February 1 – Thank you
Dear Friends, One last message for this series of emails, to express my deep appreciation and gratitude for being part of this month with me. As the Buddha said to Ananda, “Good friends, companions, and associates are the whole of the spiritual life. ” (SN 45.2) It is inspiring for me to know that there were people from many places listening, reading, and practicing together, forming a community of support, if only by email. I appreciated your many messages with reflections, on the blog, by email, or in person. I also want to express particular thanks to the teachers and mentors who have helped me over the years. There are many, but I’ll mention a few who were fundamental for this month: Jeanne Corrigal, guiding teacher for the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community, and part of the IMS Teacher Training Program. Dear friends with the Saskatoon Insight Meditation Community and the…
January 31 – We are made more by this practice
Dear Friends, The closing paragraph of Christina Feldman’s Boundless Heart gives us the big picture of where/why/how these practices from this month matter: The noble abidings of kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity becomes immeasurable and unshakeable when rooted in profound understanding. Step by step and moment by moment, a home is established in the qualities that ennoble our lives and hearts and offer a life of wakefulness. In this fragile life, so easily broken and riven by affliction, we come to see that it is only kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity that make sense. page 144 There’s a passage in Richard Wagamese’s book Embers that I think sums up this some of the profound understanding that Christina has invited us to notice: From our very first breath, we are in relationship. With that indrawn draft of air, we become joined to everything that ever was, is and ever will be. When…
January 23 – Confidence and Gratitude
Dear Friends, We’ll look at another couple of ways we can incline our hearts towards joy – confidence and gratitude. Confidence There was some level of confidence that brought you to the practice of meditation – maybe you met someone who inspired you, or read about it, or some other way that sparked your interest. You’ve probably experienced at least a few moments of easing of reactivity, and that can give us a bit more confidence and courage to continue. Christina Feldman says, “There is joy in discovering we are just a little less judgmental, impatient, or agitated. … Confidence in the path we are walking brings joy, aspiration brings joy, and to know that every moment of care and compassion truly matters brings joy.” (pages 102-103) As a practice, Christina encourages us to reflect on our aspirations and values and recall moments when we have embodied these. Meg Gawler…
January 31 – Gratitude
Dear Friends, As another January draws to a close, I want to thank you for your words of encouragement, your comments and emails, and your dedication to your practice. It’s so much easier to sit on the cushion each day, knowing that many of you are joining me in that practice. A practice of gratitude is a support towards cultivating joy. Jack Kornfield writes, Gratitude is a gracious acknowledgment of all that sustains us, a bow to our blessings, great and small. Gratitude is the confidence in life itself. In it, we feel how the same force that pushes grass through cracks in the sidewalk invigorates our own life. In Tibet, the monks and nuns even offer prayers of gratitude for the suffering they have been given: “Grant that I might have enough suffering to awaken in me the deepest possible compassion and wisdom.” Gratitude does not envy or compare.…
January 8 – The ruby inside
Dear Friends, A poem by Kabir: The small ruby everyone wants has fallen out on the road. Some think it is east of us, others west of us. Some say, “among primitive earth rocks,” others, “in the deep waters.” Kabir’s instinct told him it was inside, and what it was worth, And he wrapped it up carefully in his heart cloth. Kabir suggests that the treasure we seek is inside, so part of our practice is paying attention to the body. In The Four Foundations of Mindfulness in Plain English, Bhante Gunaratana starts chapter 4 by reviewing the contemplation of body parts. The body is an amazing thing. National Geographic has a neat reference on The Human Body. The traditional meditation practice on body parts contemplates 32 parts. The Insight Meditation South Bay has a description of this practice. They write that “This traditional way of investigating the body supports the development of…
January 31 – Month end recap
Dear Friends, Today is the last day of the 5 day retreat with Adrianne Ross, so I’ll be back to the land of technology later this afternoon. I thank you for your patience! Meanwhile, here’s a reflection for today! I look forward to catching up with your responses. It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of January! It’s been a busy month, with lots of opportunities for exploration. I hope you’ve found some practices that resonate with you. Today, I’ll briefly recap some of the key points and practices that we’ve covered. Start with intention – we started (and ended) the month by exploring intention; it’s a great thing to reflect on – at the beginning of the day, at the beginning of a meditation, whenever. Complete the day/meditation/whatever with a review or dedication. It’s a way to affirm the skillful things you did, and to reconnect with our…
January 25 – On the receiving end
Dear Friends, Generosity is a quality that makes us feel happy, bright, and expansive – whether giving, receiving, or both. Yesterday, one of our participants shared a beautiful reflection about being on the receiving end of generosity. I think this is an important part of this practice of generosity – to be able to receive, with mindfulness, what is generously offered. I think, in many ways, being on the receiving end of generosity is difficult in our North American culture. I remember one time when I went out for supper with my parents, and an aunt and uncle and cousin. At the end of the meal, my cousin paid for everything! Alas, my dad wasn’t very gracious about this… on the ride home, dad was so busy fretting whether my cousin could really afford it, that he missed the joy my cousin experienced in doing this special thing. Likewise, some people…
January 15 – Gratitude makes us joyful
Dear Friends, A few years ago, Brené Brown shared a quote on her blog from Brother David Steindl-Rast: The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and suppose that they are grateful for their joy. But the reverse is true: their joy springs from gratefulness. … We hold the key to lasting happiness in our own hands. For it is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful. In Uncovering Happiness, Elisha Goldstein describes a study where participants were split into three groups – one group counted five blessings a day, one group five burdens, and one group neutral things. The study found that the group who counted blessings experienced less stress and enhanced well-being. In last Sunday’s email, I mentioned Adrianne Ross’s talk on joy. In that talk, she mentioned an…
January 31 – with gratitude
Dear Friends, Well… here we are, at the end of January, and thus at the end of this month-long adventure. I’ll close this month of sharing with a reflection on gratitude from Jack Kornfield: https://jackkornfield.com/meditation-gratitude-joy/ Gratitude is a gracious acknowledgment of all that sustains us, a bow to our blessings, great and small, an appreciation of the moments of good fortune that sustain our life every day. We have so much to be grateful for. And just one more guided meditation – this one on gratitude from Larry Yang (~31 minutes): https://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/107/talk/15248/ When I first had this idea of facilitating a daily meditation email, I didn’t exactly know how it would work, what I would share, or who would want to participate. This labor of love evolved over the course of the month, and the end result is something much bigger than I ever imagined. This project would not have…