As
we are entering the busy and stressful holiday season, both the
excitement and the burden is palpable for me. The time we have to set
aside to attend to all the things that we need to, the travels as
well as relational challenges that can be anticipated. Underneath all
of this there is the awareness, that when all this is over, I still
need to get to the responsibilities that I set aside before it all
began.
With a deep breath, lift the shoulders to the ears, hold, then drop them with a sigh. Ok a little humour might help:
Biff: Why did the turkey cross the road? Bob: I don’t know. Biff: Twas Thanksgiving Day and he wanted people to think he was a chicken!
Robert Thurman said: we practice, we practice, practice – but when is the performance?
Whatever
we practice we get stronger. What lets us have mastery? The essence
is to have an intention and attention, a sense of what matters and
how we pay attention. Are we striving too much? Too much effort to
get somewhere? To the end of sitting? As in yoga teaching: if you
are a slacker, sit up a little taller. If you are a striver, relax a
bit. Not too loose not too tight – like the tuning of a musical
instrument.
If I have a busy mind, remembering that’s all of us – its not personal. When it comes to self-judgment or such unskillful emotions and thoughts, this mantra helps me: not perfect | not permanent | not personal.
Like
exercise, the practice has to be regular. The body, the heart and
the mind like rhythm – like the revolving planets.
Rumi
asks... do you make regular visits to yourself?
How
to practice? Amongst the many meditation paraphernalia out there,
there is a pendant shaped like a bone that said sit,
stay, heal! How much time? There is no too much or too
little. While waiting for tea kettle to boil? Pausing under a tree
while in nature? While on the metro? Something to experiment. We
are all different, and we might need to customize our practice. Do
listen to your heart when you experiment. What brings calm
happiness?
Having awareness or the intention to pay attention, this is the time I revisit David Foster Wallace’s talk, This is water. I have the link here.
A
meditation student asks the master: What is the point? What
more Master, can I do? The master replied:
No more than you can do for the sun to rise in the east -
so
you will be there for the sunrise.
Breathing
in... I have arrived.
Breathing out... I am home (being the present moment)
Holiday of the Grateful Heart – Danna Faulds
I hereby decree this day to be
the Holiday of the Grateful Heart,
the perfect opportunity to appreciate
and celebrate my life. May I see the
whole broad sweep of my experience,
all the peaks, valleys, and subterranean
wanderings
as the necessary steps to
get me here, where giving thanks feels
natural and right, where love and light
take
centre stage, and even difficulties
have
a place on my list of reasons
to
be grateful.
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