Daily Drops

Touch and Go helps us meet our thoughts more gently and return our attention to our breath. Touch and Go feels more gentle like a badminton game and less intense like tennis or racquet ball.

Sometimes I feel foolish sitting in meditation when the world is literally on fire or my personal life needs tending. When this happens it helps me to remember that practice helps keep us tender. Towards ourselves, each other. Part of being tender is being open to experiencing what is happening. In our local world, in our global world. We are reminded of our interconnectedness. We are inspired to help create change for the benefit of all.

Arriving to our practice can feel like trying to park a car that's going 70 MPH.

Sometimes, we bring a lot of "stuff" to our formal practice. We take out seat and there it is! Sometimes, the stuff we bring has a sense of momentum, speed, and urgency to it. When this happens, it can be helpful to first check in with ourselves. To note feelings, thoughts and overall being-ness. Take a few deep breaths. In this way, we can welcome ourselves with some gentleness, thus setting a softer attitude towards practice and what may be arising.

We are here. We are capable of great things. Practice is not a kind of magic trick but maybe there is something magical in what we discover. For example, that we are not our thoughts.

It's a brave thing to sit in front of our own mind. To STOP.

We may find that in taking such a pause some things become more noticeable. For example, the voices in our head. Coming into stillness can help us reconnect with the more wise, kind, and loving voices often muted by louder, more negative ones. We come to remember that we are already good enough, whole and worthy.

When we start to work with the habits of our minds we may find a sneaky kind of aggression towards ourselves. The kind that diminishes our confidence, our motivation to try something new. The list could go on....But what if we were to investigate a little? What if we were to question why it is we are so hard on ourselves? What lies beneath these habits?

To begin our seated practice, we are invited to stay. It almost feels counter intuitive given our conditioning to be always on the move. To be constantly narrating the story of our lives, rather than experiencing it.

I find a little humor in this instruction. I imagine a race car arriving at the starting line only to then be instructed not to hit the gas and GO!

Our puppy, Nacho, is about to be one-year-old. There was quite a bit of patience, love and training involved. And, much like in our seated practice, the hope is that we are training him in such a way that he enjoys being with us!

When we hold our practice and our "puppy" within the cradle of gentleness we meet each other as we are and, in doing so, continue the cultivation of gentleness.

Sometimes we may find we are holding more than allowing. We feel more tension than ease. At such times, it may be helpful to take the view that we can hold our practice within a cradle of gentleness. When we feel physical discomfort, we can gently adjust our posture. When we find ourselves distracted we can gently label the experience "thinking" and return our attention to our breath. When we notice we are being aggressive with ourselves, we can notice that, too, and take a fresh start. There can be strength in being gentle.

Let's review and practice the 3 steps to Mindfulness Meditation practice.

Even a regular listener/practitioner can discover something fresh in familiar practices and routines.

*This is the correct spelling of the website dharmamoon.com that is referenced in this Drop.

Welcome to Daily Drops! Consider this Drop a fresh start that includes a little about me, mindfulness meditation, and some of the benefits that we might notice with consistent practice. Thank you for listening.

Sometimes contrasting experiences seem to arise together. Like warm water in an outdoor shower on a chilly and breezy day. Like grief and gratefulness, joy and sorrow.

Part of being human is relating. Relating with our thoughts, feelings, sensations, people, pets, planet...Mindfulness meditation encourages us to begin with ourselves right where we are.

Something I have been thinking about lately is our ability to transform the energy of a feeling. Maybe even an emotion. What helps me is to be curious about the feeling or the emotion. Curiosity helps me to create a little space around the experience. And in this space, maybe the realisation that I can transform the experience simply by welcoming it and being willing to work with it. To better understand where it may be coming from.

Prajna is a Sanskrit word that can be defined as "wisdom" or "knowledge." I find that with practice, with our noticing and our returning, we are creating space. Space for prajna to come through. It could be during our practice or even after. In our noticing there is a letting go and in that letting go there is a space. Maybe just a sliver....

Why do we push against the things that may be good for us? I know I am a better person, partner, and friend when I sit consistently. So why do I sometimes avoid it and how can I work with this?

