Oh my, here we are. Can I be the first to say how unbelievable and how really wonderful!
A BIG THANK YOU to Dale for inventing this blog - I owe it and you, and all of you, a huge amount.
I will be there at the appointed hour today.
I wonder, will I perhaps find this rather like listening to the wondrous music of Bach and Pergolesi last Saturday? I was perhaps too aware of, and too much pleased by, Mary sitting next to me and Ruth down there immediately below us in the spotlight making part of this wonderful music to lose myself in the music as much as I usually would have. But I'd not have missed it for the world.
Yes, thank you to Dale for getting this blog-ball rolling, and *keeping* it rolling while our various commitments were in perpetual need of repair. :-)
I haven't yet mentioned that today is my final coaching tele-class: a kind of graduation of sorts in which a bunch of people who know each other only via the *phone* won't be having that weekly contact any more. It's interesting how tight a community you can form via these various online media.
For that tele-class, we were instructed to wear something purple since it's the color of unity & celebration. So at 1 pm my time, I'll be meditating in purple yoga pants: something a bit more flashy than the usual gray, but a nod to *both* of today's Special Occasions.
Uh, instead of "various online media," that should read "various *virtual* media." In my coaching class, we've always used the term "virtual group" or "v-group" to refer to a class conducted on a telephone bridge line...but I think the term is dated now that "virtual" refers to cybermedia.
Whatever you call it, it's amazing how you can create community across a phone line *or* cyberspace.
Day One Hundred - I can hardly believe we're here.
Dale, I want to thank you once again, a huge thank you, for starting this and keeping it going. You've done much simply by having this here to help me stay somewhat on track, repair kit ever nearby (indeed my repair kit includes this site!). "Simply" perhaps underestimates the effort it takes to be there every single morning; simple is not always easy. I am amazed to be here on day one hundred with you all.
Regarding yesterday's discussion, I agree with Jean and Lorianne about HSP & intro/extroversion. Like Lorianne, I scored near the middle of the intro/extro continuum on the MBrigg scale, but on the introversion end, naturally. (Lorianne, I'm just opposite you on that divide, INFP.) I love people, enjoy their company and am quite able to sustain a goodly amount of social contact... but in the end, I do need to retreat. I wonder if a higher number of those drawn to meditation tend to be HSP or introverts? -- at least in societies where it's not mainstream? Just a thought.
Congratulations on your final tele-class, Lorianne. Hope Reggie's doing okay.
I'm excited to sit with you all today. "See you" then.
Re the introvert/meditation thing, when I first started doing it I took a fair amount of flak from a couple of friends who already deplored my "anti-social" tendencies and thought meditating and going on silent retreats was just indulging my worst qualities and would make me worse than ever. I think they've come around, though, since it hasn't had that effect on me, but rather the opposite :-)
I don't know what makes meditation appeal to some people and not others - suspect it is very complicated and very individual...
Jean, I think meditation serves to *equalize* one's tendencies, so extroverts will learn how to be more quiet & receptive, and introverts will discover how to be more social & self-assertive.
Or at least that's what my observation of other meditators suggests.
Reg is sick again...this time from the "front end." (So much for "shitting meditation!) So I've a vet appointment for later this afternoon...and my meditation at 1 pm might be "punctuated" by messy doggie emergencies. (sigh....)
I'm in it right now- can't shut the door, am a temp, no status, don't want to appear out of the norm or part of some 'cult' :laughs loudly:
I'm in a room, my back to the door, ostensibly 'on lunch,' looking like I'm reading & writing email, my eyes are open, and I'm meditating.
Honestly! Doing it yesterday standing up in a crowded subway holding onto a bar with my eyes closed, that was a cinch; today, my breath slowed, I'm chanting my mantra internally (even as I type, 11 years of the same mantra 'll do that to you :grins:), and I think I can 'hear' my heartbeat, which is the metronome for the pace of the silent chanting...
One benefit of meditation is that it enables you to encompass a chaotic background more easily, bringing it into the field of harmony that you've created. But I dunno if it's working!
