Mindfulness

[PartTimeBrewer]

              I am starting a new thread here mainly for purposes of my own catharsis. It is my intention, at least at this point, to make regular contributions. Of course, if anyone else has anything to add, they are more than welcome. If you have any input, please contribute.

              Over a year ago I decided to deal head-on with my self-diagnosed adult attention disorder, (ADD). The inability to stay focused was becoming too stressful. I found myself sitting around watching the clock tick, yet I couldn’t keep “on task” with any project I started. Nothing was getting done and just starting something was becoming depressing.

              The smart thing to do was probably to get professional help, so instead I decided to try to heal myself, at least as a first try. Cognitive therapy and pharmaceuticals (UGH) might be the approved way to go but I decided to try meditation first.

              18 months and countless self-help books later, I still can’t bring myself to a regular, formal meditation program. But, along the way, I discovered informal mindfulness. Yes, I know it is the “Fad” right now. It is hard to navigate modern social trends without “tripping over” somebody extolling the benefits of mindfulness.

              Let me add my voice to the chorus.

[Aggie]

"There is no way to know where the edge really is, because the only people who know have already gone over it." - Hunter S. Thompson

[PartTimeBrewer]

Is there life before death?

[PartTimeBrewer]

"We invalidate large parts of our lives by viewing them as transitional, serving only to get us from one moment or place to the next. In reality these moments are filled with all the richness of life. Pause, be here now, right where you are in this moment. This is it. Breathe..."  ~  Jason Garner

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Loving kindness is the ability to see the humanity in people we don't know and the pain in the people we find difficult."  ~  Sharon Salzberg

[PartTimeBrewer]

Loving kindness is the usual translation of the ancient Pali word Metta. It is an important concept in Buddhist traditions as well as virtually all expositions of meditative and mindful practices. Sort through internet memes on these topics and you will find endless maxims on the theme. Yet, for the past half year, I have rarely touched on it. Here's my problem, it's not that I don't feel loving kindness is important, it's just secondary. Let me explain.

"The beauty of Zen is found in simplicity and tranquility, in the sense of the all-embracing harmony of things."  ~  Thich Thien-An

I don't go looking for harmony in my practice. I look objectively to see what is there. If I find disharmony, so be it. But I don't. What I find is the groundwork to build loving kindness. OK, it's probably just the way evolution wired my brain rather than some immutable law of nature, but who cares. In short, I try to avoid getting attached to any compulsion to be compassionate. I have found, like the proverbial butterfly, if I let it be, it will come.

[PartTimeBrewer]

(Continuation) So I do not feel responsible for projecting my thoughts about compassion or any form of enlightenment on anybody else. I am putting them out there, take it or leave it. Today I ran into a quote, from a respected source that just sets off all kinds of warning bells in my head.

"If we ourselves have ever had even a glimpse of what egolessness feels like, of what awakening feels like, of what freedom feels like, then we want that for others too."  ~  Pema Chodron

This is where aggressive, repressive missionary religions begin, like both Christianity and Buddhism. It is fine to find peace, love, and understanding for yourself, but you can't make anybody else walk your path!

As Camden Benares put it in his fine Book Zen Without Zen Masters, "The subjective fallacy is: 'If it works for me it will work for everyone.' The objective fallacy is: 'if it works for me I can get anyone to believe that it worked for me.'"

[PartTimeBrewer]

"The wild geese do not intend to cast their reflections

The water has no mind to receive their images."   Zen proverb

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."  Lao Tzu

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Boredom comes when we stop reflecting. When we go on autopilot. Rethink the way you do things. Shake up your routine."  ~  DailyZen

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness."  ~  Allen Ginsberg

[PartTimeBrewer]

Today I'm drawn to that suggestion, so I'll decline to dissect and analyze it. Howl!

[PartTimeBrewer]

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you."  ~  Dr. Seuss

[Aggie]

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
― Marthe Troly-Curtin, Phrynette Married