Oh, what a challenge!

This strikes me as a very difficult discipline indeed:

Complaining is the absolute worst possible thing you could do for your health or your wealth. The worst! ... For the next seven days, I challenge you not to complain at all.

-- T. Harv Eker

I venture to guess that many of us are not even aware of how often we complain. Perhaps it would be illuminating to begin by just noticing ourselves doing it!

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Helping others

Lately, I have found myself observing more and more how the perfect often becomes the enemy of the good. Many people are convinced that, if they can't do a thing perfectly or greatly, they might as well not do it at all. Not so! Let us cultivate the willingness to do small things in ordinary ways. It's amazing how they add up:

Great opportunities to help others seldom come,
but small ones surround us every day.

-- Sally Koch

In observance of the day

~~~

Image from Wikimedia Commons

The most important things are the hardest to say,

because words diminish them.

~Stephen King

Temple sounds

~~~

A sense of peace

Aligning our minds with the most compassionate words and thoughts we can muster can bring connection and a sense of peace. For some, it means giving up almost an entire way of life, but only this will allow glints of joy to shine through.

-- Laura Berman Fortgang

How interesting to observe that some people must give up almost an entire way of life to align themselves with compassion. I would suggest that this is a considerable indictment on our society.

Encouragement

If you ever wonder if you're doing anybody any good, remember this:

Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.

-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Remember: we won't necessarily see that rekindled inner life in an unmistakable way. It still happens. Truly it does.

