"And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud."
- Kurt Vonnegut
The Mindfulness Study Group recently started Jack Kornfield's, "A Path With Heart, a Guide Through the Perils and Promises of a Spiritual Life."
As we explore the "path" Kornfield shares, I experience the chapters as gardens of teachings and stories about mindfulness and life. There are blooms of peace, inspiration, and wisdom. Each time I visit, I see something new and I am changed. Yet it's not romantic or idyllic. It is honest and real, with a heartfulness that experiences and allows all that life brings. Here, all is present and abiding.
I was struck at our last session by the insights on "the preciousness and brevity of life." Since then, this has been a recurring theme each day. Here is how:
We Croak - In the spirit of the adage, "to be a truly happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily," the We Croak app shares quotes that inspire daily contemplations of death. These inspirations against the backdrop of a Path With Heart have infused my meditation and mindfulness with simple reflections on the dear and fleeting nature of life.
Far from the Shallow - This reflection has helped me wade into a deeper, more embodied understanding and honoring of my own mortality and the beauty of life - an understanding well beyond a shallow intellectual understanding. To go pop culture and quote the Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper song Shallow, there are times when I feel "far from the shallow now."
Room for a View - Rather than dark or gloomy, these reflections pave the way for a clear seeing and savoring of life. It affects one's view of the world, life and self. It crystallizes one's deepest values and intentions. In the ordinary is now seen something extraordinary, in difficulty is known some equanimity, in pain compassion, in confusion clarity.
Letting Go - From this place of reflection, understanding and intention, it gets easier and easier to naturally let go of the unnecessary and unwise in life - as they say "abiding without clinging."
Please join us for the Mindfulness Study Group the first and third Sunday each month 4-6pm. Freely offered, drop-ins welcome, and no registration necessary. We read together and discuss each chapter. Books are available for use in session.
To view the complete monthly newsletter, click here.
- Kurt Vonnegut
The Mindfulness Study Group recently started Jack Kornfield's, "A Path With Heart, a Guide Through the Perils and Promises of a Spiritual Life."
As we explore the "path" Kornfield shares, I experience the chapters as gardens of teachings and stories about mindfulness and life. There are blooms of peace, inspiration, and wisdom. Each time I visit, I see something new and I am changed. Yet it's not romantic or idyllic. It is honest and real, with a heartfulness that experiences and allows all that life brings. Here, all is present and abiding.
I was struck at our last session by the insights on "the preciousness and brevity of life." Since then, this has been a recurring theme each day. Here is how:
We Croak - In the spirit of the adage, "to be a truly happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily," the We Croak app shares quotes that inspire daily contemplations of death. These inspirations against the backdrop of a Path With Heart have infused my meditation and mindfulness with simple reflections on the dear and fleeting nature of life.
Far from the Shallow - This reflection has helped me wade into a deeper, more embodied understanding and honoring of my own mortality and the beauty of life - an understanding well beyond a shallow intellectual understanding. To go pop culture and quote the Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper song Shallow, there are times when I feel "far from the shallow now."
Room for a View - Rather than dark or gloomy, these reflections pave the way for a clear seeing and savoring of life. It affects one's view of the world, life and self. It crystallizes one's deepest values and intentions. In the ordinary is now seen something extraordinary, in difficulty is known some equanimity, in pain compassion, in confusion clarity.
Letting Go - From this place of reflection, understanding and intention, it gets easier and easier to naturally let go of the unnecessary and unwise in life - as they say "abiding without clinging."
Please join us for the Mindfulness Study Group the first and third Sunday each month 4-6pm. Freely offered, drop-ins welcome, and no registration necessary. We read together and discuss each chapter. Books are available for use in session.
To view the complete monthly newsletter, click here.
