Don't Worry, Stay Present

Zen Mind

This talk is about one of the most common questions among practitioners — "How do I bring practice into my everyday life?" The answer is simple but the practice is not easy — "Stay present.” It starts out with an example that presents anxiety and worrying as a habit that is rooted in a defense against anxiety. Physical, emotional, and mental behaviors can all become habits with addictive qualities when they are employed to mask or medicate disturbing feelings for the short-term reward of feeling distracted or a little bit better. But the price can be minor or major harm in our daily life. The talk suggests to intentionally extend the practice of "being present" into the very fabric of our most dysfunctional habits.
In the talk, Zenki Roshi refers to and recommends the following book on habit change that combines neuroscience, the psychology of reward-based learning, and mindfulness practice.
Judson Brewer: Unwinding Anxiety, New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind
The book is about more than anxiety and gives practice suggestions to deal with all kinds of addictions and harmful habits.
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Zenki Christian Dillo Roshi is the the guiding teacher at the Boulder Zen Center in Colorado, USA. This podcast shares the regular dharma talks given at the center. Zenki Roshi approaches Zen practice as a craft of transformation, liberation, wisdom and compassionate action. His interest is to bring Buddhism alive within the Western cultural context, while staying committed to the traditional emphasis on embodiment.