A very spacious way of life

~~~

Artist: Ion Andreescu
Image from Wikimedia Commons

I know of a certainty that I have posted this before. But it really merits a repeat here:

On Arturo Toscanini's eightieth birthday, someone asked his son, Walter, what his father ranked as his most important achievement. The son replied, "For him there can be no such thing. Whatever he happens to be doing at the moment is the biggest thing in his life -- whether it is conducting a symphony or peeling an orange.

-- Ardis Whitman

It would do us some good, I think, to let go of our attachment to hierachies of accomplishments. Many wonderfully beneficial and enjoyable activities are too easily devalued with all the rankings we manage to devise.

Monday meditative picture blogging

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Lena River Delta

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Sentient-beings-style comic relief

Take a look:

Mom: …and after we had to put Buddy down, I decided that I wanted something that would outlive me so I had you.
Me: So I’m a replacement for a cat?
Mom: Yep. Love you, honey.

It's from a website I recently discoverd called "Crazy Things Parents Say". There're a lot of examples of awareness there if you explore a bit.

You can find dharma anywhere, I always say!

Friday cat blogging!

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Flexibility and wisdom

This is an excellent way of clarifying the distinction between letting go and indifference:

Once we see that everything is impermanent and ungraspable and that we create a huge amount of suffering if we are attached to things staying the same, we realize that relaxing and letting go is a wiser way to live. Letting go does not mean not caring about things. It means caring about them in a flexible and wise way.

-- Jack Kornfield

Living in the moment

A lot of people complain that living in the moment is difficult. Well, here's the article for you:

100 ways to live in the moment

Go on over there. You'll be glad you did!

Tuesday meditative picture blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

What a gift

Oh, what a gift indeed:

Imagine how our lives might be if everyone had even a bit more of the Wisdom that comes from seeing clearly. Suppose people everywhere, simultaneously, stopped what they were doing and paid attention for only as long as it took to recognize their shared humanity. Surely the heartbreak of the world's pain, visible to all, would convert everyone to kindness. What a gift that would be.

-- Sylvia Boorstein

It is truly grief-producing that we do not see this more frequently, more consistently, more joyfully.

A profound teaching

Here is an excellent meditation saying:

Just think of the trees: they let the birds perch and fly, with no intention to call them when they come and no longing for their return when they fly away. If people's hearts can be like the trees, they will not be off the Way.

-- unknown

If we learn to cultivate this approach, we will eliminate much, much suffering from our lives.

Friday cat blogging!

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Enlightenment and change

I have probably posted this before but I came across it again today and it definitely bears repeating:

Everybody wants to get enlightened but nobody wants to change. This is the simple, daunting truth that has been staring back at me from the eyes of countless seekers over the years. "I really want to get enlightened," they insist. "But are YOU ready to CHANGE now?" I ask. "What?" is the inevitable response—surprised and even slightly stunned. And I repeat, "Are YOU ready to CHANGE now?" What follows is always a strange and surreal moment of ambiguity, confusion, and backpedaling. "But I thought you wanted to get enlightened... "

-- Andrew Cohen

Wednesday life form blogging

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Photo at Wikimedia Commons

Slowing down

We rarely think of the actual advantages of needing to slow down as we get older:

When I found I no longer had the stamina to work long hours clearing the fallen limbs in the woods around my house, I began to bring a lawn chair and a thermos with me. I still work in the woods, but stop frequently to sit and have a cup of tea. I’ve identified birds I didn’t know lived here and evidence that a bobcat shares the property. Since I’ve slowed down some, I see things I never saw before and find that quiet solitude is not lonely but nurturing, allowing my heart to open to the signs and lessons of nature that surround me.

- Sallirae Henderson

I also really like how she says the solitdue is not lonely but nuturing. That is my experience as well.

Monday meditative picture blogging

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Image from Wikimedia Commons

The saddest poverty

A greater poverty than that caused by lack of money is the poverty of unawareness. Men and women go about the world unaware of the beauty, the goodness, and the glories in it. Their souls are poor. It is better to have a poor pocketbook than to suffer from a poor soul.

-- Jerry Fleishman

More about impermanence

This can be a very consoling observation if we but let it:

We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes. The situation that we hoped to change because it was intolerable becomes unimportant. We have not managed to surmount the obstacle, as we were absolutely determined to do, but life has taken us round it, led us past it, and then if we turn round to gaze at the remote past, we can barely catch sight of it, so imperceptible has it become.

-- Marcel Proust

Friday cat blogging!

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

About well-being

I get an email from the Prairie Home Companion folks every now and then. Today, Garrison Keillor answered a question from a listener who asked, "How do you define well-being? What do you do to achieve it?" Here is part of his response.

...my sense of well-being comes from waking up each day with work to do. It was different when I was in college: the work was imposed by teachers and so much of it seemed irrelevant, make-work, a lot of pointless exercises. What you hope for in life is a sense of a calling, a vocation, which simply means that one goes to one's work gratefully, not out of fear or habit but with a whole heart. It's the whole-heartedness that makes for well-being.

I do, indeed, like the emphasis on whole-heartedness. Yes, that lets us know we're in the right work. It is also an important quality to bring to our meditative practice. In fact, our meditative practice can give us the tools and the skills to bring whole-heartedness to almost any work we may happen to be doing.

Important life skills

This morning I came across a page entitled "100 Skills Everyone Should Master". I was particularly happy to notice that the following were included:

- Relax/Meditate
- Apologize
- Improve your mood
- Be alone comfortably
- Flexibility/equanimity in the face of the unexpected
- Know what makes you happy
- Acquire or shed a habit

The above, of course, are the ones that are helped significantly by meditative practice. But you might like to click through and read the others. They're all worth thinking about and cultivating.

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Deep connectedness

Our western culture missed this - has missed it for centuries:

The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.

-- Thomas Merton

An understanding of interdependence doesn't come automatically to most of us. Therefore, we need to remind ourselves of this truth often.

Monday meditative picture blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

In observance of today

I'm so glad Dr. King mentioned animals as well as people here:

Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The meditative process gives us tools other than just looking away when we see another sentient being suffering. In fact, that is one of the most important reasons, to my mind, for cultivating such tools.

There's something kinda Zen about this:

~~~

Perseverence

There's huge encouragement in this short teaching:

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it - but all that had gone before.

