"In the garden of gentle sanity, May you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness". Daily meditation - All Welcome

[mangosTrickyrice]

Quote is from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, whoever he may be. I found it in Pema Chodron's Places that Scare You and it made me laugh.

This thread is for anyone at all who's interested in mindfulness and meditation. We had posters on the last thread from various Buddhist traditions, Christians lapsed and practising, plus your wishy-washy agnostics . Some of us aim for 10 minutes of meditation practice each day, others focus on mindfulness in daily living, and still others focus on naps horizontal meditation. So really anything goes. The original thread is here if you have a month or 2 spare to read, otherwise just jump in below.

hello everyone
(including the wonderfully-named stigofthedump!)
thanks for that tricycle quote comfy
peanut - will indeed include that poor boy and his loved ones in my meditation tonight (that will in fact spur me to meditate). am so sorry. thinking of you, as you know. our weekend was such a boost for me too and it does seem to have rekindled my motivation on the mindfulness front (she says, while typing away and neither getting tea on nor cleaning out the SODDING guinea pigs' hutch) (but i suppose that doesn't mean i am not typing mindfully )
love to you all
XXX

well, managed to sit again last night. Two nights in a row now. Hurrah! I really want to build it back into my life again. Am trying to read a bit of TNH's "The heart of the buddha's teaching" before each meditation, just to sort of quiet down my monkey mind and help me get ready to turn my concentration inwards. I think it has helped. I have had such a lot going on of late it is still very hard to quiet the monkey mind but there are moments now, in the meditation, when I find it happening.

Am going to try to get to the Community of Interbeing session this evening. Altho they don't have a teabreak it'll still be nice to meditate in a group.

Am looking into a retreat at Rivendell pre-xmas but not sure if they have spaces, hope so. DH's parents are coming over and given that we are in state of under the same roof separation at the moment I think I'd prefer to be out of the house if at all possible.

Welcome Stig!

XXX

Thanks Peanut and Katie,
Peanut, suicide is such a tough one. Thoughts to you. Great that you managed to sit. What is Rivendell? Makes me think of elves and waterfalls.
Stig
xx

Gosh just realised tomorrow is 18th and group meditation day. Well I will sit at (10 pm wasn't it) as I need something to get me back into good habits. Sorry to hear about everything going on with you peanut brittle-that must be very hard.

Hi Everyone,
Today is the day! For anyone who doesn't know what I'm going on about... we're having a group meditation at 10pm. Bring a cushion and join us under the mango tree.

PB I'm terribly sorry to hear about your friend's suicide. Words always seems a bit inadequate at times like this but I'll light a candle for him tonight and hold him in my thoughts.

Its interesting to read that so many of us have recently fallen off the meditating "bandwagon". I've definitely lapsed and got out of the routine, first due to a dose of RL, second, due to bad habits!. I hope this evening will put me back on the straight and narrow again. (BTW there was an interesting piece in the Telegraph yesterday about research which has shown meditation has proven health benefits particularly for those at risk of heart attack)>

Good news - sceptical DH is out this evening so I can happily meditate without any "comments" being made.

PB - I'd love a Xmas retreat - anything to get away from the invasion of visitors. HOwever, I think I'll have to make do with hiding in my attic room and meditating there.

Have a lovely day everyone and "see you" under the mango tree. (Creche facilities will be provided for baby mangos)

Love to all
Comfy

Well I'm serendipitously emerging from baby-haze to see that today's the day! (Actually 10 pm will be early tomorrow morning for me, but good to have the reminder). Looking forward to it.

Peanut, my condolences. Your poor friend and her family must be reeling.

Welcome Stig, please join us (and indeed, any other newcomers I may have missed).

Loved the fruity quote

I may be a little late joining tonight - totally forgot had arranged to meet someone for a spot of pub knitting. I should be able to manage to get home about 10.15ish I hope.

Thanks for all the kind wishes. I thought about Leo during my second meditation with the CoI last night, also my mum who passed away 17 years ago this christmas (day before new years eve) and various other tragic bereavements my sisters and brother have had (we are carriers of nasty genetic illness and I've lost two nephews and a niece to it over the years). It was good to spend time mentally with them all but saddening too. Especially as I am in rather an emotionally drained place at the moment. I ended up sobbing quietly in the dark in a room full of strangers. In a way it was nice to be able to do that - I was grateful to the sangha for being there and allowing me to. (I was very discrete and I don't think anyone but the poor man next to me noticed - he tried to make small talk afterwards in a very gentle way - it was sweet)

I read a bit of my "pocket pema chodron" (always makes me think of the kids "puppy in a pocket" things ) on the way to work this morning - the piece I read was on Hope and Fear and how they are like two sides of a coin. Pema writes: "Hope and fear come from feeling we lack something; they come from a sense of poverty. We can't simply relax with ourselves. We hold on to hope, and hope robs us of the present moment" This really spoke to me today.

hello everyone! i will be there at 10!
over and out! rushing off to brownies with DD then choir concert! hence telegraphese! argh! running late due to losing DD and her pal in nearby orchard at dusk! the trials of motherhood (and my policy of benign neglect)! X

I had a v nice 10 minutes of quiet which I don't think I would have done had we not arranged this date.

Thank you Mango for starting this thread last year and thereby giving us the opportunity to celebrate our first anniversary of chattering / meditating together.

I've benefitted a great deal from everyone's postings and the friendships I've found here under the virtual mango tree, so thank you all.

And I'm sure Amazon would like to thank us all for boosting their profits due to our constant book recommendations!

Namaste and night night.

