**MEDITATION RECAP** Dear friends, Before I begin our recap, which will be in a little different format than usual, I want to extend a big ACOF welcome to our newest member, Michael Holt! Welcome, Michael! Last night we gathered before meditation in the living room of the Morgan House, to catch up, ‘yak’ as I call it, and enjoy each other’s company. Many arrive early to do this, and it’s always a pleasure. We talked about everything under the sun, and specifically about an opinion piece in the NY Times Dr. Jim posted yesterday on Facebook. The theme of that article fit nicely with our mindfulness practice last night on being with the present moment. We also laughed about the filming of the second season of “Nashville” taking place in Dr. Jim’s neighborhood and fun practical jokes he envisioned carrying out. Laughter was enjoyed by all. During our chatting session, new member Michael Holt arrived, and he marveled a bit that everyone arrived early to talk. We enjoyed welcoming Michael into the conversation! We then moved to the meditation hall and began our sitting practice. Ten minutes into our sit, we enjoyed walking meditation together, and it has been some time since we employed this practice. We didn’t talk about everyone’s experiences with regard to walking meditation because our Discussion time was filled with other conversation, and so I do not know if everyone felt the deep impact I, myself, felt from our walking meditation session. We will be doing this more, as walking together mindfully makes a huge difference and deepens our practice. After walking together for 10 minutes, we sat again and enjoyed breathing deeply together for the rest of our sitting time. At the end of sitting meditation time, I read excerpts from the article at “The Naked Monk” website that I sent out yesterday afternoon. That article is found here thenakedmonk/2013/04/20/empathizing-anger/, and deals with anger and negativity. An excerpt from the article follows: “Peace and calm are not the goals of mindful reflection; they’re just tools. What we need to carry into everyday life is the instinct to explore our feelings as they are expressed, to know our underlying motives and to not waste time trying to be good.” Members shared experiences they are currently dealing with regarding family members and others. We talked about being with the present moment and awareness. Many teachings were offered, and we talked about co-dependence, honoring and allowing our feelings, and not taking on responsibility for the choices and actions of others. In short, all we can really control is our own response to situations, and so awareness and acknowledgement of how we are feeling in the moment are key. We talked about the responsibility and hard personal work it can take to know what to do once we acknowledge and allow. It was offered that difficult situations cannot be wished away and handled by someone else. A 5-step process for dealing with emotions by author and teacher Stephen Cope “BRFWA” came up. You may read more about that here: soundstrue/weeklywisdom/?source=podcast&p=7091&category=IATE&version=full “BRFWA” simply means “breathe, relax, feel, watch, allow.” We all agreed that these things are easy to talk about, harder to actually do, and that we will screw up! But, in each moment, we can begin again. At this point, our time was up, and the usual hugs and parting thoughts were offered. The Earth School offers us continuous lessons, and it is up to us to either embrace them or ignore them. Ignoring them places us on a continuous loop, as one member described, and embracing them is often unpleasant, but a worthy practice. It’s how we grow. Next week we will have a discussion on Christ Consciousness, and I know many are looking forward to this. Have a good week of practice, and remember “Don’t waste time trying to be good. BRFWA”! I will get this BRFWA article up at our blog and accompanying email blast in the coming days. It is a great teaching, and I appreciate the many helpful articles Dr. Jim sends our way. The Present Moment is the Only Moment. Breathe, you are alive! With metta, ACOF Administration
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:05:49 +0000
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