Tag: distraction

This Awakening Within our Hands.

“You’re always on that phone,” she scoffed. “Are you even paying attention?”

Begrudgingly, he lifted his head – yet even still, he was hardly ‘there’. What was it that captured his attention, more so than this miracle of living? As if the entirely of this universe rested within the palm of his hands.

How easily we lose ourselves to the trappings of a micro-sized screen.

Beyond which, the world holds the promise of awakening. Through the sun’s ascent, we find our radiance reflected; within the hint of ambered hue, the simplicity of our truth.

Is it any wonder that our world has subsequently reduced? Limited by opinions of those we’ve never known.

But when we open again to this wonderment and will, the aperture of heart subsequently grows. Somehow through the living of our days, we find what matters most of all:

That peace comes only through seeing the whole.

A little something to consider, my loves…why not lay down those tinier machines in exchange for a far richer life?

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

Where the Wild Things Lay.

What is your longer term intention, my loves? Is it peace, is it love – or, simply the cherishing of moments in which happiness has graced us with her presence?

So often our days are filled with temporary obligations – take out the trash, walk the dog, make sure all the bills get paid. In time, it becomes our ‘cadence’ – marking a pace louder than any heart might share.

In doing so, our spiritual direction becomes clouded; we lose the context of our being.

“When despair for the world grows in me,” shares Wendell Berry, “and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things…I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”

He knew what so many have difficulty expressing; that no matter the difficulty our direction is clear. We endeavor for the purpose of life’s much higher things; we strive for a peace within.

To lie amidst the wild things, to watch the grasses grow. And, without concern for the ‘how’ or ‘why’; rather, simply for the cause of being.

In peace…

Namaste ❤️

This Blending of Being.

I watched a group of cyclists moving through traffic this morning. With patterned grace, they rode swiftly through – impervious to the murmurings of day.

How readily they integrated; becoming ‘one with’ the amplifications of a city waking – and the rising crescendo of car horn blasts.

Amidst the cacophony, there was a strange sense of order; a sense of belonging to a much greater order. The presence of which lent a sense of calmness and security; knowing at heart we are destined to be ‘as one’ amongst the many.

As once shared by physicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, “We are the universe, and the universe is in us.”
Microcosms of other worldly particles and dust, manifesting to create these crossroads of space and time.

With mindful reverence we begin to ‘see’ – the delicate unfolding of “me” unto “we”.

In peace, my loves…

Namaste ❤️

Creating the Space for Living.

When Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was just a small boy in Tibet, he studied under a famous master named Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche.

One day, the young boy was called into his Master’s chambers. The room glowed with a soft morning light, which at first warmed and then welcomed him in.

As he stepped closer, he saw his Master seated at the window – and in his hand, was the most spectacular object the young boy had ever seen.

What was it, silver?

Slightly bowed at one end, with long, pointed tendrils that at first captured, then shattered the rays into a million points of light. Flashes of gold danced through the room, like Koi, breaking the stillness of the morning pond.

“In the West, they use this to eat,” his master explained. “They poke it into meat and then they use it to lift the meat up and put it in their mouth. Someday, you’re going to go where people eat with these things.”

And, balancing the object playfully between two fingertips, he grinned, “And, you might just find that they’re a lot more interested in staying asleep than in waking up.”

You see, what the young boy regarded as ‘magic’ – was something we might otherwise dismiss. After all, a fork is just a fork – is it not?

I often wonder what it might be, to view the whole world without ever knowing these names. To see something as it really is, and not as what we think it to be.

And yet, here we are stuck in this ‘land of forks’ – where distractions have become a fixture of our being.

Why, even the tiniest of electronic devices – no bigger than our palm – steal us away with each incessant chirp. And, the stories of our lives are shared within the limits of a 160 character posting.

Perhaps, we’ve become too digitized to notice the much simpler things. Like, the way the light dances when it meets our edges. Or, the cozy warmth of a little pup curled against our leg.

To be free of our knowing, to soften our often fixed mind invites the possibility of awakening.

In letting go of this knowing, my darlings – we are creating the space for living.

Creating Space Enough to Choose.

[blockquote source=”Ryokan”]“Keep your heart clear
And transparent,
And you will
Never be bound.
A single disturbed thought
Creates ten thousand distractions.” [/blockquote]

They say there are two aspects to our morning awakening.

The first is that of ‘no mind’—a mind unconscious of itself, free-flowing and undisturbed by the reality which surrounds it.

Like a stream, its waters slip effortlessly over the ‘jagged rocks’—never once pausing to consider how deeply their edges have burrowed. In time, it knows, that even the sharpest of lines may be smoothed.

Here, the mind is separate from our perceptions—it feels, it moves, and yet is never clinging.

And then, there is that of ‘fixed mind’—which seeks refuge amongst the I am’s, the I know’s and the This is’s of our world. It shields itself under the veil of preconceived notions, expectations, and desire. Our fixed mind exists to the exclusion of everything else.

And, it is here where the waters begin to slow.

Interestingly enough, the Chinese character for mindfulness, or 念, is comprised of two tightly interconnected elements – the top 今 meaning “now” and bottom 心 signifying “heart, or mind.”

In a much broader sense, it directs us to bring awareness back to the heart where it belongs.

Zen Buddhist, Takuan Soho once wrote:

[blockquote]”The wheel revolves when it is not too tightly attached to the axle. When it is too tight, it will never move on. If the mind has something in it, it stops functioning, it cannot hear, it cannot see, even when a sound enters the ears or a light flashes before the eyes. To have something in mind means that it is preoccupied and has no time for anything else.”[/blockquote]

Each day, we are inundated with distraction – and, their impact is profound. In that, we’ve been conditioned to feel anxious without them.

“Drop a stone in the water and what happens?,” asks Pema Chodron, “The ripples go out. If the stone is big enough, it can rock a rowboat on the other side of the lake.”

When we empty our mind of distractions, we become as still as a mountain lake.

The trick is, learning to let the ‘rock’ drop without the ripples. And, isn’t it wonderful that every morning – we’re offered space enough to choose.