Interesting times
I hope nobody is horribly disappointed that I'm not pursuing the Tao as much as I implied at the beginning.
Did an interesting meditation today, even though I did interrupt it to do something necessary.
I'm doing my mantra still, though I substituted "steadfastness" for "compassion". What is the difference between compassion and loving-kindness anyway? To me the latter sounds more like something you do with what you feel, whereas compassion can be completely internal.
My daughter is collecting these sort of pagan cards. I'm not sure what exactly you're supposed to do with them but most read like fortune cookies and so (with her permission) I pretty much use them the same way. I have no belief in the supernatural other than to say I'm too scientifically minded to discount what I don't know. Still, sometimes you get interesting inspirations from them. :)
Tonight I drew from her animal deck, which is fun, and then noticed one that seemed more witchy. I had a card drop in my lap while I was shuffling (this isn't eery in any way, the cards are hugely unwieldy and I'm not much of a shuffler) and I drew one off the top anyway, so I had three cards plus my mantra to meditate on.
Why bore you with this?
Well, the draw card was "winter solstice" which the booklet saw as an opourtunity to reflect on the past and the lessons learned therein. as well winter solstice is the longest night of the year and when we either cower in fear or start running about with fire and bellowing to the sun to come back and start doing it's job already! Well, ok, in Canada we mostly run about with beer, but fireworks work too.
One of the Big lessons I have learned in the past bit is related to the animal card I drew. The Blue Heron (I keep drawing this one too, nu-nu nunu, nu-nu nunu). Mostly the blue heron is known for standing on the edges of swampy areas looking cool, and looking huge when they fly, not to mention eating fish. The interpretation they gave it is "Make a stand for what you believe in and do what feels right in spite of any judgement or disapproval from others." Oddly enough this seems the best way to avoid conflict, up until now I have been trying to avoid conflict by being nice and accomodating, but that seems counter productive. This is also topical for my life right now. It also fits nicely in with equanimity, which can be used in steadfastness, and in helping you know what to believe in, and in having what we call "character" or "inner strength".
"in spite of judgement or disapproval from others" brings us to the lap card. Meadow, which they interpret as vulnerability, or as some other people I know say it "being seen". To be is to be seen, to not be seen is to not be. You can't be you without somebody noticing.
Interesting times :-)
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Friday, 1 March 2013
returning
May you be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May you find happiness and the causes of happiness
May your heart be filled with compassion, equanimity, joy and loving-kindness
May Wisdom and peace be with you all of your days
In difficult times study takes a back seat.
Well, in difficult times just about everything takes a back seat.
This is what I have been using for meditation last couple times. Been working up a rhythm for it.
I don't tend to say them out loud, maybe I'll do that in future, I have tried it and it is a different effect. So I breathe in and out while repeating half the line in my mind, then take an extra breath between lines (this gets me a little antsy because it drags it out a lot). Compassion, joy, loving-kindness and equanimity each get their own breath. They tend to get their order mixed around a lot, I try not to worry about it. I'll have to make up a sort of rosary for it, since I am repeating it 9 times and don't want to spare attention for counting (or I can just keep using my fingers). Lot's of "should"s, no appologies for referring to myself in the third person though. :-)
A huge part of mediation is the set up and especially the return to the world afterwards. If you don't bother with these then you are probably ignoring about half the benefit of it.
Heck the stage I am at now I think half the benefit is had by taking proper time to come down. I spent a good three minutes at it this time, going over what I need to do and for when, and when I will be doing it, and sort of "allowing planning" which isn't the same as planning. lol
I wish I could find an affordable automatic dinger, the radio alarm isn't always the best choice, since the initial sound could be just about anything. It is loads better than the eggtimer though, :-)
May you find happiness and the causes of happiness
May your heart be filled with compassion, equanimity, joy and loving-kindness
May Wisdom and peace be with you all of your days
In difficult times study takes a back seat.
Well, in difficult times just about everything takes a back seat.
This is what I have been using for meditation last couple times. Been working up a rhythm for it.
I don't tend to say them out loud, maybe I'll do that in future, I have tried it and it is a different effect. So I breathe in and out while repeating half the line in my mind, then take an extra breath between lines (this gets me a little antsy because it drags it out a lot). Compassion, joy, loving-kindness and equanimity each get their own breath. They tend to get their order mixed around a lot, I try not to worry about it. I'll have to make up a sort of rosary for it, since I am repeating it 9 times and don't want to spare attention for counting (or I can just keep using my fingers). Lot's of "should"s, no appologies for referring to myself in the third person though. :-)
A huge part of mediation is the set up and especially the return to the world afterwards. If you don't bother with these then you are probably ignoring about half the benefit of it.
Heck the stage I am at now I think half the benefit is had by taking proper time to come down. I spent a good three minutes at it this time, going over what I need to do and for when, and when I will be doing it, and sort of "allowing planning" which isn't the same as planning. lol
I wish I could find an affordable automatic dinger, the radio alarm isn't always the best choice, since the initial sound could be just about anything. It is loads better than the eggtimer though, :-)
Thursday, 28 February 2013
Sitting
Funny, I wanted a picture of this but alI could find is photographs of naked guys doing it, which didn't appeal to me today.
