When experience is viewed in a certain way,
it presents nothing but doorways into the soul.
Jon Kabat Zinn
photo Bjoertvedt
Category: Be fully present
Simply…one step at a time
As we go through our daily activities, we frequently get lost in thoughts of past and future, not staying grounded in the awareness of our bodies. A simple reminder that we’re lost in thought is the very common feeling of rushing. Rushing is a feeling of toppling forward. Our minds run ahead of us, focusing on where we want to go, instead of settling into our bodies where we are.
Learn to pay attention to this feeling of rushing — which does not particularly have to do with how fast we are going. We can feel rushed while moving slowly, and we can be moving quickly and still be settled in our bodies. Either way, we’re likely not present. If you can, notice what thought or emotion has captured the attention. Then, just for a moment, stop and settle back into the body: feel the foot on the ground, feel the next step.
Joseph Goldstein, A Heart Full of Peace
A new month: possibilities
When the shadow cast
by my past
meets the shadow
cast by my future,
I become the door
that opens both ways,
I become the conch shell
at the water’s edge:
one ocean outside me,
the other within.
Gregory Orr, American Poet, born 1947, Some Notes on Shadows
Where to stay anchored
The past is a memory,
the future is uncertain,
now is the knowing.
Ajahn Sumedho
photo glacierNPS
In one sense – its already here, so just trust
Something deep inside us seems always to think that the answer to life’s challenges is to do more and push harder. And modern working life encourages this, with its demands to produce more, and these messages keep the mind leaping to the next task or challenge. And so we live a lot of the time in the future, thinking that our security comes from something that will happen there. In a practical sense this means that we will spend a lot of moments today trying to get somewhere else. The different wisdom traditions tell us that mental health is related to resisting this, and to living more in the present:
Before a step is taken, the goal is reached;
Before the tongue is moved, the speech is finished.
Though each move is ahead of the next,
There is still a transcendent secret.
Mumon’s Commentary on Kempo’s One Way , in the 48-koan collection The Gateless Gate
Welcoming all parts
I find hospitality to be one of the most significant and most challenging of all the monastic virtues… There is another dimension to this practice which we sometimes might be tempted to forget which is inner hospitality. Within each of us we have a multitude of feelings. experiences, and inner selves that we would prefer to close the door on. We have many inner strangers knocking at the door of your hearts. How many times have I refused to welcome grief or anger, the scary new dream, the embarrassing aspect I want to deny, or the part of myself that doesn’t seem to fit with others?
Christine Valters Paintner, Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
