Report 68

Do you experience yourself as a person with capacities as compared to someone who can do particular things in particular situations? 

I see 'myself' as a no-self - just a bunch of physical and mental processes. I don't know. Things get done. 

Do you have good days and bad days, where you're more "on" and "off"?  Do you know what internal or external conditions determine this?

Some days flow more easily than others. Of what combination of circumstances promotes this I have no idea.

(How much) do you feel "at choice" with respect to this?

No choice. No-self = no free will. 

Do you believe it's possible to cultivate yourself and your capacities?  If so, how?  What are the most important ways you do this?  Do you have some rituals or practices, or other things you do that help or support you in this?

Abilities and capacities will be exercised. You can't stop it from happening.

What are some specific capacities you are aware of, and what do you know or believe about how they function in you or in other people?

Awareness of a capacity is just finding things easy that others might find difficult. 

Do you have a sense of your own strengths and weaknesses?

Strengths and weaknesses are a result of genetics and our experiences in life. 

Suppose we take this area of your experience, and use the label capacity or ability to refer to it.  What area(s) of life do you focus on -- or give attention to -- where you're growing or challenged in a positive way?   Do you have specific intentions and aspirations? 

The focus is merely on what is happening at any particular time. Intentions and aspirations change daily. 

Do you have goals or intentions about the quality of Being (presence, creativity, intelligence) that you experience and bring into play?  How is this expressed in action?

 No. There is nothing to understand or attain. Just stories and illusions that need to be let go of.

How do you know whether these capacities are present to a greater or lesser degree?  How do you discriminate which way is "up"?   Whether something you're doing is having a positive effect?

Capacities are mainly noticed by others. 

How does this skillful or effective knowing work in specific situations?  Perhaps some of the following questions will be evocative.

This all sounds very goal-oriented, future-oriented - as if it were possible to figure everything out in advance. Real life is ungraspable, unknowable, mysterious, with too many complex variables. A situation or project can only be strategized in very basic form in advance. If possible, it's best to give ourselves fully, unreservedly, to the work in hand in the present moment and let the results take care of themselves. 

• What is happening in a group, when there is creativity, energy, and a good flow?
• What motivates and inspires you?  What leads you toward greater freedom?  Can you do something to cultivate this?
• What do you do ahead of time to make sure that you are functioning "at your best"?
• How do you approach a creative project?  A challenging situation? 
• How do you make decisions about complex or ambiguous situations?
• How do you set your intentions or direction?  Do you gather your thoughts and impressions at the end of the day or as part of your morning routine?
• How do you work with tiredness, or a distracted mind, or other such states that would seem to interfere with being "skillful in action"?
• What do you do when a situation stimulates a feeling of anger, fear, confusion, or boredom?  Do you decide what to do or how to be with it?
• We are "relational" creatures.  What are your aspirations with respect to relating?
• Are there different kinds of "intelligence" -- for example intellectual, emotional, task-oriented?  Does this also include some kind of "spiritual" intelligence?