Wandering through oriental knickknack and spiritualish stores I kept seeing a very odd statuette mixed in amongst the Buddahs and elephants. It was of a rather thin but muscular guy sitting cross-legged but curled in a ball with his head in his lap and his muscles straining.
I wondered for ages what the heck this thing was supposed to be, and why it was there, of all places, quite out-of-place with serene-faced buddahs, incence burners and dancing Goddesses. One day I was picking things up (as I tend to do, love feeling things instead of just seeing or listening to them) and found one with a tag on the bottom.
"Meditation"
interesting :)
I'd often felt like that while meditating but always thought you had to sit in some strange lotus position with your back ramrod straight in order to "do it properly".
Well, the lotus position is OK for peple who have sat like that since they were three, and seldom have backs on their chairs to lounge against. But me? Too western, and really the start of my 5th decade seems a poor choice of time to suddenly start twisting myself into pretzel shapes for half an hour at a stretch with an eye towards extending it for hours.
Often it also"feels wrong", western easternism is probably a lot more mystical and less disciplined than eastern easternism (I laugh when I get peeks at what eastern westernism is like). "Authentic" is really meaningless to me, this is all made for human beings and I happen to be one, so "you're doing it wrong" seems the statement of someone who doesn't trust themselves to do it right. Some day I'll get around to giving my lecture on how "political corruption of spiritualism gives rise to religion" and you'll get the rest of that argument ad-naiseum. =:-O
I have a couple successful meditation poses.
Originally I was sitting upon a chair with my hands on my legs, but that gets old for my shoulders and my back gets sore. Putting your arms on the arms of an armchair, or on a desk is better, though I still get a sore back.
I sometimes sit cross-legged on the floor on a couple folded towels (blankets are too thick and a yoga mat is way too thin) and this is ok if I arrange my feet properly so they don't get sore. Oddly this is easier on my back if I remember to sit forward a bit and it helps balance to put my wrists on my knees.
When I feel bad I curl around my meditation buddy on the bed. It's a dolphin pillow my daughter was going to get rid of, nice sized and plushy to wrap my arms around and hold on tight. :)
For 20min or a half hour this is actually the most comfortable position. Haven't tried longer than that.
When I feel really really bad I sit cross-legged and curl over like the mysterious guy (only not naked, well, not yet anyway), it's a lot more comfortable than it looks, and your tears tend to go on your arms instead of your face so they don't itch. Also good for "locking out" the world around you.
I have also tried laying down, this is ok if you've got insomnia or something, it'll put you right out, and is an interesting way to taste your dreams before you actually drift off :)
Have Fun :)
Wandering through oriental knickknack and spiritualish stores I kept seeing a very odd statuette mixed in amongst the Buddahs and elephants. It was of a rather thin but muscular guy sitting cross-legged but curled in a ball with his head in his lap and his muscles straining.
I wondered for ages what the heck this thing was supposed to be, and why it was there, of all places, quite out-of-place with serene-faced buddahs, incence burners and dancing Goddesses. One day I was picking things up (as I tend to do, love feeling things instead of just seeing or listening to them) and found one with a tag on the bottom.
"Meditation"
interesting :)
I'd often felt like that while meditating but always thought you had to sit in some strange lotus position with your back ramrod straight in order to "do it properly".
Well, the lotus position is OK for peple who have sat like that since they were three, and seldom have backs on their chairs to lounge against. But me? Too western, and really the start of my 5th decade seems a poor choice of time to suddenly start twisting myself into pretzel shapes for half an hour at a stretch with an eye towards extending it for hours.
Often it also"feels wrong", western easternism is probably a lot more mystical and less disciplined than eastern easternism (I laugh when I get peeks at what eastern westernism is like). "Authentic" is really meaningless to me, this is all made for human beings and I happen to be one, so "you're doing it wrong" seems the statement of someone who doesn't trust themselves to do it right. Some day I'll get around to giving my lecture on how "political corruption of spiritualism gives rise to religion" and you'll get the rest of that argument ad-naiseum. =:-O
I have a couple successful meditation poses.
Originally I was sitting upon a chair with my hands on my legs, but that gets old for my shoulders and my back gets sore. Putting your arms on the arms of an armchair, or on a desk is better, though I still get a sore back.
I sometimes sit cross-legged on the floor on a couple folded towels (blankets are too thick and a yoga mat is way too thin) and this is ok if I arrange my feet properly so they don't get sore. Oddly this is easier on my back if I remember to sit forward a bit and it helps balance to put my wrists on my knees.
When I feel bad I curl around my meditation buddy on the bed. It's a dolphin pillow my daughter was going to get rid of, nice sized and plushy to wrap my arms around and hold on tight. :)
For 20min or a half hour this is actually the most comfortable position. Haven't tried longer than that.
When I feel really really bad I sit cross-legged and curl over like the mysterious guy (only not naked, well, not yet anyway), it's a lot more comfortable than it looks, and your tears tend to go on your arms instead of your face so they don't itch. Also good for "locking out" the world around you.
