There is a word in Tibetan Buddhism, “shenpa”, which roughly means something like “hook”. In a way it’s a charge of energy we feel in response to something, and then we feel a habitual hook and action- usually to either play into a storyline or distract from an uncomfortable feeling. As an example, let’s say there’s a difficult situation at work that causes anxiety. You feel anxious about it, which is right, it’s how you feel. If you let the energy move without judging and pushing it away, it’d circulate and then fall away. But whatever the situation was, gets you anxious, then frustrated, then angry, then you’re adding onto it with judgements. There you might say it is “shenpa” or the hook has taken effect. And then to feel better you eat a bag of chocolate. This is just an example but it’s very universal.
Teacher and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh would say that about anger– that if we feel it and refrain from rehearsing it and pushing it down, we can care for it. It’d then come up from “store consciousness”, it can be felt and accepted without storylines, circulate, and then return to store consciousness. The wording might be difficult but essentially he’s saying that we can feel whatever it is without being hooked.
Understanding these concepts can be a key for you to let go of something that might be draining you. If we can notice the charges and respond differently, we can drop one thing and replace it with something that gives us energy. So returning to that bag of chocolate from above. In that example, let’s say you notice when the situation at work causes anxiety, and you use mindfulness to say “okay usually I feel like this and end up eating bags of chocolate”. Now you’ve created a space where you can create something new. You choose to say “alright, there’s this energy moving through me, I feel like I want to wrestle with it but it’s just energy. I’m going to let it do what it does naturally which is move the body. I’m going to stretch, breathe and go for a walk.” In that moment and with that decision you just increased your health.
Remember, YOU have the power to do that. And you can get better with practice.
Thank you for reading. Wishing you health and strength.
Ryan
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