Yishin:
I feel slightly calmer today during my sitting. Yesterday’s storm has passed. And this is a new day. I have a big deadline to meet and I feel very nervous. But I keep gently pulling myself back the nourishing ground I call home. Meditation has helped me feel safe at times of anxiety. I know that even though bad things happen, there is still a joyful and loving home in me. I can come back anytime I want and feel rested, loved and settled. It’s the matter of having the courage to come home and dwell in it :) And today, I tried.
Sarah:
I think that sometimes people confuse the fact that I practice mindfulness and meditation for me being a mindful person so I thought it would be a good time to set the record straight :) I feel that mindfulness and meditative practices are useful and an important part of my days, but in no way do I claim that I am mindful. Actually sometimes I can probably be one of the worst offenders of mindlessness or not being present.
Today I’m struggling with being present. It seems that my body is stiff and the lights are on but no one is home. I am trying to ground myself by recognizing my breath, feeling my feet on the floor, again and again and again. Change cannot happen fast enough.
Comments
This is an image I've always
This is an image I've always appreciated: An image often used to describe the progress of meditation is that of trying to split a piece of wood with an ax. You hit it 99 times, and nothing happens. Then you hit it the hundredth time, and the wood splits open. We may speculate, "What did I do differently the 100th time? Did I hold the ax differently? Was my stance different?" Although we may try to discover the unique difference, really the wood split open because we kept on going. It wasn't just the mechanical act of hitting the wood and weakening the fiber of the wood that made for that breakthrough blow; it was our willingness to keep going, perhaps not even knowing why.
It was our openness to possibility, our willingness to see what will happen; it was our patience, our endeavor, our courage, our sweat, our heartfelt effort, our humor, our self-knowledge; it was all the strength we gained as we keep going--these are the elements that comprise the magic of that moment when we finally attain our goal.
When we persevere with right effort, the very qualities we bring to bear on the situation comprise our transformation.