-- Jacob Riis

Friday cat blogging!

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The great value in being wrong

Just take a look at this. Isn't it elegant?

We should never be ashamed to own we have been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that we are wiser today than we were yesterday.

-- Jonathan Swift

Interesting way of looking at it, no?

Donate for the people of Haiti

Dear readers:

I am posting the following appeal on all three blogs (for obvious reasons).

If you would like to make a donation to help the people of Haiti right now and you want to be sure that it is used appropriately, may I recommend Episcopal Relief and Development. Don't worry; they don't proselytize. This organization (which used to be called The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief) has a long track record of excellent and focused work during disasters and other situations of great need. It is very easy to donate on their website and you can earmark your contribution specifically to help the people of Haiti.

Unlike organizations (such as the Red Cross) who are specifically focused on the emergency itself, ERD sticks around after the immediate disaster needs and helps the people rebuild.

Even if you can spare only $5 or $10, please do. As executive director of a non-profit organization myself, I am very aware of how small amounts add up. Your contribution will help!

~~~

Wednesday life form blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The moment

Oh, what a critical difference one preposition makes:

There is only the moment. The now. Only what you are experiencing at this second is real. This does not mean you live for the moment. It means you live in the moment.

-- Leo Buscaglia

More about acceptance

I really like the very last sentence here:

Some people confuse acceptance with apathy but there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to distinguish what can and cannot be helped; acceptance makes the distinction. Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action; acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens.

- Arthur Gordon

Wonderful advice:

(You can get one right here.)

Sunday art blogging

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Artist: Eduard Tomek

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Something about values and perspective

We can all do well to remember this one:

We don't need more money, we don't need greater success or fame, we don't need the perfect body or even the perfect mate. Right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.

- The Dalai Lama

Relaxation video

Friday cat blogging!

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

What about balance?

Many people who talk to me bemoan the fact that they are not able to maintain balance in their lives. And so, as valuable as balance can be, I often observe that the desire for balance often puts one more stressor on people and, thus, backfires. Over the years, I've been recommending that folks aspire to a rhythm in their lives instead. Nevertheless, balance has its strong points. Here's a wonderful quotation that brings all these facets into perspective:

Life is often messy, uncertain, and unpredictable. Sometimes it's a string of troubles that seem to never end. That's normal. Ups and downs are normal. Being ill on occasion is normal. Feeling peaceful and happy are normal. Occasional low-energy days are normal. According to Chinese medicine, it is accepted as natural that we fluctuate from being in balance to being out of balance. Peace of mind comes from not attaching a great deal of significance to either state. We simply note our moods and physical states and gently move toward balance as best we can, accepting it all as part of the flow of life.

-- Charlotte Davis Kasl

So, the real key is acceptance, isn't it?

Cultivating self acceptance

Many people are convinced that their lives will finally be okay when they find Mr. or Miss "Right". Here's the thing: if your life is not okay now, finding a companion to share it with will not magically make it better:

It is rewarding to find someone you like, but it is essential to like yourself. It is quickening to recognize that someone is a good and decent human being, but it is indispensable to view yourself as acceptable. It is a delight to discover people who are worthy of respect and admiration and love, but it is vital to believe yourself deserving of these things.

For you cannot live in someone else. You cannot find yourself in someone else. You cannot be given a life by someone else. Of all the people you will know in a lifetime, you are the only one you will never leave or lose.

To the question of your life, you are the only answer. To the problems of your life, you are the only solution.

-- Jo Coudert

The absolutely best way I know to cultivate self-acceptance is meditative practice. That, you see, is what we do when we meditate. We accept our thoughts, our feelings, our mind state, our physical state, over and over and over again. There really is no better training.

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Regeneration

Whenever you find yourself resisting meditation, consider the following:

Silence has a regenerative power of its own. It is always sacred. It always returns you home.

-- Barbara De Angelis

How to avoid "miserable lines of thought"

All right, dear people. What is it that gets us in trouble regularly, repeatedly? Well, it's the ego, of course. Here's an image of how that works that may help us remember to let go or (better still) not to get involved in grasping in the first place:

The ego, as a collection of our past experiences, is continually offering miserable lines of thought. It’s as if there were a stream with little fish swimming by, and when we hook one of them there is a judgment. The ego is constantly judging everybody and everything. It has its constant little chit chat about thingsthat can happen in the future, things about the past, too, and these are the little fish that swim by. And what we learn to do — this is why it takes work — is to not reach out and grab a fish.

- Hugh Prather

Sunday art blogging

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Artist: Boris Kustodiev
Image from Wikimedia Commons

Joy everywhere

