# A loose guitar string

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Analogy
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-guitar-string-resilience
- Themes: relaxation, resilience, stress, criticism
- Life situations: stress, being criticised, overreacting

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Simile: the tighter a guitar string is stretched, the higher it pings when something hits it; less stretched, a lower sound; not stretched at all, no sound. That's resilience — a mind pulled between past and future reacts sharply; a relaxed mind barely sounds when criticism or tragedy strikes.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

I gave it another simile of being like a guitar string and when a guitar string is stretched the tighter it is stretched stretched when something hits it it really makes a high-pitched sound and when it's not stretched so much it makes a lower pitch sound when it's hardly stretched at all it makes a very low sound when it's not stretched at all it makes no sound at all that's like people's resilience the way they react to some of the unpleasant things which happens in life

## Teaching point

Relaxing the pull of past and future makes the mind resilient to what hits it.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A tightly stretched guitar string pings at the slightest touch; a slack one barely sounds. People are the same. Pulled between past regrets and future worries, we react sharply to criticism and bad news. Loosen that pull through rest and meditation, and the same blows hardly make a sound.

## Source

- [Relax | Ajahn Brahm | 19 May 2017](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97u4C6-HjOQ) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 32:42 to 33:26: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97u4C6-HjOQ&t=1962s

Other tellings of this story:

- [How Do We Deal with Deeper Suffering | Ajahn Brahm | 5 June 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFqMQgo36tw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:07:31 to 1:08:48: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFqMQgo36tw&t=4051s
- [How to Lessen the Stress | Ajahn Brahm | 29 March 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSUdHhvVBfI) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 10:38 to 11:21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSUdHhvVBfI&t=638s
- [Building Resilience | Ajahn Brahm | 8 November 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_znbRN8JRXw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 7:47 to 10:10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_znbRN8JRXw&t=467s
- [Confidence, Fear and Anxiety | Ajahn Brahm | 28 January 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnYwHoYJID8) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:25:51 to 1:26:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnYwHoYJID8&t=5151s
- [Finding Stillness | Ajahn Brahm | 5 July 2019](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY7Fu7wEh0Y) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 47:23 to 47:53: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY7Fu7wEh0Y&t=2843s
- [Meditation in Trying Times - Armadale Meditation Group | Ajahn Brahm | 17 May 2022](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-REkEnSRIc) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 1:18:38 to 1:19:04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-REkEnSRIc&t=4718s
- [2022 October (12/18) | 9 day Retreat | Ajahn Brahm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saXl0oZFR_Q) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 12:33 to 13:21: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saXl0oZFR_Q&t=753s