This is an invitation to an adventure in awareness, a systemic approach to the experience of living that only makes living more real.
Oh No! There's a hill to climb! Let's climb on it! Hoo-Haa, Hoo-Haa... Let's take a breath. At any moment, we can be home, and home is much closer than we think. If we can just realize the fullness of THIS moment, the reality of THIS breath, we can be at home right now, in our body just as it is. Oh No! There's tall grass! Let's swaddle through it! Flish-Flash, Flish-Flash... Let's take two breaths. There is a way of being, a way of living, a way of paying attention that is like starting anew, coming out of a womb, tasting snow for the first time. To explore it as a pure idea would be an exercise in thinking. An exercise without life. Oh No! There's a river! Let's Swim across it! Swish-Swash, Swish-Swash... Let's take three breaths. See for yourself how things change when you take a few deep breaths and pay attention to how you feel your body. A few breaths and your ears can hear music out of lightbulbs. A few breaths and your camera has a new filter which beautifies the most ordinary object. Oh No! There's a swamp! Let's waddle in it! Schlop-schlap, Schlop-schlap... Let's take four breaths. Though these acute senses brought you superpower, we are more than our body. We are more than our emotions. We are more than our thoughts. Like leaves floating down a stream, with stillness, we can watch our thoughts passing by, one by one. That’s what’s peculiar about thoughts, they all do that, passing by. I hear a growl, I see light, I feel the breath.... It's a bear!!!! Now is the only time you have to live. Each moment is truly the first moment of the rest of your life. Your life is already doing the doing itself. You don’t have to do the living. Just live, and observe. Let's go home! Schlop-schlap, Schlop-schlap, SwimshSwash, Swish-Swash, Flish-Flash, Flish-Flash, Hoo-Haa, Hoo-Haa No one can tell you what your path is. There is no ONE way. There are manifestations of ways. Our journey will find its own way. Sometimes it takes time to know a way. These are moments of not knowing. Just as silence are as important as sound in a good piece of music, these not-knowing moments are part of that song that is closest to our home. Back home! Aaaahhhh |
BloggerI have known Thich Nhat Hanh since 1984 and try to practice Mindfulness in my daily life. Recently I trained and am now a qualified teacher for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at the University of San Diego. See the main tab Mindfulness for course offerings. Archives
June 2019
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