You can be in touch with a lot of happiness during the time you're washing your face, brushing your teeth, combing your hair, shaving,and showering, if you know how to shine the light of awareness onto each thing you do. For example, when you turn on the tap, you can enjoy being in touch with the water running out of the faucet and also with where the water's coming from. You can recite the following poem:
Water flows from high mountain sources.
Water runs deep in the Earth.
Miraculously, water comes to us.
I am filled with gratitude.
This verse helps you to be aware of the whole journey of that water, all the way from the source to your bathroom sink. That is meditation. You also see how fortunate you are to have water flowing easily for you with just the twist of a knob. This awareness brings you happiness.
That's mindfulness.
Mindfulness is attention; it's the capacity to recognize what's happening in each moment. What's happening here is, you are turning on the tap and the water is flowing out for you. In Plum Village, in France, our water supply occasionally gets cut off. Every time that happens, we're reminded that it's a hardship when we don't have water, and a happiness when we do. We can recognize happiness only when we remember the times of suffering!
I always like to turn the water on slowly; cup the fresh, cool water in my hands; and splash it on my eyes. Here in France, in wintertime the water is really cold. Feeling the cold water on my fingers, my eyes and my cheeks is so refreshing. Please be present so you can really get that sensation. Let it wake you up. Delight in it. You are happy, because you know how to treasure the gift of water and how to nourish your own gratitude.
From 'PEACE IS EVERY BREATH: A Practice for Our Busy Lives' by Thich Nhat Hanh. Copyright 2011. Reprinted with permission by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Arianna Huffington: GPS for the Soul: A Killer App for Better Living
You make it easy for the rest of us to become more beautiful also.
May you be blessed by love again and again.
Ya Allah! Ya Karim! Ya Wadud!
Here's a haiku this article inspired me to write.
hands wet
by drops of water
reflecting light
http://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Jesus-Buddha-Brothers/dp/1573228303
O Sophia! Lady Wisdom, speak to our hearts! Fill them with the Truth, with Love, with Beauty, with Wisdom, with Life!
An amusing thought that I believe is true; Dinosaurs roamed the planet for 100million years, There is not one drop of water we drink, that hasn't passed through a dinosaur!
All life on earth shares water. Water is equal to all life. I am humbled,alive, and equal to all my water reliant flora and fauna. ...My goodness...human beings can be much better stewards of the Earth.
This website has info on his SE: http://ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-spiritual-exercises/
Notation 43 of his Exercises describes the Examen Prayer in very simple terms and in it, we are asking God to shed light on where we saw Him during a day, where we failed Him during a day and then we make a resolution to improve tomorrow.
http://ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/
I think there are many similarities in the spirituality of many faith systems in the world. Thomas Merton knew this and worked to understand them as a Trappist Monk.
Here's a site with many of Fr. Louis' writings (that was his name in religion)
http://www.qsl.net/kc5nzr/merton/
Veritas.
Blessed be!
Now if truly interested seek deeply and find the necessity and purpose of unawareness, then you will have discovered one of the greatest mysteries of life.
Just as you complete your plan to save you from your fears, your mind will race ahead constructing new fears. We do not get to write the script of our lives. We cannot "control" happiness. How many lives are spent struggling with fear? How many lives are spent feeling compassion and love and giving it to the world?
You've never lost your spirit, your heart, your sole. Perhaps there might be value to you in bring awareness to your sole.
The lack of beliefs and rules is refreshing - make "mindfulness" a rule and you will have people practicing it religiously and feeling betrayed if it doesn't provide enlightenment. Make anything a belief and the ego will invest in it. I prefer to keep these themes alive with a "don't believe / don't not believe" attitude. It's all a work in progress.
My interpretation of Buddhism, which comes not from a scholarly approach but from drawing from Buddhism what is of value to me, is far to the Zen side. And yes I seem to have no ability to avoid using "sole" when I intend "soul".
Breathing is an act of war for survival and like in any other type of war, if you can find moments of imaginative truce, its a good thing to try to enjoy them... while they last!
And hear the kind whisper of a tree,
I know whatever happens,
Nature will walk with me.
The river will cleanse my heart,
And heal the inflictions of life.
The crickets will soothe me in slumber,
And banish sorrow and strife.
The stars will brighten and shine,
And never acknowledge defeat,
But urge me on to new goals,
And gladly new challenges meet.
The sun will call me to rise,
And greet this day which is new,
And stretches all golden before me,
Untouched and sparkling with dew.
And so I meet each day,
And hold in my heart a gold key
Which locks a secret within:
Nature is walking with me.
by my little sister at age 14. She died two years later.