5 HINDERANCES

Written By Duane Nelson


2 IDEAS FROM ME

  1. Understanding the five hindrances to mindfulness is crucial for living a wholehearted life. Firstly, awareness of these hindrances – sensory desire, illwill-aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness-worry, and doubt – allows one to recognize and navigate them skillfully. By acknowledging sensual/desires and illwill/aversions without being consumed by them, one can cultivate equanimity. Similarly, recognizing sloth, restlessness/worry, and doubt enables us to counteract them with appropriate strategies, such as gentle perseverance, grounding techniques, and inquiry. Through understanding and addressing these hindrances, we can develop resilience, clarity, and insight, fostering the necessary mindfulness to consistently live in harmony with our highest values.

  2. Mindfulness of “feeling” holds the key to recognizing when one is drawn into a hinderance black hole. This is the second foundation of mindfulness and refers to one of three feeling tones: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. By tuning into unpleasant feelings arising in the body and mind, one can discern the subtle shifts that accompany desire, aversion, sloth, restlessness, and doubt. Through this heightened awareness, one can catch these hindrances in their nascent stages, preventing them from collapsing into the hinderance black hole of suffering. By observing the fluctuations of feeling with equanimity and self-awareness, individuals can respond skillfully and escape to live their highest values.

2 QUOTES FROM SAGES

  1. “Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”—Henry David Thoreau

  2. “The hindrances can be like “black holes” in the mind. A black hole is a collapsed star where the gravitational force is so powerful that even light is sucked in and trapped. When the hindrances are strong, the light of awareness is pulled into their gravitational field and we lose our ability to see what is happening. We may get lost in thought or fantasy fueled by a hindrance.”—Gil Fronsdal (Hinderances to Clear Seeing)

1 QUESTION FOR YOU TO EXPLORE

  1. Have you ever experimented with “mindfulness of feeling” to recognize and escape being hijacked by one of the five hinderances?

Namaste,

Duane Nelson

Duane Nelson

Ultrajourney Insight is an Anacortes Washington-based non-profit organization providing mindfulness & well-being services designed to ignite the adventure of a lifetime. The founder, Duane Nelson, is a writer, speaker, and teacher with four decades of parenting, wilderness, & international technology leadership. His professional insights come from chemical engineering and automation leadership at Philips, Intel, and Amazon. His adventure insights flow from ultramarathons, mountaineering, canyoneering, and adventure racing in Nepal, Alaska, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Mexico, British Columbia and Alberta.

https://ultrajourneyinsight.org
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