~~~
And joy is everywhere;
It is in the Earth's green covering of grass;
In the blue serenity of the Sky;
In the reckless exuberance of Spring;
In the severe abstinence of grey Winter;
In the Living flesh that animates our bodily frame;
In the perfect poise of the Human figure, noble and upright;
In Living;
In the exercise of all our powers;
In the acquisition of Knowledge;
In fighting evils...
Joy is there
Everywhere.

-- Tagore

For when you feel offended

~~
Someone sent me this in an email a long time ago. I'm afraid I don't know who wrote it but it's very, very good:

"Master, you must help me," said the visitor. "I am at my wit's end."

"What seems to be the problem?" The sage asked.

"I am having a hard time controlling my anger," the visitor said. "It's just the way people are. I see them criticizing others while totally unaware of their own faults. I do not wish to criticize them because I don't want to be like them, but it really upsets me."

"I see," said the sage. "Tell me something first: Aren't you the villager who narrowly escaped death last year?"

"Yes," the visitor nodded. "It was a terrible experience. I ventured too far into the forest and ran into a pack of hungry wolves."

"What did you do?"

"I climbed up a tree just in time before they converged on me. These wolves were big and I had no doubt they could tear me to pieces."

"So you were trapped?"

"Yes. I knew I wouldn't last long without water and food, so I waited for them to relax their guard. When I thought it was safe enough, I would jump down, make a mad dash for the next tree, and then climb up before they converged again."

"This sounds like quite an ordeal."

"Yes - altogether it lasted two days. I thought I would surely die. Luckily a group of hunters approached when I got close enough to the village. The wolves scattered and I was saved."

"I'm curious about one thing," said the sage. "During the experience, were you ever offended by the wolves?"

"What? Offended?"

"Yes. Did you feel offended, or insulted by the wolves?"

"Of course not, Master. That thought never crossed my mind."

"Why not? They wanted nothing more than to bite into you, did they not? They wanted to kill you, did they not?"

"Yes, but... that is what wolves do! They were just being themselves. It would be absurd for me to be take offense."

"Excellent! Now let's hang on to this thought while we examine your question. Criticizing others while being unaware of their own faults is something that many people do. You might even say that it is something we all do from time to time. In a sense, the ravenous wolves live in every one of us.

"When the wolves bare their fangs and close in on you, you should not just stand there. You should certainly protect yourself by getting away from them if at all possible. Similarly, when people lash out at you with venomous criticism, you should not accept it passively. You should certainly protect yourself by putting some distance between you and them if at all possible.

