{"id":2260,"date":"2025-01-24T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/?p=2260"},"modified":"2025-01-23T22:42:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T04:42:44","slug":"january-24-sustaining-the-sweetness-of-wholesome-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/january-24-sustaining-the-sweetness-of-wholesome-states\/","title":{"rendered":"January 24 &#8211; Sustaining the sweetness of wholesome states"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dear Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we continue to explore the fourth wise effort of sustaining wholesome states, I found this advice from Gil Fronsdal on preserving moments of peace and joy very helpful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>If you feel happy and unusually settled and peaceful, maybe it is not the time to get lost on the Web, or the news, or start doing something that is going to get you angry. Maybe there\u2019s a way to maintain the wholesome and keep it going. Be careful not to sacrifice it for some petty irritation.<\/p>\n<cite>Dharmette: Right Effort (4 of 5) Growing the Wholesome<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.audiodharma.org\/talks\/17437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.audiodharma.org\/talks\/17437<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Sustaining wholesome states invites us to honor the sweetness of the present moment. James Crews captures this beautifully in his poem &#8220;Note to Self&#8221;, from his latest book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jamescrews.net\/books\/#unlockingtheheart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unlocking the Heart: Writing for Mindfulness, Courage, and Self-Compassion<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Leave the TV off tonight and put<br>your phone on silent. Pour the wine<br>in your glass down the drain.<br>Taste the homemade raspberry jam<br>friends sent packed in a box<br>with balled-up newspaper so the jar<br>wouldn&#8217;t break on its way to you.<br>Treat each fragile moment like that<br>and make of this instant something<br>sweet to smear on toasted bread,<br>then feast alone while standing<br>and staring out at the bare magnolia.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>As Gil closes his talk, he offers a practice to deepen our connection to sustaining the wholesome:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>set a timer for one or two times an hour and [come] into a place of stability, steadiness, and settledness. Then do something from this place in an unwavering way and see if other wholesome qualities have a chance to follow in the wake of that stability. As if that stability opens the door and you see what other wholesome things want to come from you. You might be surprised by what is in there that wants to come out.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What small actions help you sustain wholesome states in your daily life?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How does pausing to connect with stability open the door to other qualities of mind and heart?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>May this practice and reflection inspire sweetness and steadiness in your day. I invite you to let me know how it resonates with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With good wishes,<br>Andrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Friends, As we continue to explore the fourth wise effort of sustaining wholesome states, I found this advice from Gil Fronsdal on preserving moments of peace and joy very helpful: If you feel happy and unusually settled and peaceful, maybe it is not the time to get lost on the Web, or the news, or start doing\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/january-24-sustaining-the-sweetness-of-wholesome-states\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[372],"tags":[334,28,341],"class_list":["post-2260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jan-2025","tag-effort","tag-gil-fronsdal","tag-james-crews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2261,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2260\/revisions\/2261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}