Meditation

[enna]

My meditation for this morning...

[mfh]

I do like this one...have listened before. Thanks, Anne.

Mary

[mfh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/a-simple-guide-to-meditat_b_3495327.html

Great piece on the "how" of meditation.,

[mfh]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/InnerVoice/Meditate-to-find-Him/Article1-1082377.aspx

Though meditation can be a completely secular method that helps us relax, find our center, heal our body minds, it also is a tool used by the mystics to find God. Brief article about that.

[enna]

My first meditation for this new morning:

I am practicing how to be 'in the moment' and these thumbnails say it - maybe I'm not doing this meditation thing right! I can stay on these mettas for a long time.

[kayc]

Anne, I love both of those, ha ha! Nature and Arlie help me stay "in the moment".

[mfh]

Anne, I am not certain what you mean by not doing meditation right but one thing that really worked easily for Bill (and me, too when I was torn asunder by his deterioration) was to take a flower or a shell or anything with a lot of little details on it...a leaf with veins...Benji's face....

Focus on each and every single tiny detail...get lost in the flower or whatever and switch them out. You can easily spend 15 minutes doing that and it brings you right into the present moment. Your heart rate will slow right down.

Tied up from about 5:30-7:30pm otherwise here and free if you need anything.

Peace

Mary

[mfh]

http://1funny.com/ave-maria-on-musical-saw/

Ave Maria (Schubert's) played on a saw! Lovely.

[enna]

I woke up in the middle of the night and when I do I usually will check my e-mail quickly because it makes me drowsy - Nothing to add to this - just to read...

Posted: 26 Jun 2013 09:36 AM PDT

This is from a poem that I love. It’s called, “Fire” by Judy Brown.

What makes a fire burn
is the space between the logs,
a breathing space.
Too much of a good thing,
too many logs
packed in too tight
can douse the flames
almost as surely
as a pail of water would.

So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood….



This feels like beautiful advice. It’s an invitation to pause and to find the spaces in our life that allow spirit to shine through. So, what stops us? What makes it so difficult? When we’re in a rush and feeling stressed, the hardest thing in the world is to stop. You probably know what it’s like. If you try to stop, everything in your body and your mind is still charging forward. There’s a huge, anxious, restless drive to check things off the list and tie up all loose ends. It’s really physically uncomfortable to pause!

We each have an existential hum of fear that is in the background of our daily life. We have a perception of our temporariness, that around the corner we face inevitable loss. We will lose our own bodies and minds, we will lose others who we love. This apprehension keeps us focused on defending against loss, trying to predict loss, trying in some way trying to occupy ourselves so we don’t have to face the rawness.

Our fear keeps us busily filling in the space between the logs. This trance of more to do prevents us from finding the breathing space; it keeps us from the blessings of sacred presence. When we see this, something deep within us longs to stop. This wisdom guides us to pause and touch the moment; to listen to the wind, to feel the one who is hugging us, to see the light in a dear one’s eyes. This wisdom brings us to the simplicity of the inflow and outflow of the breath. It calls to us lovingly: “Stop and come home. Find, in the space between the logs, the light that is your source.”

adapted from the book : Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach

[mfh]

I do love that poem...it reminds me of how fleece keeps us warm because of the air pockets...same with a blanket...it is what is NOT there that brings about the warmth, the fire....I love Tara Brach...thanks for sharing this.

I am feeling a bit more human this morning but too tired and too achy. Just made out my list for my MD appointment. Will have him run some tests for fatigue and inflammation...it has been a while. He and I team my health...and I have a woman in Madison I also see once a year or whenever...

I am glad you found a good pet resort and I love that they also have TVs for the dogs and raised beds. It sounds like you might only be in the hospital overnight...I know...unless what that crude nurse said happens (there is one in every crowd).