XX

I enjoyed a lovely 15 minutes after i got in from pub-knitting (soft drinks only tonight of course)

I thought of you/us all and pictured a globe in space with all of us on it (disregarding of course the fact that I don't reallY know where anyone else is and my geography is rubbish at the best of times) and it felt lovely

yes, thank you mango for starting the thread. it's a lovely place to spend time and I aim to be a bit more present on it again

metta all XXXXXXXXXXX

I had a lovely 15 minutes of breathing while breastfeeding this morning - and then went back to bed

Please stop with the thank yous, it was just one tentative post and you've all done the rest. I do enjoy the thread though, am very glad to have 'met' you all.

Peace x

Hi again all,
Lovely to read the postings. Would anyone be interested in another group meditation sometime. Its a lovely feeling knowing that we're all sort of meditating at sort of the same time.

PB - this just arrived from Tricycle and I thought of you and your experience earlier this week - rather good. It seems that people won't have seen you as crying and sad but rather as achieving enlightenment!!

XXX
---------

There's No Comparison

I have often cautioned... against comparing your practice with that of others or your own self at different times. Such comparisons are only subjective. Today someone burst out crying in the meditation hall. One person may have thought, "Oh, she's not doing so well." Another, "I think she's becoming enlightened!" Or else, "Maybe she's going crazy." None of these thoughts may represent the true situation. Whether she felt pain or sorrow, became enlightened, or went crazy, it's her business. It has nothing to do with anyone else. Making comparisons inevitably means judging others.

• Ch'an Master Sheng Yen, ?Incomparable You,? Tricycle, Spring 2007

definately up for another group hug meditation...indeed we could even set a regular time, maybe once a week, or once a month, and whoever can could "drop in" at that time...or maybe that's a bit ambitious

thanks for that comfyshoes - they'll be bowing to me in my enlightened state next time !!!

Good morning everyone
I would love it if we could do this regularly. It was lovely sitting last night knowing that you all were too, and feeling a sense of peace and inner stillness, and gratitude for the support that we provide one another with - this thread has been so valuable to me over the last year XXX
So, yes, by all means, a weekly drop-in time would be great - what about Sunday evenings at 10pm, say? It would be good to know that one or two of us might be sitting then, even if we can't all make it every week (that would be a tad unlikely, let's face it)! Any other frequency or days preferred? I just thought Sunday might be a good way of rounding off the week, and setting ourselves up for the start of the next one...
Have a good day

I'm definitely up for a Sunday night meditation - would be happy to do it weekly.

See you under the tree

yes, definately up for 10pm sunday regular sit

Interested in your globe in space meditation peanut as DS has been unsettled because of a cough and I did my 10 minutes sitting in his bedroom gazing at his light up globe! Thought similarly of all of you and also of DH who was on a plane halfway across the Atlantic at the time. Would love to join in regularly on a Sunday night.
Enjoying reading Loving-kindness the revolutionary art of happiness by Sharon Salzbberg atm after initially dismissing it as too 'fluffy'
Here are apparently the benefits of metta meditation according to the Buddha!
You will sleep easily
You will wake easily
People will love you
Celestial beings and animals will love you
Celestial beings will protect you
External dangers will not harm you
Your face will be radiant
Your mind will be serene
You will die unconfused
You will be reborn in happy realms.

Am particularly keen on the serene mind and radiant face -think it is worth a try-cheaper than Botox after all!
Metta to all

YES! Buddhism is the new Botox. I can see the headlines now!!!

brilliant.

thanks for that.

I've not read any sharon salzburg - is good to have a new recommendation. I hear a rumour there is some big christian festival coming involving strange customs of gift buying and giving which obviously necessitates the creation of a book-featuring list of some description.

Great! Sunday at ten it is, then

LadyG, I shall inform the next slavering, rabid farm dog who tries to sink his disease-ridden fangs into my ankles when I walk around these rural parts that he is supposed to LOVE me bcs i (occasionally) metta-meditate!

[dog-lover emotion]

X

Katie good luck with the loving k9 kindness. After a little amazonian procrastination, I did my meditation staring at the fire. Used Om mani padme hum, which is new to me (thanks mango for the link to last year's thread), enjoyed rolling it round. Feeling the calm and clarity. Thanks all, I'll be back Sunday.

Hi Everyone,
Hope all well. Did anyone manage last night's meditation? I was running late so I meditated in the bath!

I'd got distracted watching Channel 4's Embarrassing Older Bodies (terrifying for over 40's like me married to an over 60 like DH)....ANyway I managed a sort of meditation contemplating my embarrassing body! It was better than nothing.

love to all
CS

I made it too! realised the time at 10 past 10 and legged it in a terribly unmindful fashion up the stairs and sat for 30 mins. Was blissful.

X

Comfy, you made me laugh
I would have watched that programme with fascination (though of course I get regular exposure to 'the older body' at work so I know exactly what is coming to us all )
...um, where was I? YES! I did sit, but contrary to you and PB I was - weirdly- early. sat from half 9 to 10. Was keen to get my rapidly ageing and increasingly embarassing body to bed
XXX
PS I thought of you today CS when I phoned Charney Manor about their Quaker retreat in January, I am sure you mentioned it a while back, didn't you - the one on 23rd which is about stillness in busy lives and incorporates elements of Buddhism and Taoism etc. I am definitely interested but it's waiting list only at the moment!

My shiny new copy of thich nhat hanh's book is sitting next to me, but the tv is winning at the moment.

stig - snap. i got my lovely also-shiny brand-new copy of matthieu ricard's 'happiness' today - looks excellent and i long to get my teeth into it - but gavin and stacey won out i was so drained by trying to organise the school mums' xmas night out next week: 16 people to hassle into giving me their menu choices TONIGHT. numerous phone calls, involving cajoling the shy mums, bantering with the extroverts, serious chats with the anxious ones... egads. am worn out. of course it's easier being mindful in a flippin' himalayan cave, grrr!!!