Perhaps there are some professions and practices where perfection is essential. First thought: surgeons. Practice is essential to perfecting technique because the outcome, in the case of surgery, need be as close to perfect as possible. In this case, the desired outcome of practice is perfection, or as close to it as possible.

In the case of mindfulness meditation, however, practice is just that, practice. And...thank goodness! What a relief to know we are not being asked to take away, fix or add on to anything. Just be where you are and as you are. Letting practice be practice.

In this Drop we give the mind something to chew on. We will bookend our practice with a few moments of mindfulness meditation and in the middle introduce a topic for contemplation. When your mind wanders, instead of returning your attention to the sensation of your breath, return to the contemplation.

Meditation is not a magic bullet by any means, but it sure can help us when things become more difficult. At such times, my mind can feel like a boardroom and all my emotions the "players" at the table. My practice has helped me to notice when the boardroom of my mind is noisy, unruly, and confusing. With this noticing, I am better able to observe what is arising rather than reacting so much. A more skill full response comes through.

Together, gentleness & humor can help us get to our practice. In addition to this "power couple" we might add some curiosity and off we go....

Change is healthy. Change is hard. Change is HERE.

While there is comfort in experiencing only what we know, there is a freedom that arrives when we accept that even what we think we know will change, too.

What could be better than getting to know the workings/habits of our minds? Maybe getting to UNKNOW some of the workings/habits that don't serve us so well. Meditation invites us to take a look and this looking includes all of the knots we find ourselves tangled in.

Gentleness. The container that holds our practices, our experiences, our lives. If we let it! After all, all things change.

So, why do we become so stuck, so rigid, and so afraid? I'm asking why not to judge, rather, to open a door to curiosity. During the worst parts of my cancer treatment, my practices needed to change. But first, I needed to change. I had to let go of how I thought practice should be and more attuned to what I needed them to be.

In becoming more flexible, more accepting, I allowed myself to modify practice in ways that met me right there in the experience I was having. If this meant lying down for meditation practice, so be it! It was only temporary.

This recording got windy, so watch your volume...

In this Drop we wrap up an introduction to The Four Noble Truths. Right now, for me, these truths point to the practice of seeing things as they are and working with things as they are. Considering the Four Noble Truths, especially the fourth one, helps me check myself. How am I being? Am I clear on what I am doing, saying, thinking....like a spine helps to support a body, The Four Noble Truths offers a backbone to our being.

The Fourth Noble Truth invites us on a journey. A weaving and winding walk in which we are encouraged to pace ourselves and reflect. Personally, I consider myself a beginner on this path. I find there is so much to contemplate and integrate. I'm reminded of the benches I encounter when walking in local wooded paths. Benches that remind us to sit, take it in, and reflect. To go slow.

If you are curious about a deeper dive on this topic or continuing to expand your understanding of Buddhist concepts and meditation, I invite you to check out dharmamoon.com. Dharma Moon is an on-line mindfulness based learning community. It is my "hub" for study, support and community. They offer on-going workshops, courses, free community sits and more.

The Buddhist story of the second arrow teaches us how we might relate with our suffering more skillfully. Consider the first arrow as pain(stubbing your toe) and the second arrow the thoughts (who put that brick there!), feelings (how am i supposed to walk the dog with this broken toe?), emotions (anger at whoever put the brick there), and interpretations(Why is life always punishing me!) that we pile on top of our pain. 

Which arrow hurts more? Which arrow do we have control of?

The First Noble Truth tells us that suffering exists. Life includes suffering. And what of pain? What is the relationship between suffering and pain? 

If I titled this episode "Suffering", you might not press PLAY. Click it anyway! 

There is good news coming along side this overview of first of the Four Noble Truths. 

In this bundle of Drops we explore a foundational teaching of Buddhism, The Four Noble Truths. While I do not consider myself a Buddhist, I would say I am a student of Buddhism.  Through study and practice, I've discovered new ways of being in and relating with our uncertain world. Ways that cause a little less suffering and a little more acceptance with what is. I hope that the Daily Drops continue to mirror my intention to offer what has been of benefit to me and reflect some small benefit to you. 