Take care,

Mary

[kayc]

I woke up at 3:00 am and couldn't get back to sleep so took my own advice (that I gave my daughter yesterday) and instead of fighting it and fretting about how little sleep I was getting, got up and enjoyed the moment. I made my special coffee and just relaxed, petted Kitty, cuddled with Arlie, answered email, took a leisurely shower...

[mfh]

I, like you, just give in...I usually make a cup of tea...a special kind that relaxes me....turn on the TV (not in the bedroom...none there) and drift off after a while. Why fight it? Good for you. It does, however , leave you tired as you know.

[MartyT]

From Mark Bertin, MD: Mindfulness Means Nothing: Lose the Word, Find the Habit

[enna]

Funny, I just read Mark Bertin, MD's article this morning. Thank you for posting it, Marty. I thought it was a good article. Sometimes we can get quite confused about 'being mindful.'

[mfh]

Marty, this is a great piece. This author is, imho, so right. "And even when your stress level does improve (as research suggests it may), MBSR does not immediately alter anything for some people or eliminate stress forever for anyone; it is not cure-all or a quick fix."

Our brains, minds, habits, egos, human condition...all of these and more..I think disallows the elimination of stress forever...for anyone. In my opinion mindfulness is a lifestyle that demands daily practice...hence the two twenty minute practice sessions promoted by so many instructors...those in between attempts to be constantly in the moment...I do not think we will ever get there just like we never arrive at perfection here on this earth...but it is a way of being. I like this piece. Thanks, Mary

[mfh]

The following is metta meditation i.e. lovingkindness meditation. I do this when I awaken on most days. Usually one begins by saying:

May I be peaceful and happy.

May I be safe and free from harm.

May I be healthy and strong.

May I live at ease with myself.

May I be free from suffering.

In round 2- one can substitute "I" with the name of someone very special in our lives.

In round 3-one can substitute "I" with the name of someone with whom we have a struggle or difficulty.

In round 4-one can substitute "I" with the name of other friends, neighbors, acquaintances, strangers, animals

In round 5-one can substitute "I" with all beings (below)

May all beings be peaceful & happy
May all beings be safe & free from harm
May all beings be healthy & strong
May all beings live at ease with themselves
May all beings be free from suffering

There are no real rules...this is just a guideline that is commonly used...

[feralfae]

I started yesterday beginning to be mindful of that old trap of pondering the "what if" situations:

What if I had browbeat Doug more to go see more than one doctor the first time he said he felt weak?

What if we had gone to another oncologist?

What if we had not tried to work within the VA for a year before giving up?

What if I had care for Doug more, and he had more time to rest?

What if we had started the other treatments earlier?

Then, I feel guilty for not knowing everything, or for not recognizing things that I did not know about, but I beat myself up for those omissions or commissions I have made. Now, I am going to start reminding myself that I did all I could, learned all I could, and tried all I could. It was truly out of our hands, and in G*d's hands, and I MUST stop feeling that I should have, could have, done more. I am working on turning my focus to my own healing more, and letting go of so much that is merely me using hindsight to keep myself feeling bad about Doug leaving. I did all I could, the best I could. I know we all did.

I cannot change it, and I need to let go of feeling that I failed. Whew!

So, my mindfulness is simply to catch myself when I begin to castigate myself, and be compassionate to myself instead. Huge step. I am going to break this "what if" habit. No quick fixes or cure-alls, for sure, but stopping a couple times a day to remind myself of this life, this moment (I love the spaces between the logs, Anne, thank you!) and this time of being, is a good reminder for me, and helps to pull me out of past regrets and future fears. I am trying to live more in today, and that is a huge shift for me, as I am sure it is for many here -- we have lived in so many alternate places and time lines these past years. It has been 5 years now since we first found out the diagnosis, and I must, simply must, start to live now and not be caught in the fears and loss of the past so much. I am always going to love Doug and have him with me. I don't know if I will ever be with anyone else, because it would take a very special person to break through this membrane of memory that holds me together right now and gives me the identity as Doug's wife. But I want to enjoy life again as much as I can, and that means not letting go of Doug, but finding a comfortable place for him in my heart, where he can always be present, but not in the way of having present laughter and joy.

