Time simply for ourselves

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:ContemplatingCastleBedford.JPG

One reason we do sitting meditation is to strengthen our capacity to be with ourselves. It is a profound act of gentleness, because we allow ourselves to simply be, without any need to achieve or do.  The weekend allows us a little more time to cultivate this space in our lives, through winding down, walking in nature, creating some area for “Non-doing”. This is a key to happiness, growth and to real relationships with others.

No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.

Henri Nouwen.

photo simon speed

The Basics of Practice 6: Not reacting

Karl Duffy1 Comment

lap-cat

In the process of focusing on our breathing and watching our thoughts come and go, we learn that they don’t have to react to every thought that comes into our minds, that just because the mind is jumping around and agitated at times doesn’t mean we have to jump with it. With practice, we become more comfortable with silence and sitting still.

Jon Kabat Zinn

Just passing through

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Cloud front and sunshine currambine.jpg

The impermanence, the emptiness of mind states…..

Just like the weather, they blow in and out.

Good mood. Bad mood. Tranquil mood. Frazzled mood

Sylvia Boorstein, It’s Easier than you think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

The Basics of Practice 5: The natural breath

Karl Duffy1 Comment

File:Heavy mist over lake Kaviskis (Lithuania).jpg

As you start the practice, you have a sense of your body and a sense of where you are, and then you begin to notice the breathing. The whole feeling of the breath is very important. The breath should not be forced, obviously; you are breathing naturally. The breath is going in and out, in and out. With each breath you become relaxed.

Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Open to the life we have

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

File:6 Kryvonosa Street, Lviv (2).jpg

Today dawned very foggy over Ireland and England, narrowing down things and dulling the senses somewhat. Sometimes,  in similar ways,  we narrow down our possibilities by not being open to all  that is actually going on in our lives, as we think better is to be found elsewhere, or in the future:

We often disapprove of parts of our lives without really examining them – it’s like never going into certain rooms of your house. But meditation allows all the voices and all the images into the room. When we open the invisible doors, we can come to rest in the life we have; we can love it as it is instead of waiting for a shinier version. “Every day is a good day”, goes the Zen koan.

John Tarrant, Enlightenment is Something we do Together

photo aeou

The Basics of Practice 4: Just watch

Karl DuffyLeave a comment

Mindfulness is cultivated by assuming the stance of an impartial witness to your own experience. To do this requires that you become aware of the constant stream of judging and reacting to inner and outer experience and learn to step back from it.

When we begin practicing paying attention to the activity of our own mind, it is common to discover that we are constantly generating judgments about our experience.

Jon Kabat Zinn