Pressure Cooker Or Field?
Would you rather be in a field or in a pressure cooker? How can having space and being constrained help you understand yourself?
You only feel the pressure of things that constrain you when they are under pressure. When this happens, they appear to intensify. Without pressure, there is freedom. With freedom, issues that constrain and depress you appear to be less significant. They appear less critical simply because there is more freedom. When you are constrained and in a pressured environment, complex issues become more significant. It happens because there are fewer distractions. And there is a greater concentration of sensations, emotions, and thoughts.
Therefore, the pressure cooker pressure supplies an excellent opportunity to observe what is going on in your situation. If you can sit with it, observe it, and ask questions like “why do I feel like this?” “What are my emotions?” “Where are they in my body?” “What thoughts are gathered in my head in my imagination to create this?” This self-questioning is simply a drilling down of questions. Drilling down enables you to observe what lies underneath.
What do you see? What is your relationship to this pressure cooker of a circumstance or environment in which you find yourself?
The Benefits Of Being In A Pressure Cooker
The pressure cooker can become a mirror where we can see the patterns and circumstances where we find ourselves. It generates an obvious reflection of how things are going on with ourselves and our relationships. There is an opportunity to observe what is inside ourselves closely. This observation helps us understand what we need to address. Sometimes the pressure cooker can reflect a shortcoming, an imbalance in life that needs to be corrected. It is just like a thermometer. If the pressure cooker is not full of water, it will not overheat or explode.
The same is true for our hearts. If there are no obstructions or conditions that cannot be easily overcome and broken down (such as problems in one’s relationships), you will have peace of mind and heart. When the pressure cooker is full of problems and issues, the heat inside goes up. But as soon as these problems are resolved or dissolved, then the temperature will go back down. So, you see, it is essential to keep your pressure cooker clean and tidy. Then its ability to cook is at its finest.
Pressure in Relationships
For example: If you are in a relationship with someone who constantly accuses you of not having feelings for them, this can create emotional and mental pressure. This pressure will create a lot of conflicts, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed. It may even drive you to want to give up or make you resent the other person. As a result, you may start to feel anger towards the accuser or become bitter about the relationship. You may even find yourself in denial of your own heart, thinking, “I should do this” or “I need to do that.”
But if you observe and listen to your feelings, you will know this is not the case. You may find yourself thinking, “the other person has a problem with their relationship with themselves,” or “they are just too concerned about what others think of them.” You might think, “maybe if they were more confident about themselves, they would be able to have a better relationship with others.” You will see that these thoughts and feelings are coming from you and not from the other person. Then you can be aware of how you feel. Because then you know when this relationship is not going anywhere. The issues are inside you because you are the one feeling them.
Observe To Understand
Once you observe this, there is a clear shift internally. You understand the bitterness you feel towards the other person dissolving. From this understanding there will be a softening of your heart towards them. When this happens and the pressure cooker is clean, you will be able to see the situation differently. It will be easier to find solutions. When you understand this, you can start to have the relationship that you want. If this shift does not happen, then growth is hindered. It can end in a stressful and hopeless situation. The only way for people who are stuck to move forward is to break away from it.
Identification
In my view, what we need to break away from is identifying with our issues. For example, if I see you in a traffic jam, I might say, “this is unfair.” But if I observe it more closely and let go of my identification with this situation. I then see that the traffic jam is because many other cars are on the road. Perhaps this means that other cars are not driving well, which causes problems for all the drivers. So, the solution is not to get angry with the other cars or feel annoyed about it. The real solution is to fix the problem at the source with understanding. Maybe if everyone learning how to drive correctly and better in a safe manner. Then there will be no cause for a traffic jam.
Each driver will be more thoughtful and aware of their driving. If each driver focused on how they were driving. Then they will learn very quickly that driving safely actually helps everyone and prevents accidents. Because everyone will feel safer and more confident, the pressure cooker situation will be gone. So, when I see you in a traffic jam, I am not angry with you or the situation. I know that there is a traffic jam because there are many others who are also driving badly. So, it’s natural for me to get upset and want to teach everyone how to drive better. This is just an example and might be unrealistic. Yet it’s worth remembering that no one understands the whole situation.
What Are Fields and How Do I Use Them?
Fields offer a different outlook. Having the freedom to explore. To understand through observing yourself and others in the unconstrained space. Offers freshness and new lightness that allows for change within your experience.
Fields take practice. Just as going to a gym or learning another skill, it is vital to develop your understanding gradually. The first thing is to start to be aware of your patterns and seek to free yourself from them. Everything becomes amazingly simple in the field when you can see clearly there is no “other” person. It is when we get caught up in our dramas with other people that things become complicated and difficult.
The ultimate truth is that we are already awake, as it were. The real power is to open our eyes and wake up from the dream. That alone is our highest nature because it allows us to play freely and without bounds. To exist with fear of retribution or failure. This place of freedom within us allows us to become like children again, and we can let go of the adult pretensions that separate us from our purest, most innocent, and ecstatic nature.
Greater Awareness
What it means to practice is to cultivate this higher state of awareness in our everyday life. This practice does not mean retiring to a monastery, but it simply means seeking the truth every day. When we wake up in the morning, we should ask ourselves what is indispensable. We can then let go of the rest. Of course, nothing is completely unimportant. Everything we do ultimately plays a role in how we grow as individuals and reach our full potential. However, there will always be some things which can be done later or not at all.