Hey friends, it's Dora here.
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Hi, it's Sam here.
Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday.
So a dear friend of mine introduced me to koans a while ago and I have loved working with them ever since.
If you've never heard of koans.
They're questions or statements meant to elicit thoughts, feelings and beliefs.
They're questions not meant to be answered, at least not definitively.
Instead, we focus on how we relate to those questions, inviting curiosity and openness and letting go of certainty.
Koans allow you to peel back layers of meaning that unfold slowly over time.
One example of a well-known koan is, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
Joan Sutherland, a Buddhist scholar, recently wrote a book on koans called Through Forests of Every Color Awakening with Koans.
In it, she offers new translations of these familiar phrases.
For example, she reimagines What is the sound of one hand clapping as?
One pair of hands makes a sound.
Hear that sound.
Instead of a puzzling riddle to be solved, the new interpretation offers a question that we're invited to explore.
It's natural for us to be drawn to riddles as our brain gets a dopamine hit when we solve puzzles.
The certainty of one true answer is satisfying, and we can put it to rest once it's solved.
Koans can be frustrating as they offer no promise of a resolution, only a gateway to more introspection.
Contemplating the sounds of hands may inspire you to notice your own hands and others' hands, and everything that hands can do.
What is the sound of a tender embrace?
What is the sound of a clenched fist?
Of a thumbs up?
Each of these gestures carries a strong message, and this question may inspire you to communicate more gently or be more perceptive of others' body language.
The beauty of koans is that they come alive through the lens of each unique individual, and they evolve over time.
What you see in a koan today may be very different from what you see in a year from now.
So you can keep a koan as a companion for as long as you'd like, checking in with it to see what's alive in it for you.
And if you're listening to me and thinking, what the heck is she talking about?
And you don't feel a connection to a koan written centuries ago.
Don't worry, because you can create your own.
You can find a quote, a poem or even song lyrics that resonate with you and then check in with it every once in a while to see how the meaning has evolved.
For example, I think about how love songs become so much more salient when we're feeling so heartbroken.
It's helpful to see how a quote or a lyric remains unchanged while our perception ever shifting extracts new meaning from it.
You can check back in with a koan or quote throughout the day, the month, or even all year.
Continue to greet what arises with curiosity, openness, and flexibility.
If it doesn't resonate with you at all, choose a quote that does and then spend some time with it on a consistent basis to see what arises.
Another one I really like is, How Am I Not Myself?
This is a quote from one of my favorite movies, I Heart Huckabees.
It's a movie about existential detectives who are hired to follow clients around, observing them and looking for behavioral patterns as they go about their daily activities.
I think about moments when I'm not myself and how I act instead.
I also think about when I am truly myself bringing to mind images, moments and places where I have felt truly authentic.
I also wonder what is my true self and how do I know?
If you also like to sit and ponder these big questions, Maybe take some time this week to put on a playlist of content for better focus in the Headspace app and then see what thoughts come up.
That's it for me for today.
Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you back here soon.
