In the deepest forms of insight we see that things change so quickly that we can’t hold onto anything,
and eventually the mind lets go of clinging.
Letting go brings equanimity. The greater the letting go, the deeper the equanimity.
In practice we work to expand the range of life experiences in which we are free.
U Pandita
photo brookie
When I was a child in New York City in the 1940s there were laws that attempted to legislate the Biblical injunction “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” Businesses were closed. Shopping stopped. There were no convenience stores. People needed to remember, in advance of the Sabbath, to provide for the upcoming day of rest and spiritual reflection so that, on that day, they could rest. The community collectively caught its breath. Family members spent time with each other. They renewed connections. They visited neighbors. I like to imagine that, whether or not people went to religious services, there was the possibility in that period of a pause for reflection. “What am I doing with my life?” “Is what I am doing good for me?” “Is it good for other people?” “Does my life make a difference in the world?” “Could my life make more of a difference in the world?”
All of the important fundamental questions in life seem to be waiting, so to speak, next on-line at the top of the mind’s agenda, if only we give them the time and the space to present themselves.
Sylvia Boorstein
There are many different ideas of “you” in your mind, each with its own agenda. Each of these “you’s” is a member of the committee of the mind. This is why the mind is less like a single mind and more like an unruly throng of people: lots of different voices, with lots of different opinions about what you should do. Some members of the committee are open and honest about the assumptions underlying their central desires. Others are more obscure and devious. …One of the purposes of meditation is to bring these dealings out into the open, so that you can bring more order to the committee — so that your desires for happiness work less at cross purposes, and more in harmony as you realize that they don’t always have to be in conflict.
Thanissaro Bhikku
A change in the weather in Ireland this morning – gone noticeably cooler – but it still remains bright and clear. A perfect day for a Autumnal walk, to appreciate the changing colours. Tuning into the change in nature’s rhythms is good for our internal sense of balance, as we see that things arise and pass away, and that life cannot be composed only of periods of growth and achievement. However, walking has significant physical health benefits also, as studies show that being out in natural light increases serotonin levels in the brain, as even on a cloudy day the light outside is normally greater than what can be achieved indoors. Thus, a break away from the desk or the computer helps us to let go of some of the stresses that each day brings and see things in perspective:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things
“This is boring” or “This is not working”, or “I can’t do this”. These are judgments.
Actually they are just thoughts.
It is important to recognize them as judgmental thinking and remind yourself that our practice involves suspending judgment and just watching whatever comes up, without pursuing them or acting in any way
Jon Kabat Zinn
When one composes one’s mind and looks inwards, there is a sense of coming to one point. If we are not caught in the thinking process, we can be aware of the here and now, the body, the breath, mental states, moods; we can allow everything to be what it is. The attitude of many people in meditation is that there is always a need to change something. There might be an attempt to attain a particular state or some kind of blissful experience they have had before, or even if they haven’t had anything like that, they might hope that if they continue to practise, they will. When we practise meditation with this idea of getting something, then even the idea of practice, even the word ‘meditation’, can bring up this conditioned reaction of: ‘There’s something I’ve got to do. If I’m in a bad mood I should get rid of that mood. I’ve got to concentrate my mind.’ If the mind’s scattered and we’re all over the place, ‘I should make it one-pointed; I’ve got to concentrate.’ And so we make meditation into hard work and there is a great deal of failure in it because we’re trying to control everything through these ideas
Ajahn Sumedho, Developing an Attitude toward Meditation
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