Connecting to you all... much bliss and love and depth...
I was fortunate to be at home - sat for 20 minutes, with a minute or so of chanting at either end. It was very quiet, very peaceful, very still and you all felt very present to me.
Lorianne: lots of love to you and Reggie. Hoping the vet will crack the problem ... poor dog.
Brenda: one of the hats I wear at the moment is that of a temp. And the needing to fit in externally but at the same time keeping one's integrity ... I have a great fellow feeling with you.
Dale: Renewed thanks to you. Being part of this little group has made a significant difference to my life this past 100 days. I owe you and everyone else a debt of gratitude.
Been sitting in my quiet, empty office for half-an-hour. Had some strange pains in my body. I get a lot of pain in my head, but rarely anywhere else. So I wondered if I was feeling someone else's. Probably better not to tell me...
Love to all of you. And Reggie - poor dog, throwing up is not nice.
Well, I sat 30 minutes *total*, but not uninterrupted. As I feared, Reg got sick (again) about 5 minutes after I'd sat down to meditate...but after the necessary cleanup, we both settled back in--me on my mat & cushion, him curled in the doorway next to me--for a quiet 25 minutes.
He's still resting, and I'm grading here at home until "our" vet appointment this afternoon. It's nasty outside, but it was kind of soothing listening to the "sizzle" of freezing rain on the windows while I was sitting.
And I'd like to think Reg welcomed a chance to be quiet and *rest*, but that's me anthropomorphizing and projecting, I'm sure! :-)
Sat half an hour, distracted a lot but mostly nice distractions of feeling presences which I identified (possibly erroneously) with various of you. ("various of you?" is that English?)
Thank you all. You've been a tremendous support to my practice in an often difficult time.
I sat for half an hour and found the experience very moving. It seemed to me I felt various presences and departures, but mostly like I was bathing in a warm pool of collective light and love. (No pain here.) Different from other sits. Whether it was all in my head or not, I suppose doesn't matter, does it?
My thanks to all of you! This is very good stuff—you made my day!
Sat for half an hour, while a big snowstorm was going on outside - every now and then I'd lift my eyes and see the flakes falling - very beautiful. The dominant feeling during my meditation was one of gentle compassion - for all of us. I thought (intentionally!)of each person separately, and then went back to my breath. We've all had difficulties - some pretty serious - during this period, and the awareness that life is suffering was fairly keen during this meditation. And then there was a lot of gratitude.
Maybe we don't have to wait another hundred days to do this again! It's a good idea, and we could certainly have one day a month that we set aside and plan on.
I've only just got home and caught up but wanted to post on day 100! may copy on today...
first the introvert extrovert thing fascinates me: J is an introvert yet he admits to being stimulated by both company and going out into nature. After all what attracted him to me at a wedding was my walking boots as much as my simultaneous rendition of Bach! I alm an axtrovert and yet i seem to spend most of my time fighting for space....have we got it all confused?
I sat last night, I hope with some of you. My rehearsal extended into a sectional rehearsal (overtime!) because our intonatuion was so shit. So I thought of you all when I was tring to find the F sharp which would match that of our leader...
Then I rushed back to the hotel, ordered an Indian takeaway (lentils and rice) and said I would be 20 mins! i sat and did a loving kindness meditataion for each of you. (Are you still here, John? ). It was lovely and at the end I visualised spontaneously us all hoilding hands in a circle of peace. Given the somewhat stressful circumstances it was quuite beautiful. Then I showered, slapped on some lippy and ran to the concert hall and played Bach and Pergolese with you all in my heart.
I want, above all, to thank you ,Dale, for ...well, for you. Without you we would not be here and nor would any of us have so much poetry and humility in our lives. I hope you'll stay.
Just home so will look at banner and Julian not well, so hang in there.Dale you need somehow to give us access to the site so we can change the template. Perhaps we coule email about this? ruth@wintermane.com
17 Comments:
Oh my, here we are. Can I be the first to say how unbelievable and how really wonderful!
A BIG THANK YOU to Dale for inventing this blog - I owe it and you, and all of you, a huge amount.
