When I was a young adult the ‘future’ held the promise of transformation of a better life to the one I was living. Everything was in the future: work would only happen if I could get the funding; the places I would visit when I had someone to travel with; the people I would reconnect …
Author: Anonymous
A lovely hug
Even before Joely or JJ, my daughter, was born nearly two years ago, I struggled with prioritising making two hours available for meditation every day. But most days, first thing before the day had begun, I would make sure I got onto my mat for an hour. In addition, blessed to be living in a …
Deliberately NOT sitting
Today I'm deliberately NOT going to sit. I think it will be a good idea. I will start my daily sits again tomorrow, but today I won't. Why? Well, since I've made this claim to myself, I've already started to 'want' to sit. My thoughts are intent on getting my daily sits in, but I …
Understand what you’re doing
It took me a while to understand what I was doing. Then, it came to me. What I was doing was understanding what I was doing. For a while, I was in the process of learning what to do. This was with my life, in a sense, but also more focused on the pursuit of …
Sitting in Movement
Every Monday night I go to a movement class. The movement can be anything. It can be stillness, like sitting cross-legged and still, or wild movements that spread wide and fast around the room. It's called Mandhala Sacred Movement, and the way to go about it is to be still and check in with how …
Blowing the mind with dangerous fire
I was once addicted to marijuana. It started as a recreational activity which I did with friends. It inspired me with visions that I could use in my art and ideas that I thought were very unique and astounding while I was high. Sometimes these ideas helped me when I sobered up to have a …
Between Things
Marilyn and Steve snuck up behind me on the boardwalk where I’d been trying to still my fiery brain with the sound of rippling water. I’d seen them here before. They scan the landscape through binoculars for blue herons, and wallow in wonder with every glimpse of one. I wanted to wallow in wonder, too. …
Stopping and Snowballing
Last week I started to stop my daily meditations. By the end of the week I was not getting my two sits in. This problem reminds me of a poem that was in the book, "The Moon Appears When the Water is Still." A monk arrives at a woman's house and is looking for a …
What Has Helped Me
Ryan Shelton, creator of this blog, wrote in a most recent post, "I want people to feel encouraged and supported in practicing however they can within the limitations of the rest of their lives. I don’t know exactly how to help..." That struck me. I too, as a writer for this blog, feel the same …
Be Quiet and Listen
This is a discussion that I have listened to multiple times and continue to get more out of it. I've posted it on this blog before, because it is a truly marvelous and very Dhamma-like conversation. http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-video/knowledge-and-the-transformation-of-man-part-1-of-18.php The discussion is about as close to 'what is' as you can get, aside from meditating. It's the …
Living Vipassana 