Tag: Mindfulness

Saturday in October: Loosening

Karl Duffy3 Comments

File:Caldon Canal Near Endon - geograph.org.uk - 317647.jpg

When things in work start to overwhelm me and cause a struggle, or when someone does something that causes fear,  I notice that two things tend to happen – I get a type of tightening or contraction in the body  and a feeling of speeding up in the mind. So this poet’s petition is a nice one to echo on this Saturday morning: Let the day begin gently, and let space enter in, expand and slow me down. Let the leaves fall one by one, and may their letting go permeate into my bones. 

We do not have to learn how to contract; we find it easy to turn away, to freeze and to blame…

We do have to practice letting go and holding the heart open, to learn how to soften:

O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!

Robert Frost, from October.

photo david mastin

True self, false self

Karl Duffy1 Comment

lake-glendalough

We spend a lot of time creating suffering through imagining scenarios that never actually come to pass. These can be with us even as we get up in the morning. One way the different traditions try to help with this is by encouraging us to drop into the natural calm that lies beneath the restless thoughts – our natural wakefulness, our “true face”. Being mindful is something intrinsic to the mind, not something foreign we are trying to bring in. It is like sinking below the ripples on the surface of the lake and finding calm depths beneath.

In this high place, it is as simple as this,
leave everything you know behind.

Step toward the cold surface, say the old prayer of rough love
and open both arms.

Those who come with empty hands
will stare into the lake astonished
there in the cold light, reflecting cold snow

the true shape of your own face

David Whyte, Tilokal Lake

Morning rituals

Karl Duffy2 Comments

File:Ceremonial Tea in Japan.jpg

In our daily activities we often get caught up in a rush from one thing to the next. The morning is a good time to develop slow habits where we can pause and reflect, before the activities of the day begin. In the cup of tea we take time for ourselves. We can pause, and as Tuesday’s post said, hear the song and remember the lake:

In my own hands I hold a bowl of tea;

I see all of nature represented in its green color.

Closing my eyes I find green mountains and pure water within my own heart.

Silently sitting alone and drinking tea, I feel these become part of me

Soshitsu Sen XIV, 1893-1964, Japanese Tea Master

photo hyougushi

How to stay calm

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rock

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

John O Donohue, A Blessing for One who is Exhausted

Hearing the song

Karl Duffy2 Comments

river-glendalough

I spent the weekend in Glendalough and was able to walk in nature early in the morning among the trees and rivers. Some say even the rocks there vibrate with life. It was easy to feel grace and see wonder, just as we did as children.  So what we strive for in our working days – in the “chambers of commerce” –  is to remember that beauty and grace are never far from us. They are in the leaf, the stone, the heart.  If we listen,  there is wonder all around, and it sings. Can we hear it today?

What can I say that I have not said before? So I’ll say it again.
The leaf has a song in it.
Stone is the face of patience.
Inside the river there is an unfinishable story
and you are somewhere in it
and it will never end until all ends.

Take your busy heart to the art museum and the chamber of commerce
but take it also to the forest.
The song you heard singing in the leaf when you
were a child is singing still.
I am of years lived, so far, seventy-four,
and the leaf is singing still

Mary Oliver,  What can I say?

Sunday Quote: Stilling the mind

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File:DUN AONGHASA FORT INIS MOR ARRAN ISLANDS IRELAND JULY 2013 (9212255198).jpg

I came to the very edge
where nothing at all needs saying …

Pablo Neruda, It is Born

photo calflier001