As far back as I can remember being aware of the world outside of myself, there has been discord somewhere.
At the age of 6 I remember my mother crying over the news that John F. Kennedy had been killed. Later I remember the journalists that would bring us footage on the Vietnam War. There were ugly actions by people who I would normally think of as decent human beings, until they shot, beat or turned a firehouse on people simply because of the color of their skin. But I also remember my mother waking me and my brothers and sisters up to watch the launch of Alan Shepard, John Glenn, the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space flights. I watched the peace walks of Martin Luther King Jr. and saw the Beatles change musical history. During this time there were earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. And I would see and hear people talk of the "biblical" implications of the negatives going on. It was almost as if the bad outweighed the good, but I knew that wasn't true. Each day I experienced some good, fun times. There seemed to be a parallel between playing with my friends on the playground and ducking under my desk for cover in case of attack. One minute we were outside playing and then, in class, we hid from danger. Not that ducking under a desk would have helped at all. What it did do was serve to confused me to see the adults around me acting so inconsistently. It seemed to me then, as it does now, that it was just life unfolding before me. Things happened. Some of them good, some bad and some neutral. I saw some people worry. I saw others panic. And some seemed to give up all hope that any happiness would be safe from the negatives they dwelled on. But then, the next day even, something funny or wonderful would happen and I found myself wondering why the worriers continued to worry. As I got older I saw that every day we have choices on how we react to the unfolding of life around us. Good, bad or neutral. I won't go so far as to say I never worry-(I am a mom and a grandmother, so worry seems built into those roles)-but even so, if I can catch it and notice the worry begin to come up, I can turn it into something else. I can take action to change the things I can, accept the things I cannot change and use wisdom to distinguish the difference. The serenity prayer is a wonderful tool to put into action when we begin to worry. Since worry doesn't solve anything, it is just a waste of energy. Of course we are hard wired to worry simply for survivals sake. Using caution for safety is the purpose for worry. But it's not like a saber tooth tiger is hunting me. Yes, there are dangers and reasonable caution is important. But when we find that worry is running our life I would say that's a good time to step back from the emotion, investigate it a bit and make a change with our relationship with worry. Putting it back in its place of sensible caution. "Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence. Flow down and down in always widening rings of being." -Rumi *Joanie Lane is director and teacher at "A Positive Light" meditation center. For more information on Joanie and the center visit www.apositivelight.com
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*Abraham Lincoln named it his Melancholy. He is quoted as saying, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better I can not tell; I awfully forebode I shall not; To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better."
*Theodore Roosevelt referred to it as, his heavy dark cloak of sadness. *Winston Churchill called it his Black Dog. “I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand right back and if possible get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation.” However one refers to mental and emotional illness; clinical depression, bi-polar disorder, psychosis,...living with the dreadful weight of it can be all consuming, debilitating and even deadly. It can stretch or sever relationships and affects every living thing the sufferer comes into contact with. It can cause unbearable guilt, self hatred, exhaustion and extreme confusion which only adds to the overload one is already experiencing. Personally I can relate to Churchill's remarks: I believe my current discomfort with heights has to do with experiences I had in my youth, originally stemming from feeling a lack of self worth that caused depression. I felt, when looking down from a great height, a deep urge and pull to jump. Almost like vertigo but not quite the same. More the feeling that I was not in control; as if another being had taken over and was urging me to just let go and fall into that inviting void. The fear that arose was after the fact and two-fold: First, I came to realize that on some level I was attracted to the irrational pull and felt that it was much too inviting for any sane and healthy person. In addition, the feeling of helplessness I felt when not in control of this pull was frightening because I felt as if a spell had been cast over me taking away my sense of reason. Fortunately I had reason enough remaining to react to this frightening event by closing my eyes, holding onto something tightly and telling myself to slowly get down. My body would be shaking furiously when my feet were once again on solid ground. Then shame, guilt, confusion, and other negative emotions would swamp over me and a tidal wave of depression and self loathing would envelope me. And the darkness would again consume me, and the cycle would continue. I tell you this personal story because NOW I know that: 1. I was suffering from depression and wasn't crazy 2. I wasn't alone in this dark disease 3. There are tools that can help heal this suffering and they are simple and easy to obtain. First of all I want to be very clear and state that if you are on medication prescribed by your doctor - Stay on it! Then add Mindfulness Meditation to your life. Science has proven through numerous clinical studies that Mindfulness Meditation can be the answer for the mental and emotional disturbances that can haunt us. Mindfulness can also be utilized for problems with sleeplessness, anxiety, and reducing stress and stress related illnesses including depression and other mood disorders and has even helped some go off their medication completely-Though I wouldn't recommend doing so unless your doctor is working with you on this. Mindfulness promotes clarity of mind and opens us up to allow for the richness of life and gifts of emotional freedom and inner peace. Mindfulness helped me put a leash on my Black Dog. Oh, I still hear her bark. But she is off in the distance and doesn't creep up on me so often. Practicing the awareness that is part of Mindfulness has kept me alert to her games and to the triggers that can cause her to leap up on me. I'm wise to her guises now and can head off trouble from her before she goes for my throat. Mindfulness has literally saved my life, along with the Twelve Steps and loads of therapeutic help. The point is, if one is suffering from any of these emotional or mental challenges there are many tools that can be utilized and Mindfulness is a very positive and powerful tool that can add a tremendous amount of happiness and peace of mind to your life. Join us each Monday evening at 7pm for an hour of Mindfulness and Lovingkindness Meditation here at A Positive Light Center for Spiritual Awakening. There is no fee for this group and donations are appreciated. *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. Most of us have been taught how to be a good guest at someone's house or event. We learned to tidy up after ourselves, to show appreciation, to be considerate, gracious, compassionate, patient and so on. In practicing these behaviors we show fellowship and respect to others. When we extend this practice to the world at large we show gratitude and respect to our planet and all sentient beings. In addition, we take care to be a good guest in our world by tidying up after ourselves, keeping our planet safe and healthy.
As we live, learn and grow on this planet we may find ourselves forgetting to take the same care with ourselves. When we make a conscious effort to become more aware of our thoughts we have the opportunity to make substantial positive changes in ourselves. This in turn provides us with more clarity, peace of mind and happiness. We become happier people when we become aware of the thoughts we think. Enjoying the positive thoughts and catching the negative banter, replacing it with positive thoughts of gratitude. When we keep our thoughts tidy and uncluttered we allow a simple change that can have an enormous effect on our outlook adding to our happiness. In practicing awareness of our manner of interacting in this world we can create deeper relationships in all our encounters during each day. In moment to moment awareness we may see where we can help our fellows; perhaps by simply holding a door open for someone. We might pick up discarded trash from the ground or even become more conscious of how often we drive our car simply for convenience when we might be able to walk or ride a bicycle to where we wish to go. The lessons, that we may have thought only to be used during a visit to someone's home or event, can be practiced daily toward ourselves and the world. In doing so the changes we make with this practice may seem small but the impact and repercussions of kindness, compassion, patience, appreciation, and gratitude have a powerful effect on our happiness and the world we are a guest in. Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, iv. 40 *Joanie Lane is director and teacher at "A Positive Light" meditation center. For more information on Joanie and the center visit www.apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others have been identified. 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. 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. |