Living with peace during COVID - by Dean Solon

For what are you most grateful as you look back over the year and why? I am most grateful to have awakened each morning to be breathing, to be alive, and to hope and pray that all those who are near and dear to me are breathing, alive, today

 

What did you take for granted this year? Much of the time, I was taking nothing for granted during this past year.

 

What did this reveal to you about yourself and your presence in the world? It is indeed a challenge to be peaceful and compassionate in the midst of chaos and commotion. 

 

Was there an unexpected joy that you experienced during this time?  The great opportunity of being at the shore sometimes, and with the great joy of the ocean's vast presence. 

A Fire In The Head

 by Dean Solon

words are empty.

we infuse them with grace

and with grit.

they have no home

but what we give them.

i consider this,

i contemplate this.

what arises 

is grace,

an experience of who i was

before i was born

into this strange and awkward world.

when i was born,

i came into a light that welcomed me

as another stranger 

in a strange land.

my eyes opened to a terrain

brand new

and oddly familiar,

a land that breathed life

into my recently formed lungs.

i was born to be here,

blown by the winds of seeming chance

that have transfigured as i have grown older

to be something else:

an essence,

a vitality of living matter

infused with purpose and passion

to be an originality of form

and to be a singularity of spirit,

one soul among billions

teeming, streaming

on the planet.

i remember no other home 

but this one we call earth.

yet here I am

wondering out loud:

what brought me to this galaxy,

what took hold of me

to bring me here

and make these footprints 

in these sands of time and place

The Inner Ocean #7

 By Dean Solon

another episode of the ocean clearing the synapses,

washing clean the stray thought forms that pop up.

the waves bringing the good news:

my head has been emptied 

again.

the excellent practice of witnessing what is present

in the space between thoughts

is rendered nearly obsolete:

where the brain is silenced

there is no space to be filled...

when the brain is silenced 

all there is is the fullness of timeless time...

i am noticing the sun beginning

it’s daily descent into nothingness.

it does so with a big show

of fantastical shifting colors,

of daring drops toward the horizon,

of tricking me into thinking it has gone somewhere

when it is here, always here,

a shining light presence

in the boundlessness of our inner ocean worlds.

The Inner Ocean #6

by Dean Solon               

the quiet 

of the ocean’s thunder roar

is a stillpoint, 

a silent space amidst the turbulence

insisted upon to drown out the peace

we can feel and be living with.

the urgency of the waves

pounding upon the shore

is a cascading call to be merciful

in a world intent on

distraction and disturbance.

the quiet 

of the Big Sky

is a blue miracle

with its attendant wispy white companions

a reminder 

of what we fitfully and fortunately remember:

the sacred majesty of creation

and all that is included,

riches too many to be named and numbered,

riches yet to be discovered,

a mystery not to be solved

but a mystery to be savored and shared.    

we like to think we know what we are doing,

we like to believe we have a handle on all of this,

when what we know is life is short,

                                         love is possible,

                                         awe and wonder are exquisite.

A Generosity of Spirit

by Dean Solon

Gentleness with self opens to and reveals a wonderful “secret” teaching: you are perfectly all right as you are

You are perfectly all right as you are.

This gentleness and generosity with yourself unfolds to a feeling and to a sharing of light and warmth, of compassion and lovingkindness, with other living beings.

And so your perception of life and of the world begins to change and to expand…and so the world changes, too.

Sitting…in this moment…in this present and precious moment.

The concoction and connection is already residing inside you.

The concoction and connection is already and always breathing, already and always living, inside you…

waiting to be released,

waiting to be revealed,

waiting to be shared freely.

Dean Solon leads meditation groups on Monday mornings and Thursday evenings at the Resiliency Center.  He has been practicing for over 45 years and facilitating meditation groups since 2003.  He encourages a personal, gentle, non-rigid approach to mindfulness-and- heartfulness meditation.

Rules

by Dean Solon

closing eyes gently...
closing eyes gently...

here we are.  here you are.
your life matters, is precious, was meaningful three days ago before the election results.  your life matters, is meaningful, now.
as long as you are here, in this life,
be here, be passionate, be compassionate, be connecting, be loving,
be doing the best you can.

my sister-in-law's sister said to me wednesday morning:  "they don't rule your mind."
no one rules your mind.
no one rules your heart.

Here and Now

by Dean Solon

none of us has control over the world.
what is included on the earth-plane, where we are, is free will.
it is up to each one of us to be coming to his or her senses.

what each of us is capable of, and is to be working on and playing with, is an integrating of peace and passion.

this is a time of richness, of richness for each and all of us.
this is a time, and place, that is rich for practice.
there is so much to be working with, here and now.

don't be pushing away this world of activity and phenomena,
and don't be swallowing it whole.
be open to be allowing yourself to be encountering and engaging with these interesting times.
be with attention and intention to be living with clarity and with loving kindness.

this is not a time to be shutting down.
this is a time to be opening to all that is
with mindfulness and heartfulness.
this is a time to be awakening
and awake.

may peace be with you.