I will be there at the appointed hour today.
I wonder, will I perhaps find this rather like listening to the wondrous music of Bach and Pergolesi last Saturday? I was perhaps too aware of, and too much pleased by, Mary sitting next to me and Ruth down there immediately below us in the spotlight making part of this wonderful music to lose myself in the music as much as I usually would have. But I'd not have missed it for the world.
Yes, thank you to Dale for getting this blog-ball rolling, and *keeping* it rolling while our various commitments were in perpetual need of repair. :-)
I haven't yet mentioned that today is my final coaching tele-class: a kind of graduation of sorts in which a bunch of people who know each other only via the *phone* won't be having that weekly contact any more. It's interesting how tight a community you can form via these various online media.
For that tele-class, we were instructed to wear something purple since it's the color of unity & celebration. So at 1 pm my time, I'll be meditating in purple yoga pants: something a bit more flashy than the usual gray, but a nod to *both* of today's Special Occasions.
Uh, instead of "various online media," that should read "various *virtual* media." In my coaching class, we've always used the term "virtual group" or "v-group" to refer to a class conducted on a telephone bridge line...but I think the term is dated now that "virtual" refers to cybermedia.
Whatever you call it, it's amazing how you can create community across a phone line *or* cyberspace.
Day One Hundred - I can hardly believe we're here.
Dale, I want to thank you once again, a huge thank you, for starting this and keeping it going. You've done much simply by having this here to help me stay somewhat on track, repair kit ever nearby (indeed my repair kit includes this site!). "Simply" perhaps underestimates the effort it takes to be there every single morning; simple is not always easy. I am amazed to be here on day one hundred with you all.
Regarding yesterday's discussion, I agree with Jean and Lorianne about HSP & intro/extroversion. Like Lorianne, I scored near the middle of the intro/extro continuum on the MBrigg scale, but on the introversion end, naturally. (Lorianne, I'm just opposite you on that divide, INFP.) I love people, enjoy their company and am quite able to sustain a goodly amount of social contact... but in the end, I do need to retreat. I wonder if a higher number of those drawn to meditation tend to be HSP or introverts? -- at least in societies where it's not mainstream? Just a thought.
Congratulations on your final tele-class, Lorianne. Hope Reggie's doing okay.
I'm excited to sit with you all today. "See you" then.
Re the introvert/meditation thing, when I first started doing it I took a fair amount of flak from a couple of friends who already deplored my "anti-social" tendencies and thought meditating and going on silent retreats was just indulging my worst qualities and would make me worse than ever. I think they've come around, though, since it hasn't had that effect on me, but rather the opposite :-)
I don't know what makes meditation appeal to some people and not others - suspect it is very complicated and very individual...
Thanks for this & for all your kindnesses.
Jean, I think meditation serves to *equalize* one's tendencies, so extroverts will learn how to be more quiet & receptive, and introverts will discover how to be more social & self-assertive.
Or at least that's what my observation of other meditators suggests.
Reg is sick again...this time from the "front end." (So much for "shitting meditation!) So I've a vet appointment for later this afternoon...and my meditation at 1 pm might be "punctuated" by messy doggie emergencies. (sigh....)
Lorianne, I'm sorry!
I'm in it right now- can't shut the door, am a temp, no status, don't want to appear out of the norm or part of some 'cult' :laughs loudly:
I'm in a room, my back to the door, ostensibly 'on lunch,' looking like I'm reading & writing email, my eyes are open, and I'm meditating.
Honestly! Doing it yesterday standing up in a crowded subway holding onto a bar with my eyes closed, that was a cinch; today, my breath slowed, I'm chanting my mantra internally (even as I type, 11 years of the same mantra 'll do that to you :grins:), and I think I can 'hear' my heartbeat, which is the metronome for the pace of the silent chanting...
One benefit of meditation is that it enables you to encompass a chaotic background more easily, bringing it into the field of harmony that you've created. But I dunno if it's working!
Connecting to you all... much bliss and love and depth...
Thanks Dale for providing a space for this!
