Wednesday life form blogging

From 1000 Pictures

(used with permission)

How's your foundation?

Sometimes we need to be taken apart, as it were, so that we can establish in ourselves a true foundation. Here is an excerpt from We exist! Why? by Elizabeth Young about just that:

If we are building upon something other than the truth, sooner or later our beliefs will collapse just like a building on a very weak and shaky foundation. I once heard a true story. Some men were constructing a magnificent building and they were well ahead in progress, when they realised that the foundations were not sure. Instead of continuing as some would, they proceeded to take all their hard work apart until they reached the foundation. They eventually completed the building which still stands magnificent today over 100 years later! Would you be willing to start from the beginning if you suspected your basic learning was all wrong? Would the building still be standing today if it had been constructed on a shaky foundation... The magnificent building was deconstructed before it fell down... If we are not mindful and continue to build upon our lack of certainty, we will fall down eventually. Is it not better that we start again before it happens when we least expect it?

A reliable meditative practice will give us the courage and the stability to "deconstruct" our attitudes or beliefs or habitual tendencies so that we can build again on the foundation of truth.

Technical problems

I apologize for the lack of posting yesterday. For some reason Blogger is not working in my usual browser and I had to change browsers to post this. I'll try to sort things out today and get up and running soon!

Monday meditative picture blogging

National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

Photo by Bill Miller

More on mindfulness

Here's an excerpt from A Mindful Way by Jeanine Seward Magee:

Many of us spend all our time living in our past or fantasizing about our future, neither of which actually exist. We miss out on the one true experience of our lives, the gift of the present moment. It is the only thing that any of us can really possess in our lifetime. With each moment, with each breath, we have life. If we are breathing, we know we are alive! And when we are aware we are alive, we can find we have so much to celebrate. Sometimes we literally hold our breath. Other times, although we are breathing, we are doing so without any real awareness. If we do not breathe consciously, we are not aware that we are alive.

So often we forget the gifts of our senses. Many of us have been blessed with sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing, and each one of them gives us so much to enjoy. The gift of sight can be a daily celebration. Even if you are in a small office or a crowded city, you can look at your hand, at a flower, or at the sky. There is beauty all around us, just waiting for us to stop, take a few breaths, and appreciate it.

Staying in the "now" is really the key to happiness. Paying attention to the breath and to what is available to us through our senses is a way to that mindfulness. And the more reminders we can get, the better.

Being a disciple

The word "disciple" really means one who learns - who undertakes the discipline of being taught. Here's an excerpt from Barefoot on Holy Ground by Gloria Karpinski about discipleship:

Disciples are responsible for themselves, knowing they are always in the process of growing and choosing to shape their personalities to serve their spiritual intentions. Disciples tend to be open, flexible, and teachable, inclusive in their worldview and dedicated to participating in the healing of planetary challenges. In the movie City of Joy, one of the characters says there are three ways to go through life: run, observe, or commit. Disciples commit.

Disciples are found everywhere and are identified by their being, not necessarily by their doing. Disciples tend to call forth the positive and the good in every circumstance. One by one they discipline their resources—body, mind, emotions, money, careers—and these resources become their servants, not their masters.

Disciples struggle under the weight of rules imposed by external authorities but gradually grow freer by their obedience to inner guidance.

The meditative process can help us a lot with the commitment of discipleship because it will free our minds from their constant judging. Meditation helps us to become willing and open enough to be teachable.

Bringing Our Secrets into the Light

Here's another meditation by Henri Nouwen as sent to me by Linda Cole:

We all have our secrets: thoughts, memories, feelings that we keep to ourselves. Often we think, "If people knew what I feel or think, they would not love me." These carefully kept secrets can do us much harm. They can make us feel guilty or ashamed and may lead us to self-rejection, depression, and even suicidal thoughts and actions.

One of the most important things we can do with our secrets is to share them in a safe place, with people we trust. When we have a good way to bring our secrets into the light and can look at them with others, we will quickly discover that we are not alone with our secrets and that our trusting friends will love us more deeply and more intimately than before. Bringing our secrets into the light creates community and inner healing. As a result of sharing secrets, not only will others love us better but we will love ourselves more fully.

The meditative process teaches us that we can have a thought, we can accept it without judgment, we can let it go and then we can return to the meditative support - which brings us back to the present moment. This process will enable us to face our own secrets without undue distress and will, over time, teach us the courage we need to share those secrets with someone we trust.

Friday cat blogging!

From FreeFoto.com

Observer consciousness

Here is an excerpt from The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle:

So when you listen to a thought, you are aware not only of the thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought. A new dimension of consciousness has come in. As you listen to the thought, you feel a conscious presence - your deeper self - behind or underneath the thought, as it were. The thought then loses its power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it. This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.When a thought subsides, you experience a discontinuity in the mental stream - a gap of “no-mind.” At first, the gaps will be short, a few seconds perhaps, but gradually they will become longer. When these gaps occur, you feel a certain stillness and peace inside you. This is the beginning of your natural state of felt oneness with Being, which is usually obscured by the mind. With practice, the sense of stillness and peace will deepen. In fact, there is no end to its depth. You will also feel a subtle emanation of joy arising from deep within: the joy of Being.

You can experience what Eckhart Tolle is talking about by choosing not to identify with your thoughts. You have thoughts but you're not your thoughts.

Thursday life form blogging

Red Panda, Panda Preserve

Photo by Hank Weaver

These animals are rare and continue to decline, extinct in 4 of the 7 Chinese provinces where originally found.