I have also tried laying down, this is ok if you've got insomnia or something, it'll put you right out, and is an interesting way to taste your dreams before you actually drift off :)
Have Fun :)
Sunday, 24 February 2013
oops
Homework has never been my strong point.
Of my three books, two follow the chapters of the tao, the third is tao based but not by the same method. Unfortunately my fun is in the pictograms of the third one.
It seems silly to summarize the Tao, which seems a summary in itself. Of the two translations I have one seems a bit hard and gives cynical political advice, the other is the disney version. :-)
Of my three books, two follow the chapters of the tao, the third is tao based but not by the same method. Unfortunately my fun is in the pictograms of the third one.
It seems silly to summarize the Tao, which seems a summary in itself. Of the two translations I have one seems a bit hard and gives cynical political advice, the other is the disney version. :-)
Friday, 22 February 2013
The Tomes of Ultimate Wisdom
This is my triad of complete and ultimate wisdom.
The one on the left is where I get my symbols from and gives a commentary for each day.
The one in the middle gives you nice poems about Tao because the East long ago figured out to make learning fun or forget it.
The one on the right gives different versions (translations) of the poems, scatters the chapters all over the place and seems to take itself seriously (which is a bummer). Someday I'll read the introduction which likely explains their reasoning on this.
Chapter 1: Tao
ok, did Ch1 curled around my meditation buddy on the bed. I've tried the cross-legged thing which is ok for people who have sat that way since they were two, heck when my kids were two they could casually stick their feet in their mouths, I'm a bit past that stage.
Chapter 1 is, logically "Tao" which in this version is a symbol of a cute little guy with his hair flying everywhere and a running (I keep thinking wind) symbol above a picture of a bent leg.
It seems awfully dynamic an image for something that often makes me think of old guys sitting humming to themselves.
The theme seemed to be "don't define Tao or you'll limit it" which is also logical, the purpose of defining things is to make definite "something" out of it so you can use it as a tool. Hard to weild the infinite.
Maybe I should do this a week at a time instead of a day at a time, or maybe do it a day at a time and then go in depth. I'll have to give that some thought.
There, isn't he cute?
The leg thing got me at first, but think of looking at a bent knee from the side, it could be an elbow too, if you like.
I think the face is neat for defining areas rather than features, left eye area, right eye area, two lips and space for a nose (if anime is any indication orientals aren't much on noses anyway). :-)
Swirlies for movement is standard human fare.
Chapter 1 is, logically "Tao" which in this version is a symbol of a cute little guy with his hair flying everywhere and a running (I keep thinking wind) symbol above a picture of a bent leg.
It seems awfully dynamic an image for something that often makes me think of old guys sitting humming to themselves.
The theme seemed to be "don't define Tao or you'll limit it" which is also logical, the purpose of defining things is to make definite "something" out of it so you can use it as a tool. Hard to weild the infinite.
Maybe I should do this a week at a time instead of a day at a time, or maybe do it a day at a time and then go in depth. I'll have to give that some thought.
There, isn't he cute?
The leg thing got me at first, but think of looking at a bent knee from the side, it could be an elbow too, if you like.
I think the face is neat for defining areas rather than features, left eye area, right eye area, two lips and space for a nose (if anime is any indication orientals aren't much on noses anyway). :-)
Swirlies for movement is standard human fare.
Hi
Hey there
Seems silly to be writing things in public, but somehow it makes it easier to write. Almost like I'm talking to people.
Which is crazy considering how private I usually am. :-)
My intention here is to use this as a slightly more in-depth way of keeping notes on my meditations.
I started meditating less than 40 days ago, so don't expect any startling insights or anything new and deeply wise.
I was doing what I call "nothing" meditations, where you just sit and allow thoughts until they get bored and go away. Typical to me this is the hardest way to do it. :-)
It is also boring once they do get bored an go away, even though I'm only up to a half hour session (sort of).
So I'm going to be meditating on the Tao instead, as a focus. I have a book which has older style script symbols for each chapter, so I'm going to draw the symbol (minus the phonetic, which I don't know how to pronounce anyway) and focus on that for my meditation.
I have three books on it right now, one with the symbol and a write up and two with poems. I was told that it is best to compare across translations.
Today will be my first day.
Seems silly to be writing things in public, but somehow it makes it easier to write. Almost like I'm talking to people.
Which is crazy considering how private I usually am. :-)
My intention here is to use this as a slightly more in-depth way of keeping notes on my meditations.
I started meditating less than 40 days ago, so don't expect any startling insights or anything new and deeply wise.
I was doing what I call "nothing" meditations, where you just sit and allow thoughts until they get bored and go away. Typical to me this is the hardest way to do it. :-)
It is also boring once they do get bored an go away, even though I'm only up to a half hour session (sort of).
So I'm going to be meditating on the Tao instead, as a focus. I have a book which has older style script symbols for each chapter, so I'm going to draw the symbol (minus the phonetic, which I don't know how to pronounce anyway) and focus on that for my meditation.
I have three books on it right now, one with the symbol and a write up and two with poems. I was told that it is best to compare across translations.
Today will be my first day.
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