"The crucial point is that you can do so without feeling offended or insulted, because these people are simply being themselves. It is their nature to be critical and judgemental, so it would be absurd for us to take offense. It would be pointless for us to get angry."Next time the hungry wolves in human skin converge on you, remember: it's just the way people are - exactly as you said when you came in."
~~~

Many people make resolutions for the New Year or, if they don't, at least find themself taking stock. Often that stock taking involves analysing what we think is wrong about ourselves and wishing - if not actually resolving - to be different. Here's another approach:

In over a dozen years as a stress consultant, one of the most pervasive and destructive mental tendencies I've seen is that of focusing on what we want instead of what we have. It doesn't seem to make any difference how much we have; we just keep expanding our list of desires, which guarantees we will remain dissatisfied. The mind-set that says "I'll be happy when this desire is fulfilled" is the same mind-set that will repeat itself once that desire is met.

-- Richard Carlson

So, if you're doing some stock-taking now as the New Year approaches, do look at what you like about yourself and your life as well as considering what you think needs to be changed. I imagine that will create a really helpful perspective. Remember, the primary meditative principles are those of acceptance and compassion. Accepting ourselves and having compassion on ourselves are essential to living out said principles.

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Worth repeating

My goodness. I just realized today that I started this blog on November 27, 2004. So it's been chugging along for a little over five years now. Here's something from that very first post:

True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still, and going forward when the time has come to go forward. In this way rest and movement are in agreement with the demands of the moment, and thus there is light in life.

- The I Ching

Class cancellation

On the off chance that any Center particpants come here instead of to the Center website, we are cancelling both tonight's and tomorrow morning's classes due to the weather forecast.

Everybody stay safe! We'll be back to our usual schedule next week, weather permitting!

Many blessings to you all.

Short, profound

Just look at this:

Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.

-- William Blake

And many people have a huge aversion to just that.

Monday meditative picture blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

More about compassion

This is truly something to ponder:

Aligning our minds with the most compassionate words and thoughts we can muster can bring connection and a sense of peace. For some, it means giving up almost an entire way of life, but only this will allow glints of joy to shine through.

-- Laura Berman Fortgang

I'm really saddened by the assertion that "for some, it means giving up almost and entire way of life." I can only imagine how very difficult that must be even if someone is at all willing to attempt it. Maybe that can help us have compassion especially on those who seem to have none for others.

Sunday art blogging

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Artist: Vincent Van Gogh

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Something to ponder

This is new to me. It's very simple. Very profound:

I am poor and naked, but I am the chief of the nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love.

- Red Cloud

Something to remember

An anonymous person said the following:

If you understand, things are just as they are;
if you do not understand, things are just as they are.

And, yet, the more we understand, the more we can let go of our attachments to things be other than they are.

The experience of feeling suddenly alive!

~~~
Was there ever a time when you felt suddenly alive? It was like the doors of the world opened for a minute and you could see directly into life. You were able to touch life directly and were not lost in your fears and worries. This experience may not have been during a big event like performing in a play or playing in a championship game; it may have been while walking in the woods or talking to a friend. All of a sudden you felt alive, awake. This quality of waking up, or penetrating into life, we could call mindfulness. Mindfulness simply means being aware, being present.

-- Soren Gordhamer

The season of celebration

Whatever you celebrate this time of year, let the following encourage you:

The clouds above us come together
and disperse; The breeze in the
courtyard departs and returns.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can keep us from celebrating?

-- Lu-Yu

Wednesday life form blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

"Just like me"

Well, dear people, we are getting thoroughly into the holidays now and many of us will have considerable challenges over the next few days as we interact with people with whom we may have a bit of difficulty in terms of getting along. I want to recommend the "Just like me" practice that I talked about in class at the Center a couple of years ago. Here's what you say to yourself:

* This person has a body and a mind, just like me.
* This person has feelings, emotions and thoughts, just like me.
* This person has at some point been sad, disappointed, angry, hurt or confused, just like me.
* This person has in his or her life, experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering, just like me.
* This person wishes to be free from pain and suffering, just like me.
* This person wishes to be safe, healthy and loved, just like me.
* This person wishes to be happy, just like me.

I found this particular version of the exercise in a Huffington Post article entitled "Cultivating Compassion: Meditation for Better Relationships". There are a few more exercises in the article which are quite wonderful.

