above holds the rest of the course and gives it a deeper meaning. The Jewel brings beauty to the practice and the Ice brings present day reality as you can see.

Each person who comes along to the eight week course has already had a vision of themselves as being different, joyful, relaxed etc and I endorse that vision through the course. People may not use the word vision but that is what it is. So vision is the beginning, it is the easy part, it is getting a glimpse of the jewel. However, there is also the hard part which is the transformation, that is the work of the course - it is the ice which we are melting which takes a lifetime, and perhaps we never completely melt the ice.

However, every time we bring ourselves into present moment reality - a little more if the ice melts - bringing us a little closer to the jewel of a life lived with meaning, beauty and joy.

www.mindfulnesscic.co.uk
Suryacitta is mindfulness teacher and author
He has been practising since 1989.
He runs regular webinars FREE for people who cannot attend classes in person
https://app.webinarjam.net/register/36719/4a30c901be
http://www.mindfulnesscic.co.uk

User avatar
Gareth
Site Admin
Posts: 1465

Fri May 09, 2014 1:42 pm  

Great visualisation again Suryacitta.

I'll post the topic on Twitter soon. You do know that you can put details of your organisation and your work in your signature, so people can link into the work you are doing?

Happy Buddha
Posts: 54
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 1989
Location: Leicestershire, UK and Europe
Contact:

Fri May 09, 2014 2:20 pm  

Thank you Gareth - I have done just that, a good idea. Many thanks to you, be well, Suryacitta
Suryacitta is mindfulness teacher and author
He has been practising since 1989.
He runs regular webinars FREE for people who cannot attend classes in person
https://app.webinarjam.net/register/36719/4a30c901be
http://www.mindfulnesscic.co.uk

Happy Buddha
Posts: 54
Practice Mindfulness Since: 01 Jan 1989
Location: Leicestershire, UK and Europe
Contact:

Thu May 22, 2014 5:35 pm  

Thank you guys, be well and happy, Suryacitta
Suryacitta is mindfulness teacher and author
He has been practising since 1989.
He runs regular webinars FREE for people who cannot attend classes in person
https://app.webinarjam.net/register/36719/4a30c901be
http://www.mindfulnesscic.co.uk

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Fri May 23, 2014 8:07 am  

Great read.
The Happy Buddha is cool.
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

  •   Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests