In this meditation we ride the urge like a wave. Just like everything else urges are temporary. We can learn to notice the urge, observe it and decide not to follow it, just for today.
It happens all the time, hunger, thirst, even the need to go to the bathroom, they all come and go. Same with cocaine cravings. If we stay with them enough and turn into the urge they will eventually go away.
The urges may come back but now you have a great tool to resist the urge.
There’s an ancient zen parable that is relevant to this notion:
A temple stood silent, nestled among ancient cherry trees. A Zen monk, weathered and unyielding, remained within its wooden walls, untouched by the chaos that swept through the land.
When General Takeshi, hardened by countless battles finally reached our temple. He climbed the temple steps, his katana heavy at his side. The monk sat cross-legged, eyes closed, as if the world beyond the temple walls held no sway over him.
“Old man,” Takeshi barked, “why do you defy the inevitable? The blade of my sword could pierce your heart before your next breath.”
The monk opened his eyes “And do you realize,” he replied, his voice a whisper carried by the wind, “That I can run through your sword without blinking an eye?”
The general was spontaneously enlightened by this exchange.
This parable is about life, when we embrace the thing we are trying to avoid it becomes effortless. The fear from relapse, holding tight and trying to avoid the thought makes this struggle constant and the urge only grows, once we accept the difficulty the struggle goes away.
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