I am not saying this well. I will think and write more on this later. Sorry to natter here on the meditation thread. But it is about mindfulness and meditation, with an intention to love life and live in life more than I have been doing these five years. Today, I bought some chocolate, and I am going to eat my two pieces now. I am going to enjoy them, and not wish Doug were here to enjoy them with me, and I am not going to be sad.

I am in a beautiful place, where people pay huge amounts to come on tours here with Holland America, and this is part of our playground. My playground. I was playing tour guide earlier in the lobby while we were all waiting for the internet to get fixed. I do love this country so much up here. Did you know one can hop in a canoe, and with careful planning, ride the Yukon River all the way to the ocean? It has been done. Early people would paddle all the way from Whitehorse to Dawson and then on down to Fort Yukon, and beyond. Now there are races from Whitehorse to Dawson, in two-man canoes. I am not sure if they are held every year or not.

The salmon are running, and I visited the fish ladder today, watching them jump up. Very powerful fish, very impressive water. I had a good walk along the Yukon River while the internet was being fixed.

10 PM, time to get to sleep.

Much Love and

*<twinkles>*

fae

[enna]

How Meditation Works - Liz Kulze - The Atlantic

"What meditation has taught me is that my thoughts are not who I am."

This article will open our eyes to the importance of meditation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/06/how-meditation-works/277275/

[enna]

delete - please

[mfh]

fae, I am glad you will focus on scenery...and moose...on your drive. As for the "what ifs"...yes they can drive us crazy IF we allow it. I have a list of them a mile long...I now choose not to give them energy though I did early on. I also felt I failed Bill and now can see that I was, in so many ways, as much a patient as he was...with my exhaustion, trauma, grief and did the best I could even though to this day I wish that had been more. I am glad you are not succumbing to the "what if" trap. They are, indeed, endless....like a detour that leads only to more detours and soon our path is lost completely.

You said: "Today, I bought some chocolate, and I am going to eat my two pieces now. I am going to enjoy them, and not wish Doug were here to enjoy them with me, and I am not going to be sad." I am glad you will enjoy your chocolate. I guess, for me, I do not see a problem with wishing Bill were here with me to enjoy whatever or even in being sad. If I wish that and if I am sad...it is just where I am and i choose to be where I am. I have learned to trust myself enough to know that when I am even overwhelmed with sadness that if i allow those feelings, they dissipate instead of getting stuffed downonly to cause trouble.

Enjoy the scenery...let us know when you land. Mary

[MartyT]

"Today is a gift . . . The only appropriate response is gratefulness" ~

[mfh]

I love this video...have seen it a few times and each time it is such a gentle reminder to cherish what I have....and remember that I have and have had so much even in view of my huge loss.

Thank you, Marty. Great post.

[KATPILOT]

Marty, what a find. This video left me with such a warm feeling inside. I think Kathy enjoyed watching it with me. She always had a love for people no matter what their nationality, religion, or color . It reminds me how we are all just people. When you leave governments behind and just see people for who they are, well it just reaffirms for me how each day is a gift, full of love and happiness. I forget that sometimes.

Nice to be reminded.

[mfh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristin-kirkpatrick-ms-rd-ld/tea-health-benefits_b_3504917.html

This piece is about the benefits of tea...and each one they list matters. I see one more benefit and that is the mindfulness of making a cup of tea...boiling the water, choosing the leaves, watching it steep and sipping it slowly...yes...to stop the war inside...

[mfh]

From Facebook

Meditation Masters "There is a lack of clarity about how to be truly free. No matter how much it is explained or discussed or thought about, the problem remains largely unsolved. Honestly, there is only one solution: set your buttocks down on the meditation cushion and train in how to be free. As far as I am concerned, that is the only way."

~ Tsoknyi Rinpoche