Despondence, apathy, petty minded worries? Sisu!

Working with mental states

This training principle comes first in the warrior focus element because it addresses debilitating mental states that are most obstructive to our evolutionary progress. In the context of this practice regime, it addresses more temporary or momentary periods of incapacitating states of being.

 

If states like these, including depression, have been persistent over longer periods of time, perhaps even years, you may need the help of health care professionals to address their primary cause. Trauma, burn out or being in long term toxic relationships and so forth can have a significant impact on mental health and may need medical diagnosis and care to get us back on our feet.

 

Like depressiveness (not depression proper) or any of these heavy, cloying mental and emotional states, they can be very difficult to move as their nature is devoid of inspiration, motivation and energy. They are self propagating and keep us in a disconnected state of being without much wherewithal to climb out of them.

 

These states are typified by negative thinking and poor outlook and can make us feel like we’re stuck and that it will last forever. There’s a hopelessness to this experience and it’s a horrible place to be. Everything can seem difficult, there’s no interest or pleasure in anything, we can’t get anything done, let alone achieve our goals.

 

As long as our problematic mental states are not persistent and pathological in nature, there are a number of things we can do to help move them back towards more supportive states of being. Firstly, nothing in our mind is permanently abiding, our mental and emotional states are in constant motion so they will eventually change, especially if these states are not our usual state of being.

 

Even after I was experiencing positivity most of the time, I could still experience these quite strong momentary despondent states once in a while. Over time, I recognised that they do pass, and relatively quickly. I remind myself of this and be as aware as I can so I don’t get dragged into the feeling and narrative of it. I then just carry on with what I would normally be doing, ignoring the state's conditioning nature. This is something I’ve trained myself to do over time, and now I rarely ever experience these states at all.

 

With awareness, we can try to identify what triggers these states. I’ve noticed that thoughts or a whole narrative might arise in relation to recent events that can sink me into a bit of a funk. This is uncommon but it happens occasionally, and when I’m in this state, I can focus on all the negatives about the situation which can spiral me down into a well of despondency. In this case, I have to bring some perspective in, challenge all the negative thinking and acknowledge where the positives are, cultivating a more rounded view.

 

Often during this process, due to the awareness, I actually catch my ‘dooming’ self which immediately gives me some room to move. I start to see through it and create a bit of emotional space which breaks the hold on me.

 

If you’re experiencing more regular bouts of low mental states that you wouldn’t consider to be long standing habits or pathological issues, you might need to assess what’s currently going on in your life. Are you getting enough good quality sleep, are you experiencing work or other life related stresses? Are there any relationship difficulties going on? Negative mental states can be a symptom of life out of balance.

 

Modern ‘full catastrophic living’ can have us burning the candle at both ends or just living in ways that are more harmful than good. They may only be causing low level internal discord, but it can be enough to affect our quality of life. Until we’ve experienced good levels of physical, mental and emotional health within a balanced life, we may simply not recognise the signs.

 

Low energy states can be quickly transformed by being action oriented. In these states, we will be disinterested and unmotivated to do anything, but with practice, we can ignore the ennui and start doing something helpful or useful, especially if it’s physical. Mental activities may not help to get our energies moving and these low states originate in the mind. I’ve had this experience multiple times, especially with more common low level apathy and indifference.

 

This type of thing can be a habitual disinterested attitude or laziness that keeps me from engaging with life’s activities. When this happens, I immediately challenge it by doing the thing that I don’t feel like doing. Without fail, the apathy and its hold on me completely disappears.

 

In this way, a general apathetic attitude, one that’s more about laziness than a cloying mental state, can be trained out of ourselves. We warrior up, we don’t give it or the ennui a chance to take hold. When we feel that malaise, we immediately do the opposite, we smash it! Whatever we’re dodging or trying to rationalise ourselves out of, those sweet oh so convincing reasons and excuses we have for not stepping up, we train ourselves to disregard them all and do what we know our bigger, brighter self would do and we do it without hesitation.

