Ego Terror vs. Going Zen

[CVKBT]

I wanted to share this sweet little insight I had a few weeks ago. It occured during a cold shower. Taking cold showers was inspired by this post: 

When taking cold showers, I always notice how my mind is going crazy right before taking it and the voices in my head get really loud. When the cold water overflowed my body, I realized that you have two options: either you let your mind scream and complain or you "Go Zen"
By "going Zen" I mean surrendering to the present situation (this insight only applies for situations, which are challenging for the Ego).

In that case, you would surrender yourself to the cold water. And suddenly the pendulum swings from ego terror, to a concentrated, aware way of being. I found that there's not really a middle ground between those two polarities. From the theory I have learned so far, my best guess for translating this idea to an "ultimate form" would be: Ego vs. Infinite Consciousness. I have no experience in such extremes, thus I won't further dwell there.

But I have found that this same principle of surrendering to your current surrounding often applies, when you do something outside of your comfort zone. Some examples:

• working out
• studying (when you have to drag yourself to "stuDYING")
• social anxiety
• challenging moments during psychedelic trips

In every case the result was the same for me: once I drop the crazy monkey mind, the situation I find myself in, actually becomes quite enjoyable. Of course, the degree of terror and contentment differs in every situation, but the common denominator stays the same.
And the more conscious you are, the more able you are to "Go Zen" by will.
Realizing this may help you conquering challenging situations outside of your comfort zone and create solutions simply by reminding yourself to just "Go Zen".

Edited February 14, 2020 by CVKBT