Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Habit Energy I tossed and turned all morning. And a good bit of the night, as well. It's my son's birthday. My son who isn't here anymore. My son who died xx years ago. My son the ghost who haunts my heart and my soul. Dead now four times longer than he lived. But it wasn't him who roused my mind this morning. No, it was a much more pedestrian trouble: money issues. Figuring out how to manage our debt, when I don't have a royal palace or myriad objet d'art to auction away.* As Thich Nhat Hanh mentions above, I've already caught myself dipping in and out of a book, a game, not a TV show, but that's par for the course. I started, but I was never there to begin with. I was in my money anxiety place or my son's mourning place . . . anywhere but here, actually being present, only timing in when I was reading the Thich Nhat Hanh passage and when I thought about it du...

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Ruling the Five Skandhas (*For certain values of Buddha) I know there are times when I am closer to Buddha nature, closer to the Sage, but they are not numerous. I need to find more times to feel the mindfulness, the connection, the sense of unity of all, above all.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Ruling the Five Skandhas Recognize it. Accept it. Put it aside for a moment. Make the best decision you can under that time-out, that pause that lets you act instead of re act. “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl (attributed) "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Frank Hebert (Dune)

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Ruling the Five Skandhas I'm out of practice. Never been in practice, rather, since I was a baby and always present in life. It's tough to pratcie. (I want patience now !) I want to be good at it right away. Like with everything else I do because we stop doing things we're not immediately good at. Right? That's how we all do it, right? Aw, biscuits. Anyway, yes, I need to practice using my body, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness properly. (Though I have made some progress along my path to the Stoic versions of these goals.)

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindful Living When you eat your breakfast... When you brush your teeth... When I urinate... When you drive to and from work... It is possible to enjoy mindful living during every moment of daily life. And so it goes. * Learning to find moments to steal away my attention from whatever and be present in the moment. Then seeing if these moments will begin to gather, to snowball (or at least accrete) until more of my day is spent in effortless presence. And it needs to be effortless. Like trying to force myself to go to sleep, it doesn't work if I have to make it work. I need to discover mindfulness, not create it.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindful Living So far, this book can be summed up as "Pay attention" And yet this painfully simple lesson is still unlearned and must be practiced.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Touching the Earth Acknowledging Nature, physically being within it and focusing on it, is not something I normally do . . . up to now. I do often sit and watch the sunset in the evening, watching the beautiful colors and canvas. I guess that counts, but I don't usually go interact with Nature. I observe it, but I don't go out and touch it. But that can change.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Walk Like a Buddha This, and all that has come before it in this small book, gives me so much hope, my cynicism wants to kick in: I'm afraid that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn't true. It works for me in small spurts, but will it become regular and more often? Will I learn to achieve this state more perfectly? Will it help me learn this way for the ong-term? Will it help me find tranquility and equanimity? To live a better life, both in aims and in quality?

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Walk Like a Buddha A simple pattern to follow, without being restrictive. No compulsion to do or not do, but freedom of choice, of self-direction. Waiting for myself to catch up to my will. Not forcing it, just pausing, waiting. Then ready set go action cut until ready again.

Today's Meditation(s): My previous readings reminded me of this. I guess Mr. Mencken knew how to breathe. 

Today's Meditation(s): My dad died a year ago and a few weeks. I've noticed a lot of him in myself lately. How I phrase things. Vocal inflections. Verbal idiosyncrasies that make me happy to notice and to wonder if my kids might someday do the same thing: unconsciously (or consciously) using my words, perhaps their great- - - grandfather's words, when they talk with their kids. (And secretly thinking how cool that would be.) I've thought about my dad recently, sharing stories with my family. Seeing bits of him in myself and hoping he'd approve.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Walk Like a Buddha That's why the bottle didn't slice. My mind and my spirit are goin' north and south ! I am here. It is now. I can think that walking as well — tuning  in instead of tuning out as usual while walking — I, too, will find walking natural and joyous, an experience worth my attention. (Which would be an argument that I had gotten it at least a bit right that time.)

