Monday Morning Insights-Love After Love:~Joanie Lane
Each of us is on a continuing path of self awareness. Sometimes without our even being aware of it. Often we are seeking a balance of challenge, joy and peace of mind. There are times throughout our lives when we come to these crossroads; the crossroads that wake us up to the fact that we have drifted away from our true self. It could be an unexpected crisis that triggers this awareness or even simply reaching a point where we are just tired of the path we are currently on and intuition whispers in our ear that "It's time for a change". It is as if we have lost ourselves in the shadows of life and are desperate to reconnect, to re-establish, that perfect union of a loving relationship with the one we once knew best. The question then becomes, "How do we get there?" "Where do we begin?" In learning to quiet the mind through Mindfulness our thoughts can become less jumbled and we gain more clarity on identifying our current needs. When we are caught up in the business of life we often become out of touch with our natural ability to identify and determine what our needs are, causing ourselves to feel stressed, unfulfilled and unhappy. Mindfulness is a practice. And like any practice we find it easier to do when we make time for it each day. Practicing Mindfulness is one way to begin to declutter our thoughts and our lives. When we begin to see ourselves in a realistic light we may then use compassion toward ourselves to decide to let go of those thoughts and activities that no longer bring joy or contentment into our lives. And in letting these things go we create the space for new opportunities to come to us. Opening up to trying new creative ventures or learning a new skill broadens and fills in the gaps in our lives that cause feelings of unfulfilled growth. And the best part of Mindfulness is finding those pieces of ourselves that we either didn't know we had, or left behind in the rush of the busyness in our lives. Here's one of my favorite poems by ~ Derek Walcott LOVE AFTER LOVE "The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life." *Joanie Lane is director and teacher at "A Positive Light" meditation center. For more information on Joanie and the center visit www.apositivelight.com or her blog Joanielane.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others have been identified.
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One explanation of Mindfulness meditation is - the practice of becoming aware of, or paying attention to breath, and how you feel in your body - maybe by noticing any tightness or aches. Breathing into those aches to relax them, and turning our awareness back to the breath. We also notice when we have thoughts, identifying those thoughts when they arise as simply 'thoughts' and letting them go instead of getting caught up in their story. By practicing the letting go of thoughts, and aches and pains in the body we are 'training' ourselves to be mindful. Mindful of our driving, our walking, how we talk and listen,....mindful of our walk through life, how we approach it and how we engage with each other. Mindfulness of breathing and of thoughts, feelings, and actions, are tools to gain insight into the true nature of reality.
Insight meditation is anything but an escape from reality. On the contrary, it is the ultimate confrontation with reality. It is described as "radical acceptance". What is simply IS. Vipassana practice cultivates Mindfulness. "We practice vipassana meditation in order to see the mind, to know it rather than control it", as Bhikkhu Sopako Bodhi says. "To see your own mind clearly is to see ultimate reality." Being Mindfulness of each moment may be described as living on the surface. Vipassana ,or Insight Meditation, may be described as living in the deepest sense of reality. In a sense when we practice Vipassana we are putting our practice of Mindfulness into action. Our observation of reality is realized! The truth of all things as they are. So as we are meditating and noticing our breath, noticing the sounds around us etc. you may ask yourself, "who is doing the noticing? The object naming?" During Vipassana meditation we are the knower and the object. By practicing Vipassana meditation we come to accept The Truth of Life on Life's terms. There opens up an ability to accept what is. In practicing this acceptance we suffer less. We are able to see, recognize and let go. *Joanie Lane is director and teacher at "A Positive Light" meditation center. For more information on Joanie and the center visit www.apositivelight.com or her blog Joanielane.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others have been identified. |