This is the last Drop in our second installment titled, "Thoughts on Thinking." 

 Practice reveals all kinds of things when we take our seat. We may even discover changes in our post meditation practice (LIFE) when we practice consistently. Personally, the most impactful shift I have noticed in my daily life is a slowing down of the speed at which I react to stimuli. In fact, this slowing down seems to afford me more space in which to transform a hasty reaction into a more skillful response. 

Thank you for being here. We will sit again soon.

Sammy

In this episode, we are reminded of what mindfulness meditation is not. 

I hope you enjoy the geese that close today's practice out! 

Pausing our doings does not have to be complicated. Use the resources you already have. Be creative with what you use to support yourself in seated meditation. Instead of thinking things have to be "just so" before you begin, just begin.

My sound studio today is a little loud (waves), so do adjust your volume for this one!

The mind goes where it goes. It's been interesting, personally, to see where it goes when I am waiting.  

When we decide to stay in our seated practice we notice things come up. Thoughts, sensations, emotions, sounds, pets....Our practice encourages us to stay so we may experience a moment of getting more familiar with ourselves. Thoughts included. 

Practice encourages us to become more familiar with ourselves and habits of our minds, how we relate with our own mind. Depending on how that relationship is showing up in our practice, we may find that placing our attention on our breath (step 2) is overwhelming. 

This drop reminds us that it is OK to make adjustments, OK to default to kindness. We could try changing the focus of our attention from our breath to a sound we can hear. 

When we take a comfortable, upright seat, we might notice our posture beginning to inform our being.  As our spine lengthens and we begin to feel more present, we might feel a sense of "ahhh". Maybe not!  Easy is not the point here, but showing up is. When we show up and notice what is happening, right here and on the spot, we become more skillful with being with what is. Both in our practice and our lives. 

Why stop everything and just sit with ourselves? It's not easy and it might even be BORING! Why bother.

One benefit of consistent practice that I have personally noticed, how it is beginning to weave itself into my daily living. For example, I can be in conversation with someone and suddenly notice that I am starting to put my own interpretation on what this person is saying, rather than what they are actually saying. I can notice and then pivot back to active listening right on the spot!

No matter how we are meeting our mind, here we are! 

Are we developing more of a capacity to meet ourselves and our thinking with a little less judgment and a little more compassion?  What would it feel like to just notice our thinking without adding anything? Our thinking is simply happening, much like our breath is simply happening. Maybe we can practice just letting thoughts be there just as our breath is just there. 

Welcome yourself here. Notice how you are meeting yourself. How are you meeting your mind?  

We remember that when we practice with what is around us (sounds, smells, perceptions) we are practicing being in relationship with life as it is, whether in seated practice or scrubbing the floor. We might even start to notice that everyone, everything, is a teacher. Even a seagull. 

Ever found yourself having thoughts about your thinking? Especially, when you are thinking about thoughts? With Practice, mindfulness meditation can help us notice our distractions, such as negative repeated thought patterns and learn to gently pivot back to our breath, back to the moment, and back to the life we are living right now. 

We begin this second batch of Daily Drops remembering why they were originally created, to pause our human doings in support of our being human. With practice, we begin to cultivate space where our doings in life may be better informed by how we are being in our lives. This episode includes a brief review of the steps of foundational mindfulness meditation. For a deeper review, please refer back to the first batch of Drops 1-31. 

Being in nature reminds us of our connection to all things. We are nature and nature is us. When we forget, or ignore this truth, we suffer. Spending time outside is an important part of my practice. Just listening to sounds in nature can bring me back to a sense of connectedness with my surroundings, my self and those I relate with. From this renewed connection I'm more likely to move in more positive directions and struggle a little less. 

Contentment is the ability to be with what is without wishing it were something else. Happiness feels more fleeting and dependent on things being a certain way. I'm not knocking happiness by any means. I'm merely suggesting that contentment offers us something long after we lick the last of a tasty ice cream treat.