Samayika is an ancient Jain philosophy which literally translates to "attaining equanimity", or "fusion with the true self". The practice involves taking a vow to devote a certain amount of time every day for contemplation of the self.
But I don’t have time for this!
In our day to day lives, we have many roles and duties to fulfil. More often that not, we are so busy living up to these expectations that we are not able to take out much time for self-care or self-reflection. We cannot completely give up our role in society and take up monkhood full time. So, the ideal way to balance the needs and demands of everyday life is to set aside small periods of time every day and devote it to self-care and self-reflection. Since we know our lives and our schedules best, we can develop our own customised Samayika practice that suits us.
Why do I even need this?
On a daily basis, we are constantly bombarded with information and subtly being asked to react to it, multiple times a day. We scroll through social media, see different forms of advertisements, the apps on our phones are constantly seeking our attention through notifications, sounds, colors. It is so deeply ingrained in our lives that we do not even notice it. Now, we are not here to judge the Attention Economy; it is enough if we just recognise that it exists, it is asking us to engage with it and it might not always have our best interest at heart. We cannot easily do away with it, but we can carve out a slice of this attention for ourselves. We can set cues for ourselves to ensure that at least a couple of times a day, we get notifications purely for our own well-being. This is specially useful if you are keeping extremely busy or going through a stressful time in your life; because if you don’t have time for self-care, you probably need it the most!
Okay, I’ll give it a try. Where do I start?
Set a reminder on your phone that goes off every 2 hours, to check in with yourself. Make a list of questions that help you become aware of how you are feeling physically or mentally. When the reminder goes off, take the next 5-10 minutes to observe, answer these questions and take any remedial action in response. A few simple examples are:
Is my posture correct?
How much water have I consumed today?
When was my last full meal?
When was the last time I moved around/stretched?
How do my eyes feel- do I want to take a break, look away from the screen, close my eyes?
What can I do to make myself more comfortable?
These questions can be extended to include your mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. A few samples can be found here.
Why the emphasis on phone wallpapers and reminders?
On an average, we pick up our phones 85 times a day to open social media, watch videos, check email, etc. So it is convenient to use our phones, at least 4-5 times a day, to remind ourselves to be mindful of our current state and take care of ourselves in response. Instead of using wallpapers/notifications on your phone, you can use other forms of visible reminders such as putting up a sticky note in front of your work/study desk, writing it on a piece of paper and clicking a photo to use as a wallpaper, or typing it out and taking a screenshot to be used as a reminder. Whatever works for you!
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