"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.

As part of NY's resolutions - thou shalt not buy any more books but get them from the library, yesterday I got "Teach Yourself " Buddhism from the local library. It's v good for giving an overview of the different / confusing schools of Buddhism and its got pictures - albeit not very good ones but for those of us with short attention spans its good.

BTW still really really enjoying Buddhism for Mothers of School Age children - it's just SOOOO appropriate/ helpful for this time in my life.
Metta to all
Off to meditate in the attic..

Hello dear ladies and newcomers have been following thread but not joining in due to shameful lack of meditativeness equilibrium niceness etc and also silly things like having parents-in law to stay, loft/meditation room being too cold etc etc. However this too shall pass and I shall find my way back in to the garden at some stage...

Would like to share these words from Mr Leonard Cohen with you all to think about when we are all beating ourselves up about not being spiritual enough godammit...

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That is how the light gets in.

Love and light to you all xxx

hello dear friends
justa - if ever there was a need for an artificial sugar high, it's now! am so sorry your dad's taken such a turn for the worse. we're all thinking about you - and him xxx
lady g - great words. a therapist i saw for a while (with uncertain benefit ) used those words on his website 'there is a crack, a crack in everything, that is how the light gets in'
i must say it makes me smile to think that the genius leonard cohen is a practicing buddhist (er, along with belinda carlisle)
big hugs to you all
and most especially to justa x
xxx

Justa - I hope the trip went to see your father went ok. It must have been quite an expedition to get there what with the snow, Master Justa and the flight.
Really really interesting what you said about the effect of meditating on your dad.
take care
PFS

Oh justa, it sounds like a really difficult time for you to travel. Hope that the weather improves and that you can spend the next few days getting stronger and more able to make the trip. Am sending positive, hang on in there vibes for your dad. xxx

Well, life at mango huts can best be described as mindless just now. The broken nights seem to have caught up with me, and dd2 has a nasty cough. ACtually, I know this is cheeky, but I was hoping maybe katie wouldn't mind putting GP's hat on and looking at this thread for me? (Advice from anyone else also welcome)

I'm managing a few deep breaths once or twice a day, but no formal sitting at the moment. However, I'm likely to be awake at 5am so can join your 10pm sunday night meditation if it's happening this week?

Hi all
Justa - how wretched that you can't get to see your father at this sad time. Have an un MN hug.

Mango - hi lovely to hear you again - v sorry to hear about DD2's cough. I've emailed Katie and asked her to make a "house call". Bearing in mind how little sleep you're getting a few deep breaths every day is admirable. Hope DD starts to improve.
Do join us at 10pm tomorrow night - I'll probably be there.

PFS xx

hello my lovelies
fluffy - love how you know i'll be up by 8 on a saturday morning, no problem there!!
mmmango - am so sorry things are on the tuff side right now. very simple answer to the cough medicine dilemma is not to bother with it - cough medicines always come off very poorly in efficacy studies, and certainly no 1 mth old would ever be prescribed a cough medicine in the uk (nor any of its constituent ingredients). saline drops and propping the head of her basket/cot up a little is what i'd do. i know it's really frustrating how long these coughs hang about for. i would ask the doctor to sound out her chest again in a week or so if there is no improvement, but most of these things resolve spontaneously albeit at a high price in lost sleep for the whole family. hope she improves soon xxxx
hugs to all and again especially to you justa x x x

Thanks katiek, I was wavering (you just want to do something, don't you?) but if it's unlikely to help there's no point and I felt quite uncomfortable with the idea of medication, hence starting thread. Will bin meds and go out for saline drops when she wakes up (has been asleep for 20 mins so far )
Thanks to fluffy, too

Justa, I'm so sorry to hear that. Thinking of you and your family. Take care of yourself xx

Justa - very sorry to hear your sad news. Am thinking of you all.
PFS x

Me too Justa. It sounds as if he slipped away very peacefully. I am so sorry for your loss. Hug Hug Hug x x x

Sorry for your loss Justa. How lovely that he died holding your mother's hand.

thinking of you justabout...hope you are ok XXX

May I join you ladies?

I have been interested in mindfulness for a few years now ,I stumbled upon it while reading about CBT during a moderate bout of depression.
I love the idea of just 'being' but I won't lie and say I find it easy (I have a anxious and sensitive mind).I am also interested in Zazen and over the last year or so have been reading Zen literature.Am currently reading Brad Warner's 'Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate' .

I attended a beginners course of Yoga last year and really loved the sitting practise.I really connected and felt alive during the deep breathing relaxation.

Anyway,marking my spot in the garden,nice to just be here with you ladies

Sending gentle healing thoughts for Justabout and her family.

welcome poshwellies - I was about to invite you over from my other thread but thought it might be misconstrued as "touting for business"

hope you'll have a lovely sojourn here with us under the tree...we all (I think I speak to a person here) find meditating tricky at times, but also so very valuable I for one think it will part of my life from here to the end (if my life is to have any decent level of sanity that is )

yes, my thoughts with justabout and family still too

XXX

Thank you for your welcome peanut

Oooh, poshwellies, you may certainly join us with book titles like that . Is it good? Does chocolate feature prominently?

Babymango is doing much better - still coughing but clearly on the mend. Actually I had a mini-meltdown yesterday; I think knowing that she's better allowed me to realise how stressed I've been for the last few days. Spent the whole day feeling a bit tearful and being unproductive. Much brighter today, and about to go for a mindful walk into town

welcome poshwellies (i actually OWN a pair of posh wellies since moving to the sticks and have found them life-transforming so i particularly like your name), yes, i agree, great book recommendation! i have to fight a natural inclination to bewliderment/irritation with the whole zen thing (especially those infurating, er, very wise and thought-provoking or do i mean thought-ablating koans!) so - hats off to you. mmmango - so glad your little one is feeling better. it's strange how stress is so often recognised in retrospect isn't it. take care of yourself. i hope you are too, justa.
i am still reading 'happiness' with enjoyment, but getting a little restless with my continued failure to find a local buddhist group. i emailed the worcester FWBO head honcho (a lovely bloke) in despair yesterday - what i expect him to DO, exactly, i am not sure. move in next door and give me one-to-one tuition on demand, ideally i just need a bit of direction!!
patience, patience...
X

Ahhh a fellow posh welly wearer,I also reside in the sticks .

Yes, I can see your frustration with Zen way of life.Sometimes I can glimpse the simplicity of it and another times,I just do not compute any of it-I can't seem to leave it alone though.

Mmmango,sadly the book contains no references to chocolate,yes,I was disappointed too.It's written by an American soto zen priest and his take on zen and the 21st century.Am unsure of his writing/lifestyle,but it's interesting none the less.

Anymore book recommendations?
I'm open to anything calming on the old mind.
I've got Eckhart Tolle's 'A new Earth' lined up for bedtime reading next.

you know, poshwellies, i might join you on a re-read of old eckhart next, once i've finished ricard's 'happiness'. 'a new earth' was a really important book for me, i've read it twice now and even though i don't warm to the author that much, i find it a very comforting synthesis of everything that is important about all religions, and a good reminder of that very buddhist central tenet of Being In The Now. for a while after reading it i wandered around feeling really airy and happy and like i didn't need to feel quite so ... anxious...about uncovering hard-to-understand Truths all the time. i could do with rediscovering that feeling!!
X X X