Clarity

by Dean Solon

perhaps:  when a relationship with a Master is cleared and clear---
                     clear of regret,
                     clear of shame,
                     clear of wrestling,
                     clear of projection,
                     clear of any and all obstruction---
                     then all is clear.

there is clarity.

After Visiting The Meher Baba Spiritual Center

by Dean Solon

today i am back home, no longer in the space of the everything and the nothing.
today i am here, here where all of this experience that we call life, and living, and reality, is.
.
today i am home, am here, am there, am in the two worlds that are one world, am a suburban shaman of the time, the age, we call the 21st century.
today i am holding on, today i am letting go, today i am releasing, today i am receiving, today is timely and is timeless.

today i am living in the peace and the love and the mercy, today i am living in a world of activity and phenomena, in a world that is harsh and stricken and merciless.

i live in this world.  i live in these worlds.  i am shattered, i am whole;  am restless, and resting in Your arms.  i find You any where that i am, with the wisdom of no escape and the great good fortune of no escaping from You.  a life unbelievable, a life beyond belief, a life clear, so very clear, so simply and astonishingly clear.

another day on earth when and where confusion reigns,
yet you need not be confused, and i am not confused.
life may be clear, so simply and astonishingly clear.
clear to the most distant horizon.
clear to, and through, the center of your big heart.

Living In Interesting Times

by Dean Solon

tibetan buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa:
"the basic point of mindfulness is to be completely, totally in touch with what happens in your body and the environment around you.  you are not reduced to an inanimate clod of earth while you are meditating.  you may feel your pulse or your heartbeat.  you feel your breathing.  you hear sounds and see sights.  you feel vividly that you are alive."

Confucius is said to have said 2500 years ago:
"may you live in interesting times."
this is an insight to be seen and felt:
these are interesting times that i am living in.
these are interesting times you are living in.

how fine it would be, how present we would be, if we experienced the fullness---and emptiness--- of Living In and With These Interesting Times.
these are fascinating times, fascinating days, hours minutes seconds...moments!
...crazy times, wild times, terrible times, thrilling times...                                  
           how interesting to be experiencing
           this interesting life
           in these interesting times
           directly, presently, clearly.

how about here and now stating a vow of intention of this?...
           to be experiencing
           this interesting life
           in these interesting times
          directly,
          presently,
          clearly.

sit with this...
life becomes vivid.
life becomes clear.
no strain, no strife, no restrictions.
just seeing what there is, all there is, to see.
just feeling what there is, all there is, to feel.
sitting with this...
              

Receding...and a Reseeding

by Dean Solon


sitting...

with the quiet,
in the deep.
with allowing the world to come to me,
with being in this world with You.

a peace prevails,
a peace abides and resides.
allowing the world to come to me,
allowing a surrendering to Your will and whim...
cravings recede.  cravings for anything and anyone,
cravings for outcome, cravings for life and how to live it,
cravings for human beings to be other than who they are.

so, this is who i am, now.
so, this is a sweet spot,
a great good fortune life.
so, all of this is the same as it ever was
...everything changing in each and every moment.
so, everything is play in the House of the Lord.

resting, in the center of the cyclone,
the whirlwind tour strangely and surprisingly quieting,
i am nearly silenced
and all in
and already gone

What We Sat With This Past Week In The Meditation Classes

by Dean Solon

Pema Chodron:  "Meditation is about seeing clearly the body that we have, the mind that we have, the domestic situation that we have, the job that we have, and the people who are in our lives.  It's about seeing how we react to all these things.  It's seeing our emotions and thoughts just as they are right now, in this very moment, in this very room, on this very seat.  It's about not trying to make them go away, not trying to become better than we are, but just seeing clearly with precision and gentleness."

in this life you have been given this body,
in this life you have been given this mind,
in this life you have been given this heart,
in this life you have been given this experience,
in this life you have been given this path and this possibility,
in this life you have been given this mystery and this surprise.

(with this being easter week, let us add these words):
in this life you have been given this grace,
in this life you have been given this great good fortune.

since you are alive, here is what to do,
                                         here is who to be:
be awake.

since we are alive,
let us be awake.




   

Mindfulness---Heartfulness

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...

A New Life

by Dean Solon
(with nods of gratitude to Ken Wilber and Kim Stanley Robinson)

closing your eyes, lightly and gently, allowing the activities of the brain, the activities of this life, to subside, to quiet within you.
allowing a silence to envelop you, to touch you, to permeate you...

in the inner landscape of your mind's eye, looking around, you may see the great tapestry of the universe woven and weaving with a wondrous ebb and flow, you may be honoring the natural rhythms and cycles of your nature.
we are told the entire cosmos is pulsating like our hearts are pulsating, and like microcosmic atoms are vibrating within us.

to be feeling the rhythm of life is to be dancing to the greatest symphony of all, and to be denying its pulsing is to be missing the essence of all expression.  life...living...is about changes, growth, retreat, activity, rest, unfolding, going inward, participating in the outwards.

a new day beginning, a new day dawning.
who am i, today?  who am i, now?
who are you, today?  who are you, now?
a new being...a new version...a new vision, a new life.

encountering a new day.
engaging with a new day.
encountering and engaging with a new life,
encountering and engaging as a new life.

any and all thought-forms,
like clouds passing across the big sky.
as clouds passing across the big sky...
.