Something about human nature

~~~
This is about everyone's need for affirmation, for belonging, for acknowledgment, and for a sense of connectedness.

You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back.

-- William Tammeus

Remembering this will help us hugely in our approach to spiritual generosity throughout this season and into the New Year.

I found it on the website "Inspiration Peak" .

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Happy Winter Solstice!

Here's a site that will give you all the facts:

The December Solstice Explained

Tomorrow, the days start getting longer again and that's cause for celebration for all of us!

Sunday art blogging

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Artist: Albert Welti
Image from Wikimedia Commons

A very moving quotation

Take a look:

Compassion is the willingness to play in the field of dreams even though you are awake.

- Matthew Flickstein from Swallowing the River Ganges

An observation for the season

I really do like this:

As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.

~ Donald E. Westlake

Friday cat blogging!

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Posture really does make a difference

The very well respected teacher of meditation, Sakyong Rinpoche, offers the following on this subject:

To get started, he suggests creating a favorable environment to make it easier to practice. There should be a sacredness about one’s place of meditation. Mindfulness meditation is best undertaken in a place of silence that is not too disturbing. Some people create special alcoves in the home with candles, plants, yoga mats and fountains, where they can be at peace to meditate each day. Others retreat to their gardens, an uplifting place of respite. Another group of people prefer the company of other like-minded individuals at a special meditation center.

In that comfortable place, one should begin mindfulness meditation with the proper posture. It seems that lying down would be the most comfortable position, but that is not how meditation works. A meditation teacher will instead instruct pupils to sit upright, with hands resting palm-down on the thighs and hips straight. Some people who meditate sit on a zafu or gomden cushion on the floor, with their legs crossed. Others prefer to sit upright in a chair, with their feet touching the ground. “The energy flows better when the body is erect,” explains Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, “and when it’s bent, the flow is changed and that directly affects your thought process.” This posture will help meditation pupils remain awake, even though they are very calm.

The above excerpt is from a little article entitled simply "Mindfulness Meditation: Let Go of Your Thoughts" .

Once again, folks, it's all material!

Beliefnet published an article this morning all about the challenges many people face when spending time with their families over the holidays. Here's one of the tips that's very much in line with meditative principles:

Envision your family situation as an inspiring growth challenge. If one of your spiritual goals in life is to learn patience, compassion, forgiveness, or serenity, your difficult family members can give you some wonderful “feel the burn” workouts! It’s no sweat to be patient, compassionate, forgiving, or serene with people who aren't in your family, but if you can learn to do it with your most irritating blood relatives, then in looking back at your life you will definitely be able to say you’ve done some crucial inner work on your spiritual journey.

The article is entitled "Making Peace with Your Family" and you can read all of it starting right here.

Wednesday life form blogging

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Young llama

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Fulfillment in being ordinary

It was really breakthrough stuff for me when I let go of believing it was better to be special in some way and instead began to value the ordinary. I recommend exploring this principle:

And while it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in being ordinary. For the joys that last have little relationship to achievement, to standing one step higher on the victory platform. What is the adventure in being ordinary? It is daring to love just for the pleasure of giving it away. It is venturing to give new life and to nurture it to maturity. It is working hard for the pure joy of being tired at the end of the day. It is caring and sharing and giving and loving…

-- Marilyn Thomsen

The problem with perfectionism :-)

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(double click to enlarge)

Monday meditative picture blogging

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Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The "purpose" of meditation

Here are a few thoughts on meditation that I found, interestingly, on the BBC website:

The purpose of meditation is to stop the mind rushing about in an aimless (or even a purposeful) stream of thoughts. People often say that the aim of meditation is to still the mind.
...
If we are consumed by craving or aversion, we will experience the world very differently from the way we will experience it if we are overflowing with generosity and kindness.
...
Some classical meditation methods use the meditator's own breathing. They may just sit and concentrate on their breathing... not doing anything to alter the way they breathe, not worrying about whether they're doing it right or wrong, not even thinking about breathing; just 'following' the breathing and 'becoming one' with the breathing.

It is important not to think: "I am breathing". When a person does that they separate themselves from the breathing and start thinking of themselves as separate from what they are doing - the aim is just to be aware of breathing.

You can find the entire article right here.

Sunday art blogging

Artist: Georges Seurat
Image from Wikimedia Commons

About reality

I just discovered the website for The Institute for Applied Meditation based in Tucson. Here is something that I think is rich material for reflection:

The experience of reality breaks through as a surprise. You know it's reality because it's so much stronger than anything you could imagine, and it's not the way you thought it would be. If everything that happens to you is predictable, just as you thought it would be, you are probably imagining the way things are and blocking out what doesn't fit. The experience of continually learning is one of awe and wonder. Reality breaks through in your mind as a surprise, upsetting your model. The surprise is that you had assumed your perceptions and beliefs were already based on reality, and yet here is an event, a challenge, or an idea that cannot be accommodated. One of two things happens next: either you expand your model of reality, or you deny the new event and freeze your model. The first path leads to insight.

-- Puran Bair

A review of meditation benefits

I've brought you this information before from time to time but I think it's a good idea for us to remind ourselves of the following on a regular basis:

Meditation has the following physiological health benefits:

* Meditation leads to a decrease in the metabolic rate and also lowers the heart rate. This indicates a state of deep rest and good regeneration. * Meditation can reduce stress which is indicated by lowered levels of stress-hormones like cortisol.
* Meditation also reduces high blood pressure, and the benefits of these are known to all.
* Meditation can help asthma patients and make them breathe easier.
* Meditation appears to slow down the aging process of the brain and also thicken the grey matter of the brain, which only leads to an increase in the size of the brain.

Meditation has the following psychological health benefits, and these are proven by many numerous studies:

* Meditation leads to an increase in the coherence of brain wave patterns in the brain, which goes to suggest that it improves creativity and learning and alters the way the brain works.
* Meditation helps in decreasing anxiety and depression and also irritability and moodiness.
* Meditation leads to an improved memory.
* Meditation increases the euphoric feelings of joy and happiness and contentment.
* Meditation leads to an increase in emotional stability.

The above is from a little article entitled Meditation Class for Your Well Being from a website called Carrie and Danielle.

Appropriate and necessary confidence

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I want to assert here today that a lack of appropriate confidence comes from low self-esteem and low self-esteem comes from believing stuff (mainly about ourselves) that simply isn't true. The meditative process helps here by teaching us to confront the mind poison of delusion and to see things as they really are.

I really like the following quotations. May they truly give you material for reflection today:

"I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time."

-Anna Freud

"Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours."

-Richard Bach

"Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong."

-Peter T. Mcintyre

I especially want to call your attention to that last one. So many people I talk to truly believe that the way to happiness and success in life is to make sure they never make mistakes. Needless to say, the stress such people experience is enormous. Even if it were possible not to make mistakes (and it's not) such a condition would make us very stagnant.

Icon meditation

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We do something very similar to this in Session 4 of the Foundations class:

First of all, find a picture or painting that brings you pleasure. Next, find a place to sit where you can be comfortable and won’t be disturbed. Position your picture in front of you where you get a good view without straining your neck or your eyes. Now close your eyes. Focus on your breathing. Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. Be aware of your body as the air moves in and out of your lungs. Establish a tempo to your breathing. After a few minutes, your body will start to relax.

Now open your eyes and gaze at your picture. Take note of the colors, the background, and any unusual and interesting details. Try to memorize it, then shut your eyes again. Now try to recreate the picture in your mind and visualize yourself becoming part of it. Actually put yourself in the picture. Wander around inside it and see what the various components look like up close.

This can also be done with children as a game. It will help them with both focus and emotional regulation.

I found it right here.

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

Worth pondering

And there's a lot in this to ponder, I do think:

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.