Do rituals

Here's a passage from Rituals for Our Times by Evan Imber-Black and Janine Roberts:

Rituals are a central part of life whether it be in how meals are shared together, or how major events are marked...Rituals give us places to be playful, to explore the meaning of our lives, and to rework and rebuild family relationships. They connect us with our past, define our present life, and show us a path to our future as we pass on ceremonies, traditions, objects, symbols, and ways of being with each other, handed down from previous generations.

Reflection question:

Name the one ritual - religious, family, or personal - that means the most to you. Why is it so significant?

A ritual need not be fancy or elaborate to qualify as meaningful. One of the most meaningful rituals in my daily life is my care for my dog in the morning. She loves the ritual as well and knows exactly what part comes next in our routine. It's a reference point for my daily goings about and it gives me much pleasure to see how happy it makes my dog.

Letting go

A poem on letting go from the Tao Te Ching:

This is a path of letting go
so there will be room to live.

If we hold on to our opinions,
our minds will become dull and useless.
Let go of opinions.

If we hold on to possessions,
we will always be at risk.
Let go of possessions.

If we hold on to ego,
we will continue to suffer.
Let go of ego.

Working without thought of praise or blame
is the way of true contentment.

This is a path of letting go
so there will be room to live.

Relax with incense

If you're not allergic to it, incense can be a powerful aid to meditative practice. Here is an excerpt from 1,001 Meditations by Mike George:

In the brain the processing of smell is closely linked with memory retrieval, so that a smell can act as a powerful trigger for a memory and therfore a mood. This makes it possible to prime calm states of mind using certain scents - helpful when preparing for meditation. Perform this exercise for the first time when you are already feeling calm. Sit comfortably, light some incense and close your eyes. As you breathe, focus your awareness on the smell of the incense as it enters your nostrils during each inhalation. Visualize the smell as a beautiful light, flooding your body with liquid calm. Continue for at least five minutes. Perform this exercise at the start of your meditation practice if you are feeling agitated. Not only will it be calming in itself, but it will also trigger memories of the calm that you experienced the first time around.

It's worth it to take the trouble to experiment with different kinds of incense to find the scent that really works for you. You can also light it for just a little time (and then snuff it out) so that the scent is quite subtle. This is often a good plan if the usual amount of incense bothers you.

Monday meditative picture blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess

The original mind

Here is a wonderful description of the mind by Ajahn Chah:

About this mind... In truth there is nothing really wrong with it. It is intrinsically pure. Within itself it's already peaceful. That the mind is not peaceful these days is because it follows moods. The real mind doesn't have anything to it, it is simply (an aspect of) Nature. It becomes peaceful or agitated because moods deceive it. The untrained mind is stupid. Sense impressions come and trick it into happiness, suffering, gladness and sorrow, but the mind's true nature is none of those things. That gladness or sadness is not the mind, but only a mood coming to deceive us. The untrained mind gets lost and follows these things, it forgets itself. Then we think that it is we who are upset or at ease or whatever.

But really this mind of ours is already unmoving and peaceful... really peaceful! Just like a leaf which is still as long as no wind blows. If a wind comes up the leaf flutters. The fluttering is due to the wind -- the "fluttering" is due to those sense impressions; the mind follows them. If it doesn't follow them, it doesn't "flutter." If we know fully the true nature of sense impressions we will be unmoved.

Our practice is simply to see the Original Mind. So we must train the mind to know those sense impressions, and not get lost in them. To make it peaceful. Just this is the aim of all this difficult practice we put ourselves through.

It is really very reassuring to be told that there is nothing wrong with the mind - the real mind, that is. There's nothing to "fix". All we need to do is see what's really there. Wonderful!

Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!

I came across this passage many years ago in one of my yoga books. I was very struck with it then and I still am:

Look to this Day!
For it is Life, the very Life of Life.
In its brief course lie all the
Verities and Realities of your Existence.
The Bliss of Growth,
The Glory of Action,
The Splendor of Beauty;
For Yesterday is but a Dream,
And To-morrow is only a Vision;
But To-day well lived makes
Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
Look well therefore to this Day!
Such is the Salutation of the Dawn!

-- Kalidasa

No Saturday blogging

Hello, folks. I will be away this weekend serving as chaplain to the Spouses of Clergy retreat for the Diocese of Oklahoma. Regular blogging will resume Sunday evening.

Blessings to all!

Friday cat blogging!

From 1000 Pictures

(used with permission)

New Harvard report

I love it how these reports regularly come out that tell us what we already know about meditation! Take a look:

BOSTON, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Exercises that elicit the relaxation response can help your body erase the cumulative effects of stress, according to "Stress Management: Techniques for Preventing and Easing Stress," a new report from Harvard Medical School. The report explains that stress has been linked with such physical problems as heart attack, stroke, gastrointestinal problems and asthma, as well as emotional problems like depression, anxiety and an inability to enjoy life.

The relaxation response, the opposite of the stress response, is a state of profound rest and release. A number of physiological changes occur during the relaxation response. When a person meditates, for example, heartbeat and respiration slow down. The body uses less oxygen and produces less carbon dioxide. Blood lactate levels, which some researchers believe are linked with anxiety attacks, decline markedly. Blood pressure tends to stabilize in healthy individuals and drop significantly in people with hypertension. Studies have shown that this decrease in blood pressure persists with regular meditation.

Meditation is only one way to elicit the relaxation response. Other methods include deep breathing exercises, yoga, tai chi and repetitive prayer. What's crucial is that the method enables a person to interrupt everyday thoughts by focusing on a word, phrase, prayer or repetitive muscular activity. The report recommends practicing relaxation techniques once or twice a day, for a total of 10 to 20 minutes daily. Evidence suggests the more often a person practices these techniques, the better the outcome.

Common sense, people. Common sense!

Thursday life form blogging

Photo by Cynthia Burgess