Devon's back!! Lovely to see you again and thanks for the understanding.
Stray. Hugs and more hugs.
Ruth: thank you ....
Lorianne: Thank you for the understanding too about the move. It is rarely plain sailing I know. Hope Friday night was wonderful. Nothing like female friends at such times.
Very long very intense day yesterday. Sat this morning. Refuge in the breath ..... i'ts the first time for a while that I've realised how little control I do have over most things in life aside from my own actions.
Ruth, I hope you're recovering from the food poisoning: how terrible! And Devon, it's good to "see" you again.
Mary, I hope you're weathering all this recent intensity. I love this image of taking "refuge in the breath." Buddhists talk about taking refuge in "Buddha, Dharma, Sangha," but I guess all of those refuges fall under the umbrella of "refuge in the breath."
Today, I'm practicing being a homebody after having driven so much the past few days. One thing I enjoy about living alone is the luxury of hanging around the house when there's work to be done: I actually don't mind grading papers, doing dishes, etc. if there's time & serenity in which to do these things.
ugh. just managed to sit 10 minutes in the vines before the squits got me again! it's been quite horrid. Luckily J makes a delectable vegetable soup.
it is a beautiful day here and we went walking together. J kept on wandering off the path looking for mushrooms. I usually resist this inwardly wanting to keep the pace up but I found myself able to be much more present and go with the flow, keep breathing. In the end I was utterly captivated by the beauty of it al, the details of the dappled light on the moss, the mushrooms peeping up from underneath the leaves....
lorraine i hear you about being alone in the house. I miss that from my single days. taking it in one's own rhythm.
Well, Nicole, if the question is what do I think I *should* do, my answer is: go on making the time to meditate, no matter what. But if the question is, what do I *do*, the answer is: mostly skip meditating till things settle a bit :-)
I find that my anxiety and general mental turbulence eventually kick me back into practice: it just gets obvious after a while that I *need* to practice, and I get back to it with a sense of relief.
I do think it would probably be better to practice consistently, but I'm not sure what relevance that has to anything :-) At times of transition my practice usually goes out the window, no matter what I "decide" to do. That used to distress me more when I thought it might be going for good. It's not, now; I know I'll be getting back to it sooner or later.
Anything you can do to "keep the pot stirred" is a good idea -- if it's just a one-sentence aspiration prayer at bedtime, or a three-breath meditation sometimes, when it occurs to you.
I think of something Kalu Rinpoche once said, when someone asked what they should do if they were too sick to keep doing their ngondro practice (which is somewhat physically demanding.) He said something like, "wait with joyful expectation for when you'll be able to do it again." Clearly to him it seemed like having a treat saved up that you'd be able to indulge in later. That I think is a good way to approach it. Very few of us who are not cloistered are going to have a consistent practice that never falters. Which seems okay to me. But it's probably better to make your peace with not doing it -- or to decide on some very limited practice you can do -- than to carry it in your mind as a duty that you keep failing at. That will just make the whole topic unpleasant, and then, if you're like me, you'll be liable to avoid it even when circumstances for meditation are good.
7 Comments:
Devon's back!! Lovely to see you again and thanks for the understanding.
Stray. Hugs and more hugs.
Ruth: thank you ....
Lorianne: Thank you for the understanding too about the move. It is rarely plain sailing I know. Hope Friday night was wonderful. Nothing like female friends at such times.
Very long very intense day yesterday. Sat this morning. Refuge in the breath ..... i'ts the first time for a while that I've realised how little control I do have over most things in life aside from my own actions.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ruth, I hope you're recovering from the food poisoning: how terrible! And Devon, it's good to "see" you again.
Mary, I hope you're weathering all this recent intensity. I love this image of taking "refuge in the breath." Buddhists talk about taking refuge in "Buddha, Dharma, Sangha," but I guess all of those refuges fall under the umbrella of "refuge in the breath."
Today, I'm practicing being a homebody after having driven so much the past few days. One thing I enjoy about living alone is the luxury of hanging around the house when there's work to be done: I actually don't mind grading papers, doing dishes, etc. if there's time & serenity in which to do these things.
I hope everyone is well!
The above deletion was me. Ruth, I missed the food poisoning reference. Ach. Horrible. Hope today is much much better.
thanks guys.
ugh. just managed to sit 10 minutes in the vines before the squits got me again! it's been quite horrid. Luckily J makes a delectable vegetable soup.
it is a beautiful day here and we went walking together. J kept on wandering off the path looking for mushrooms. I usually resist this inwardly wanting to keep the pace up but I found myself able to be much more present and go with the flow, keep breathing. In the end I was utterly captivated by the beauty of it al, the details of the dappled light on the moss, the mushrooms peeping up from underneath the leaves....
lorraine i hear you about being alone in the house. I miss that from my single days. taking it in one's own rhythm.
Well, Nicole, if the question is what do I think I *should* do, my answer is: go on making the time to meditate, no matter what. But if the question is, what do I *do*, the answer is: mostly skip meditating till things settle a bit :-)
I find that my anxiety and general mental turbulence eventually kick me back into practice: it just gets obvious after a while that I *need* to practice, and I get back to it with a sense of relief.
I do think it would probably be better to practice consistently, but I'm not sure what relevance that has to anything :-) At times of transition my practice usually goes out the window, no matter what I "decide" to do. That used to distress me more when I thought it might be going for good. It's not, now; I know I'll be getting back to it sooner or later.
Anything you can do to "keep the pot stirred" is a good idea -- if it's just a one-sentence aspiration prayer at bedtime, or a three-breath meditation sometimes, when it occurs to you.
I think of something Kalu Rinpoche once said, when someone asked what they should do if they were too sick to keep doing their ngondro practice (which is somewhat physically demanding.) He said something like, "wait with joyful expectation for when you'll be able to do it again." Clearly to him it seemed like having a treat saved up that you'd be able to indulge in later. That I think is a good way to approach it. Very few of us who are not cloistered are going to have a consistent practice that never falters. Which seems okay to me. But it's probably better to make your peace with not doing it -- or to decide on some very limited practice you can do -- than to carry it in your mind as a duty that you keep failing at. That will just make the whole topic unpleasant, and then, if you're like me, you'll be liable to avoid it even when circumstances for meditation are good.
Hugs, Ruth! Get better soon.
And Mary, I hope things settle soon. It's been a pretty turbulent time.
Devon, nice to catch a quick glimpse of you!
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