by Dean Solon
Ram Dass: "We are all just walking each other home."
In my lifetime, mindfulness---in its multitude of forms---has become one of the most popular indoor sports in the United States.
It is a sport, it is a practice, that comes with many instructions.
Yet there are no rules...other than this, perhaps: A heart of the practice is being kind and gentle with yourself.
Meditation is a personal journey, is a path of discovery.
Each of us is born into this life,
without a visible road map,
and told to explore.
Exploring, it can be easy to forget you are are exploring.
Experimenting, it it can be easy to forget you are experimenting.
Exploring and experimenting, it may be easy to forget---in this world with a nearly infinite possibility of activities, of experiences, of dramas and distractions---that within each of is is a nearly infinite ocean of possibility.
Within you is a world of mystery and surprise, is a world of awe and splendor.
Within you is a possibility of experiencing connection. Within you is who you were as you came into this life, and who you are now: A being of light and warmth. A being who is, in your heart of hearts, loving and kind, compassionate and merciful, peaceful and joyful. A being who is mindful and heartful.
Each of us an explorer.
Each of us an experiment.
During an interview published in early 2015, Jon Kabat-Zinn (the originator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program more than 35 years ago) said: "In Asian languages, the word for 'mind' and the word for 'heart' tend to be the same word. So if you're not hearing the word 'heartfulness' when you're hearing the word 'mindfulness', you're really not understanding what it's all about. You're going into thought, and you're going into your concept of mindfulness, but mindfulness is pointing at something beyond words, underneath words, underneath thinking."
So, be sitting with this.
Be sitting with this...
with this body, with this mind, with this heart,
with this life, with this breath.
Simply, taking in this moment...
Simply, breathing in this moment...
Simply, being in this moment...
Eyes closed, heart beating,
breath rising and falling, doing nothing.
It is lovely this may be all that is required:
A place to sit, a place to be quiet,
a place to be alive and alert and awake.
So, be sitting with this, mindfully, heartfully...
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "The initiative must come from the individual. In a change from the warrior-like society to a peaceful one at the world-wide level, the more peaceful world starts with the individual. Why? It wakes an emotional change: Compassion."
Sitting, lightly and gently aware of the breath, moving in and through and out of the body.
Allowing an easing of the body, an easing of the spirit. Allowing a feeling of being comfortable, as you are sitting, here, now, in the space we call a planet, we call the earth.
Allowing a feeling of being gentle and kind with yourself, a core of this practice and of this life.
Allowing feelings of gentleness and kindness for living beings, who are near and dear to you in this life.
Allowing feelings of gentleness and kindness for living beings, numbered in the many billions, who are not yet near and dear to you in this life.
Simply, taking in this moment...
Simply, breathing in this moment...
Simply, being in this moment...
Ram Dass: "We are all just walking each other home."
In my lifetime, mindfulness---in its multitude of forms---has become one of the most popular indoor sports in the United States.
It is a sport, it is a practice, that comes with many instructions.
Yet there are no rules...other than this, perhaps: A heart of the practice is being kind and gentle with yourself.
Meditation is a personal journey, is a path of discovery.
Each of us is born into this life,
without a visible road map,
and told to explore.
Exploring, it can be easy to forget you are are exploring.
Experimenting, it it can be easy to forget you are experimenting.
Exploring and experimenting, it may be easy to forget---in this world with a nearly infinite possibility of activities, of experiences, of dramas and distractions---that within each of is is a nearly infinite ocean of possibility.
Within you is a world of mystery and surprise, is a world of awe and splendor.
Within you is a possibility of experiencing connection. Within you is who you were as you came into this life, and who you are now: A being of light and warmth. A being who is, in your heart of hearts, loving and kind, compassionate and merciful, peaceful and joyful. A being who is mindful and heartful.
Each of us an explorer.
Each of us an experiment.
During an interview published in early 2015, Jon Kabat-Zinn (the originator of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program more than 35 years ago) said: "In Asian languages, the word for 'mind' and the word for 'heart' tend to be the same word. So if you're not hearing the word 'heartfulness' when you're hearing the word 'mindfulness', you're really not understanding what it's all about. You're going into thought, and you're going into your concept of mindfulness, but mindfulness is pointing at something beyond words, underneath words, underneath thinking."
So, be sitting with this.
Be sitting with this...
with this body, with this mind, with this heart,
with this life, with this breath.
Simply, taking in this moment...
Simply, breathing in this moment...
Simply, being in this moment...
Eyes closed, heart beating,
breath rising and falling, doing nothing.
It is lovely this may be all that is required:
A place to sit, a place to be quiet,
a place to be alive and alert and awake.
So, be sitting with this, mindfully, heartfully...
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "The initiative must come from the individual. In a change from the warrior-like society to a peaceful one at the world-wide level, the more peaceful world starts with the individual. Why? It wakes an emotional change: Compassion."
Sitting, lightly and gently aware of the breath, moving in and through and out of the body.
Allowing an easing of the body, an easing of the spirit. Allowing a feeling of being comfortable, as you are sitting, here, now, in the space we call a planet, we call the earth.
Allowing a feeling of being gentle and kind with yourself, a core of this practice and of this life.
Allowing feelings of gentleness and kindness for living beings, who are near and dear to you in this life.
Allowing feelings of gentleness and kindness for living beings, numbered in the many billions, who are not yet near and dear to you in this life.
Simply, taking in this moment...
Simply, breathing in this moment...
Simply, being in this moment...
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