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Walk Like a Buddha Tao Te Ching 2 One reminded me of the other. Who knew two philosophies set to  living properly might say similar things? Doing without trying. Doing without doing.  We know they are wise by how they live. Teaching nothing. Showing everything. My father lived his life well. Showing me a good way to live. How to be a good person.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath Last one from this teaching. Child's play. Said the master with how many decades of experience? The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things.  (Tao Te Ching 1) How can I believe that it's this simple? I  want  it to be. I  want  this to be true. But how can I, a simpleton of meditation, believe it?   I can't. But I can trust. I can trust that a person who can speak simply like this, who can describe concepts like this, deep meaning in plain language and easy prose, means well and wants us to find peace and tranquility, happiness and serenity. So I believe. And I try to find the path he is sharing. Though he cannot relate the Ultimate Truth™, he can point me in a direction where I might dis...

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath I don't have to meditate on a schedule? With an agenda? Within a specific pattern else I'm 'doing it wrong'? Thank you. For reminding me it's about peace of mind and tranquility. Not about checking boxes on a post-meditation evaluation form. Thank you.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath It can become a virtuous cycle: breathe in naturally, be here, be now, notice beauty and peace, feel calm and tranquility, breathe out, feel it more, breathe again naturally, continue. It has certainly felt that way to me at times.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath I've done this before as well. How cool is that. Reading until I find inspiration, then stopping so that I can find inspiration in the same passage another day, leads to this. Since I began reading this book, and shifted my understanding of meditation to mindfulness and presence rather than emptiness and stillness, on those days when I saw the sunset —.which was actually pretty often given that sitting on the porch is one of my favourite passtimes — I would, indeed, find myself in that frame of mind, feeling my breath go in and out in its usual way, but yet now also a conscious rhythm, repeating "I an here. It is now." 

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath Breath in. I am here. Breath out. It is now. Tune in. Where am I?  I'm using the restroom at 4 AM, having stumbled out of bed almost unconscious. I laughed. I've also noticed myself smiling during my brief meditations, as Thich Nhat Hanh mentions above, even before I read this section. It's helping. It's making a difference.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath It's just there, if I remember to look for it. The last fews days, approaching meditation as something that is easy and natural, have been remarkable. I find myself meditating for even just 5 or 10 seconds, breathing normally and repeating my new mantra: "I am here. It is now." Sitting in traffic. Laying in bed. Listening when I don't feel like listening. Watching the sky or the game. As I doze off. When I play a game with friends. Cleaning around the house. Dealing with troubles or reveling in tranquility.  Thinking of meditation as full presence, rather than empty-headed nothingness, resonates deep inside me. Makes perfect, and practical, sense to me. I am overcome with joy at this new understanding my life.

Today's Meditation(s): I am here. It is now. I am here. It is now. I am here. It is now.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Mindfulness of Breath What? Regular breathing? You mean I don't have to torture myself into breathing in for 720 seconds, holding for an hour, then breathing out as slow as I can possibly do it? That meditation is more about mental and spiritual set than some artificial method? I can only say that I am so happy to have found these teachings. Now to do the (easier but still challenging) work.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Loving Presence Be kind. Understand. Help. FFS, I am , and long have been, the same all too often. Just as Socrates et al. tell us that no man does evil on purpose, bodhisattva Thich Nhat Hanh tell us that these zombies do not do so on purpose. They don't know, or they would choose differently. Now I know. Will I make better choices? If so, how often? How much presence can I express in my life? How much consciousness? How much mindfulness?

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Loving Presence I am so glad I found this book. It presents meditation so simply, in ways that resonate with me. I haven't yet attempted a MEDITATION with this uncomplicated sense, but I need to. More importantly, I need to find ways to slip small meditations into my daily life instead of waiting for the "right time" to MEDITATE . I fess the emphasis there is exactly the problem. Start small. Start tonight. Start.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Resting Perhaps it's just much simpler than I've tried so far. Maybe I've just been trying too hard. Relax. Be here. Be now. Stop worrying about it.

Today's Meditation(s): The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh  (ed. by Melvin McLeod), Resting Meditation as true presence. Usually, when I've considered meditating, I envision a blankness, a void where nothing exists and anything that does is a distraction. Perhaps having that wrong impression of my destination is the issue.... If meditation is, instead, fully experiencing the world as it is right here and right now, then that's a wholly different path from here to there than trying to erase everything from existence.