a little realisation

The ego is two sided, it works in one way perfectly if it has a broad view but if it puts itself at the centre, it runs into difficulty as it has likes and dislikes and uncertainties and distinct views.  It is seeking to find a way of being the focus where the ego which understands itself as a player is simple and doesn't get offended or convinced of its own righteousness.   Meditation on the simplicity of the self helps to define the two-sided ego and gives a bit of perspective on the way it plays.  It also gives the golden key to getting out of situations whereas the aggravated ego gets in the way of simple enjoyment of everyone and their character.

abracadabra girl comes back

She was there again the abracadabra girl even though she had the Cheerios earlier. I thought that we might take the meditation a bit further so she sat on my knee with her eyes closed for precisely one second and then off she went into the bright sunny summer day leaving me and the Buddha still there.

Meditation as a discipline for life

Especially when you are later than you mean to be when you meditate, sitting out the full 30 minutes can be a challenge!  The rate of good ideas which come streaming in to the mind are just asking to be attended to and are unrelenting to so you have to steel yourself to sit it out for the full 30 mins even if your eyes keep looking at the clock and seeing it going soooo slowly.  The buddha, see below, hadn't moved a muscle since I was last there, and didn't move one right through the whole rather active meditation - just simply being himself.

buddha amongst the bric a brace

In the summer house which we use for meditation, there is a small wooden painted Buddha.  He came from a bric a brac store and once upon a time he was on top of something else, you can see that he fitted onto a box or a piece of furniture.  He is very delicate and golden and as still as still.  He reminds me of the treasure we pass over most of the time because of his bric a brac past.  I hesitate to come in with a heavy reminder of what it is because we all know that is what happens; however it is nice when memory of the real treasure happens and everything shines like the Buddha because we have put on the Buddha mind and put down our own everyday bric a brac mind.

like the Dalai Lama

It is really irritating when you say to your husband when he is driving and shouting at motorists, why don't you be like the Dalai Lama?  This is not a good way to be like the Dalai Lama.  So now, I think what would the Dalai Lama do if he was in the car, and I expect he would just laugh.  This is the best way forward and requires forward planning and deep meditation! I can tell you that the response that the Dalai Lama wouldn't give is pretty quick to come rumbling out of your mouth and even if it is saying "why can't you be like the Dalai Lama, peaceful and compassionate" it doesn't do the job.

Meditation and Equanimity

Like Wimbledon, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.  This morning I woke at 3.45 and thought it was too early to get up, don't you? But of course then I went back to sleep until 6.00.
The difference between meditating early and later is the difference between a country lane and a motorway as far as traffic in the mind goes.  Outside everything is well on its way, people are going to work, birds are in full throat, you can hear the cars and every flower is out for the day.  In the mind, you are sending e mails, writing blogs, thinking about supper and the tasks for the day ahead and you have to keep hauling  your attention back on to the mantra.
It is still worth it.  Meditation isn't only about peaceful meditation,and enlightenment, it is a training for the mind to become peaceful and to bring enlightenment a bit closer.
Good luck to us all.

connecting

We aren't surprised if one day our mobile phone doesn't connect, or the internet goes down, we understand that these things are variable.  We know that we don't always feel like connecting with the other people in our lives but know that we will feel differently at another time.  We may not always feel like meditating, and our ability to concentrate on a mantra isn't steady.  All these connections are from the small individual units through a system to something which is always in existence.  It is just a matter of connecting and it is easier to connect when you know that there is something to connect to.  There is something bigger than us but it isn't different to us, just bigger.

This is not an avoidance of discussing the early rising of this particular meditator! 4.20 am! yippee!