I used to pray only formal prayers that I read in a book.
I thought I had to say thee and thou a lot.
Then, I prayed, talking to God like I was talking to my very best friend.
I would talk to Him while I was driving down the road or sitting in a park or going for a walk ... anywhere, anytime, chattering on and on about what was going on in my life.
Sometimes, I said Thank you.
Sometimes, I said Please help ...
Sometimes, I would tell him about a problem and ask Him for guidance or wisdom.
Then, one day, when I couldn't put my feelings into words, I just sat on a rock down by the river and really thought about how good God is and how thankful I was (and am) to have Him in my life.
I cried until there were no more tears.
I watched a place in the river ... a swirly, give the leaves and twigs a ride place and thought about how life was swirling around me.
Just above the swirly place was a flower bent over the stream, like it was looking at itself in the mirror ...
And just above the flower, a bluebird landed, cocked it's head to the side and looked at me ...
I hadn't said a single word ... but God's creation was speaking to my heart.
I spent a lot of time beside that river.
I learned the value of stillness ...
Of quiet meditation ...
I just read this the other day ...
Then, one day, when I couldn't put my feelings into words, I just sat on a rock down by the river and really thought about how good God is and how thankful I was (and am) to have Him in my life.
I cried until there were no more tears.
I watched a place in the river ... a swirly, give the leaves and twigs a ride place and thought about how life was swirling around me.
Just above the swirly place was a flower bent over the stream, like it was looking at itself in the mirror ...
And just above the flower, a bluebird landed, cocked it's head to the side and looked at me ...
I hadn't said a single word ... but God's creation was speaking to my heart.
I spent a lot of time beside that river.
I learned the value of stillness ...
Of quiet meditation ...
I just read this the other day ...
Learning to meditate is the greatest gift you can give yourself in this life. For it is only through meditation that you can undertake the journey to discover your true nature, and so find the stability and confidence you will need to live, and die, well.
Meditation is the road to enlightenment.
When I teach meditation, I often begin by saying: “Bring your mind home. And release. And relax.”
To bring your mind home means to bring the mind into the state of Calm Abiding through the practice of mindfulness. In its deepest sense, to bring your mind home is to turn your mind inward and rest in the nature of mind. This itself is the highest meditation.
To release means to release the mind from its prison of grasping, since you recognize that all pain and fear and distress arise from the craving of the grasping mind. On a deeper level, therealization and confidence that arise from your growing understanding of the nature of mind inspire the profound and natural generosity that enables you to release all grasping from your heart, letting it free itself to melt away in the inspiration of meditation.
To relax means to be spacious and to relax the mind of its tensions. More deeply, you relax into the true nature of your mind. It is like pouring a handful of sand onto a hot surface, and each grain settles of its own accord. This is how you relax into your true nature, letting all thoughts and emotions naturally subside and dissolve into the state of the nature of mind.
How many of us are swept away by what I have come to call an “active laziness”? Naturally there are different species of laziness: Eastern and Western.
The Eastern style consists of hanging out all day in the sun, doing nothing, avoiding any kind of work or useful activity, drinking cups of tea and gossiping with friends.
Western laziness is quite different. It consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time left to confront the real issues.
If we look into our lives, we will see clearly how many unimportant tasks, so-called “responsibilities” accumulate to fill them up. One master compares them to “housekeeping in a dream.” We tell ourselves we want to spend time on the important things of life, but there never is any time.
Helpless, we watch our days fill up with telephone calls and petty projects, with so many responsibilities — or should we call them “irresponsibilities”?
"Glimpses" by Sogyal Rinpoche
I like how he compares the West to the East ... saying we "cram our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time left to confront the real issues" ... I resemble that remark! I can't remember a time when I didn't live my life through a day-timer and a series of to-do lists. It was a "breakthrough" when I quit wearing a watch!
Then one day, it all caught up to me ... The things I thought were important just didn't matter all that much to me anymore ... I found value in quieting the storm that swirled around me and through me ... in knowing that I am part of a MUCH BIGGER picture ...
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