All forms of cruelty and exploitation are blatant manifestations of self-cherishing, and strengthen our dualistic wrong view of separation, the perceived antagonism between self and other. Callous disregard for the life and well-being of other sentient beings prevents spiritual progress, because it is based on the assumption that we are somehow more important, and our […]
Journal exercise: What does self-care and self-compassion mean to you? How are they different? How are they the same? — Inspired by conversations of late, I am intrigued by the differences between SELF-CARE and SELF-COMPASSION. — — In health care, self care is any necessary human regulatory function which is under individual control, deliberate and self-initiated. […]
via Journal exercise: self-care and self-compassion — Katarina Thorsen
Someone asked Buddha, “How shall we meditate?”
Buddha replied, “Whatsoever you do, do it with awareness; this is meditation. Walking, walk attentively, as if walking is everything; eating, eat with awareness, as if eating is everything; rising, rise with awareness; sitting, sit with awareness. All your actions become conscious, your mind does not travel beyond this moment, it remains in the moment, settles in the moment – this is meditation.”
What many of my students struggle with is clearing their minds for meditation
– we have tens of thousands of thoughts every single day after all.
Robin Sharma wrote about a very interesting exercise for clearing the mind called the Heart of the Rose.
To perform the exercise, all you need is a rose and to be in a silent, relaxing place.
Start to stare at the center of the rose, its heart. Focus all your attention on the rose. Notice its texture, its color, notice everything about it. Only think about the rose that is in front of you and let go of all your problems and worries…
If your attention starts to wander… if you start having unrelated thoughts… just observe your thoughts and let them go…
Then return your attention to the rose…
It’s a very simple exercise, but one that I enjoy to practice from time to time.
Holy shit Isaac….
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