- Chinese proverb

A benefit from loving-kindness meditation

I think this is quite wonderful:

The purpose of loving-kindness meditation is to develop the mental habit of altruistic love for the self and others. It is said to "sweeten the mind."

Isn't it encouraging to think that we can actually make our minds sweeter? This can bring us great consolation if we let it. And it can also be a strong motivation for remembering to practice loving-kindness meditation regularly.

I found it on this page.

Monday meditative picture blogging

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This was sent to me yesterday by my photographer friend, Walter P. Calahan, who lives in Maryland. You can find Walt's website right here.

Thinking about language as metaphor

I was looking up something else by Nietzsche today and came across this:

We believe that we know something about the things themselves when we speak of trees, colors, snow, and flowers; and yet we possess nothing but metaphors for things — metaphors which correspond in no way to the original entities.

-- Friedrich Nietzsche

It reminded me of a story I once read about two Tibetan lamas who are simply sitting outside together in companionable silence. Suddenly one of them starts laughing as he points away from himself. "They call that a tree!" he exclaims to the other.

It also reminds me of the great Jewish existentialist philospher, Martin Buber. In his ground breaking book, I and Thou, is a chapter that begins with these words: "I consider a tree." Recommended.

Extra: I just found a wonderful sermon about Buber and the I-Thou relationship called "My Favorite Philosopher". Do read it. It's very good!

Sunday art blogging

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Wall painting in a Berlin apartment

Image from Wikimedia Commons

More motivation

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Here's a way of looking at perseverence in meditation that I hadn't thought of before:

Meditation will only be of limited benefit to you if you practice it on-and-off. The key to success in meditation is the commitment to meditate once or twice every day. Like embarking on a new career with a new employer: if you turn up for work only when you feel like it, you are unlikely to go very far in your career!

It makes so much sense, doesn't it?

I found this on a page entitled "Advanced Guide to Meditation".
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Trusting our meditation

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It occurs to me that when we experience meditation as a struggle it is simply because we have forgotten that we can trust it. I think the following advice, therefore, is very helpful:

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. Follow the stream. Have faith in its course. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. Never let it out of your sight. It will take you.

- Sheng-yen

I really agree with this:

When things get worse before they get better

Many people who are fairly new to meditation are convinced that something must be wrong when meditative practices seem to make their minds worse in the early stages. Not so, really! Here's why:

You may meditate because you want peace. All sorts of expectations can arise in your mind. It is possible that you may experience peace, but most of the time you will not. Why? It's not a problem with the meditator. At the beginning there may be a sense of calm and peace. But after a while your mind will seem even worse than before. Even though your mind may seem worse, actually it is better.
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The reason why your mind seems worse after meditating for a while is that your emotional problems are coming to the surface. It's important to let what needs to come out, come out. Try not to judge your thoughts. And do not chase after them or hold onto them. If you follow this instruction, meditation becomes very easy. When these emotions come up, hold on strongly to your mental focus. If your mind is calm, your focus can be more relaxed. All meditators experience emotional upset and crying when they practice. Let this be and afterwards there will be peace.

-- Lama Gursam Rinpoche

Wednesday life form blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

A transformed attitude

Universal responsibility does not mean we are required to fix everything in the universe. It means, rather, that no sentient being is outside the realm of our compassion, outside the realm of our ability and willingness to respond:

If you can maintain mindfulness of universal responsibility, everything you do — walking, sitting, sleeping, working, talking, eating, whatever actions you engage in — will be transformed by this positive attitude. Every action of your body, speech and mind will immediately become service for other sentient beings.When you sleep, you sleep for others; when you eat, you eat for others; when you work, you work for others; when you talk, you are talking to benefit others, to bring them happiness. The moment your attitude changes in this way, whatever you do becomes an action that benefits others.

- Lama Zopa Rinpoche

A very thoughtful observation

And one very much worth remembering:

If our lives demonstrate that we are peaceful, humble and trusted, this is recognized by others. If our lives demonstrate something else, that will be noticed too.

- Rosa Parks