20 more minutes...
hugs, Brenda xo
I was fortunate to be at home - sat for 20 minutes, with a minute or so of chanting at either end. It was very quiet, very peaceful, very still and you all felt very present to me.
Lorianne: lots of love to you and Reggie. Hoping the vet will crack the problem ... poor dog.
Brenda: one of the hats I wear at the moment is that of a temp. And the needing to fit in externally but at the same time keeping one's integrity ... I have a great fellow feeling with you.
Dale: Renewed thanks to you. Being part of this little group has made a significant difference to my life this past 100 days. I owe you and everyone else a debt of gratitude.
:-)
Been sitting in my quiet, empty office for half-an-hour. Had some strange pains in my body. I get a lot of pain in my head, but rarely anywhere else. So I wondered if I was feeling someone else's. Probably better not to tell me...
Love to all of you. And Reggie - poor dog, throwing up is not nice.
:-)
Well, I sat 30 minutes *total*, but not uninterrupted. As I feared, Reg got sick (again) about 5 minutes after I'd sat down to meditate...but after the necessary cleanup, we both settled back in--me on my mat & cushion, him curled in the doorway next to me--for a quiet 25 minutes.
He's still resting, and I'm grading here at home until "our" vet appointment this afternoon. It's nasty outside, but it was kind of soothing listening to the "sizzle" of freezing rain on the windows while I was sitting.
And I'd like to think Reg welcomed a chance to be quiet and *rest*, but that's me anthropomorphizing and projecting, I'm sure! :-)
Hugs all round, & especially to Reg. :-)
Sat half an hour, distracted a lot but mostly nice distractions of feeling presences which I identified (possibly erroneously) with various of you. ("various of you?" is that English?)
Thank you all. You've been a tremendous support to my practice in an often difficult time.
I sat for half an hour and found the experience very moving. It seemed to me I felt various presences and departures, but mostly like I was bathing in a warm pool of collective light and love. (No pain here.) Different from other sits. Whether it was all in my head or not, I suppose doesn't matter, does it?
My thanks to all of you! This is very good stuff—you made my day!
Sat for half an hour, while a big snowstorm was going on outside - every now and then I'd lift my eyes and see the flakes falling - very beautiful. The dominant feeling during my meditation was one of gentle compassion - for all of us. I thought (intentionally!)of each person separately, and then went back to my breath. We've all had difficulties - some pretty serious - during this period, and the awareness that life is suffering was fairly keen during this meditation. And then there was a lot of gratitude.
Maybe we don't have to wait another hundred days to do this again! It's a good idea, and we could certainly have one day a month that we set aside and plan on.
I really like the idea of doing this monthly!
I've only just got home and caught up but wanted to post on day 100! may copy on today...
first the introvert extrovert thing fascinates me: J is an introvert yet he admits to being stimulated by both company and going out into nature. After all what attracted him to me at a wedding was my walking boots as much as my simultaneous rendition of Bach! I alm an axtrovert and yet i seem to spend most of my time fighting for space....have we got it all confused?
I sat last night, I hope with some of you. My rehearsal extended into a sectional rehearsal (overtime!) because our intonatuion was so shit. So I thought of you all when I was tring to find the F sharp which would match that of our leader...
Then I rushed back to the hotel, ordered an Indian takeaway (lentils and rice) and said I would be 20 mins! i sat and did a loving kindness meditataion for each of you. (Are you still here, John? ). It was lovely and at the end I visualised spontaneously us all hoilding hands in a circle of peace. Given the somewhat stressful circumstances it was quuite beautiful. Then I showered, slapped on some lippy and ran to the concert hall and played Bach and Pergolese with you all in my heart.
I want, above all, to thank you ,Dale, for ...well, for you. Without you we would not be here and nor would any of us have so much poetry and humility in our lives. I hope you'll stay.
Just home so will look at banner and Julian not well, so hang in there.Dale you need somehow to give us access to the site so we can change the template. Perhaps we coule email about this?
ruth@wintermane.com
Bless and thank you all and...
A la prochaine hundred!
Post a Comment
<< Home