 

When we’re impaired by negative mental states, it’s not only our outlook that can be severely tarnished, we can also be highly self critical. We can tear strips off ourselves for not being able to break through, to achieve our goals, get things done and so on. This state of being requires self care and compassion otherwise we’re just exacerbating the situation.

 

Firstly, we have to stop all negative self-talk and directly challenge the narrative. With kindness, we muster conviction in our positive actions and strengths of character that are undeniable. Then we bring our discernment to what sort of action and effort is appropriate for working with our state of mind. Coming to know the difference is part of our ongoing journey of self understanding and deepening self-awareness.

 

Although this is always difficult in lower mental states, we can also try to reconnect with our inspiration, our life aspirations, our higher values and especially our positive actions. And if we have already been practicing personal growth, we can bring to mind those positive states we’ve experienced due to practice. We can connect with our gratitude, rouse our energies and remember the awesome context of our life in its current form.

 

Connecting into the bigger perspective can make our narrow negative mindset dissolve into insignificance. Remember too, that even though these negative states can be driven by very pessimistic thinking, they are significantly feeling based. Bringing awareness to the bare experience of those feelings can unhook them from the narrative and bring some relief from the tunnel vision it creates.

 

Perspective rocks!

Another aspect that can derail our efforts to practice is getting entangled in the worries and stories of our life that we’re so invested in, all these burdens and responsibilities we carry that weigh us down. To call these concerns petty might feel like a strong indictment on our lives and the things that we believe to be so important, so pivotal to our lives.

 

This word is meant to be provocative, it’s supposed to challenge us to look more deeply, and with rigorous self honesty at all the problems and preoccupations that distract us from actually living our life fully. Have we made a serious appraisal of all these issues vying for our attention? How many of these difficulties have we created for ourselves? What decisions have we made to bring about the situation we find ourselves in today?

With a more grounded perspective, we get right-sized and ask ourselves if all the drama and distraction is justified, rational and logical. We will probably find that with a bit of calmness, clarity and emotional distance, we can unhook ourselves from a lot of it, freeing up significant energy to then focus on resolving the real problems. At any moment, we can decide to stop feeling like a victim of our circumstances and start becoming part of the solution.

 

Gotta love the Finns

I came across the word Sisu because I watched a Finnish English language action movie of the same name a few years back. It portrays the essence of this Finnish word which Finns hold to express their national character. In short it implies guts, grit and stoic determination, but on a whole other level. Wikipedia defines it thusly:

 

“Sisu is extraordinary determination in the face of extreme adversity, and courage that is presented typically in situations where success is unlikely. It expresses itself in taking action against the odds, and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity; in other words, deciding on a course of action, and then adhering to it even if repeated failures ensue.“

 

The movie is great romp, but be warned, quite violent, and does symbolise the lengths someone could go to whole embodies this quality. I became enamoured with the word as I started to put together this regime of practice and naturally came upon the three focus elements, and in this case, cultivating a warrior-like mindset.

 

If we want to change ourselves, there’s no doubt we need to muster a great deal of determination. Our human condition is such that without strongly directed motivations and intentions, we will passively float through life without much awareness or direction, or just follow our habits which may not be very good for us.

 

Sisu is a call to our warrior spirit, a personal challenge to rouse ourselves, particularly in relation to the type of low energy, negative states that will obstruct our progress. We hold the bar so high, that even if we only reach a tenth of the way, we’re already in good stead. This isn’t about minimising the difficulties and suffering we’re going through, however big or small they may be, our pain is real.

 

What we want to do is learn to call on our inner strength, train ourselves to repeatedly prove that we are always capable of more than we think. We can learn to tolerate and even overcome pain, to push through it and in the process, realise that it’s not as bad as we think. This trains us to not feel overwhelmed and victimised by that pain, we can then act with greater clarity and purpose to overcome the adversities that are seemingly holding us down.