12-13-15 by Dean Solon

the back story is...in the early sunday morning, i am dreaming---
i am with a community, am speaking in the community:  "how do i live?
                                                                                                                     how do i sit?
                                                                                                                     how do i move?"
the words seem to be meaningful to the others, and to me.
awaking from the dreaming, am chanting inside:  how do i live?
                                                                                                     how do i sit?
                                                                                                     how do i move?
at 4 a.m., i am writing...

i spoke my despair.
i shared my despair.
by expressing, i walk the path,
walk through the door,
as always i have done,
crying and laughing.
how do i live?
as spirit, as body, as mystery,
as receiver and as transmitter,
as witness,
as companion,
lying on the killing floor,
born again
and again
                                           and again

how do i sit?
as wandering jew,
as one whose name is bliss,
as one whose bliss is God.
i sit in the darkness,
touching the earth, touching the sky,
radiant, luminous,
surrendering

how do i move?
how do i rise from the killing floor?
washed ashore,
am crawling on the sand,
pathetic
                               and                                as phoenix
rising
as survivor,
as spiritwalker, as shapeshifter,
as shaman-self.

how do i live...
how do i sit...
how do i move?
blown open
with no direction home
whereabouts known                 

A Place To Be by Dean Solon

you may be closing your eyes,
a way of turning off the lights.

now you may be seeing more clearly, more astutely.
now you may be quieter.
now you may be feeling more yourself, and may be feeling more connected.
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.

there may be many times in this life you have felt this is all you need
to be presently happy, to be happily present.

the near-silence, a gift of the gods. 

For A Moment by Dean Solon

i imagined:  one day i will be me.
today, i am me.
what i imagined is who i am, now.
a journey undertaken, under-consciously,
a journey realized
and recognized.
homeward bound, homeward found.

the ten thousand rays of the sun
shining silently bright.
the ten thousand arrows shooting skyward
falling in undiscovered lands beyond the horizon.
we live there as much as we live here.
our vision is uninhibited.
our reach is unlimited.
our home of all homes
is anywhere.

you, a castle in the sand.
i, a watcher, a witness
to your feats,
loving you,
missing you,
wishing you well on your way home.

blown open,
whereabouts known
...if only for a moment.

NYC Writings by Dean Solon

am the one who is awake, early.  am the one who begins to read Wondering Who You Are (by Sonya Lea), a book given to my friend by her son.

each of us being one who creates a myth, who lives a legend, who travels near and far to get to where he/she is.
each of us a trailblazer and a cautionary tale to others who witness and follow and keep on trucking, or not.

it is a special thing, is it not, to be a human being?
it is a strange and wondrous thing, is it not?  it can be great good fortune and/or it can be death delivered slowly.
it can be an infinite number of things.  it can be next to nothing.
it can bring you everything you needed, everything you might have wanted if you had known what you wanted.  it can bring you nothing but heartaches.

we learn so much...don't we?  we lose so much...don't we?
we are left so much by those who leave us behind, and we leave it all behind when we go, as we must.

carol tells a story.  she is 86 and i am 88 and i am rubbing her feet as she is dying.  i grieve her passing, for a time, and meet a sweet woman with whom i have a loving relationship.  then i am lying down, quietly, and am meditating, and i die.

Benevolence by Dean Solon

there is a Benevolence on the life journey,
on the spiritual path.
spirit does have your back.
spirit always has your back.
sometimes, it does not feel real, does not feel true,
that spirit has your back.
because we can and do experience life to be harsh and hard,
to be challenging and chaotic,
to be frustrating, disappointing, heart-breaking.

     all ye who enter here, give up hope.
     all ye who live in the here and now,
     give up all attachment to outcome.

spirit has our back(s).
there is a Benevolence presence
in this life.

Those Who Have Ears by Dean Solon

each day a journey.
each day a walking of the path.
each day a new beginning.
each day an ending with a laying down to rest.
the alpha and the omega.
each day a blasting forth, a blowing through,
of the eternal.
each day an opening to possibility,
an experiencing of the unforeseen.

here, now, at or near the entrance of this new day dawning,
raise your eyes to the big sky above,
so you may be witness to the openness, the spaciousness,
the vastness and expansiveness
of a sky calling you to attention,
suggesting...asking...urging you
to be choosing in each moment of this day's journey:
     will be sleepwalking?
     will i be awake?

the sky is falling?
the sky is calling.
(those who have ears may hear.)