Inner Peace | peacefruit

packing a balanced boat

June 1, 2010 – 11:11 am

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Personal Peace – YUMMMMMMM. Sometimes it seems so very far away, yet the key is as close as your next breath. When you realize that and take full ownership of your experience in life, you are in for a pretty sweet ride.

When I was in my twenties, I spent several summers as a guide on the Colorado River in southern Utah. I’m still unpacking what I learned on the river and from the desert in those summers. One perfectly obvious lesson came from packing and unpacking my boat. I was responsible for my boat. Of course, I could ask for help and it was there in a skinny minute. But when it came time to get on the river, the oars were in MY hands.

It was up to me to make sure that the boat was balanced. And we all know that a balanced boat makes for a smoother ride. It was up to me to stay in the current and navigate the rapids. How this translates today is that I can pack the boat of my life with all kinds of activities, people, and thoughts that take me out of the current of my life. And, before I know it, I’m trying my darnedest to paddle my way out of some eddie or I’m rowing backwards through some rapid.

Or, I can get conscious about what I’m putting in the boat of my life — today. I can make sure that my boat is balanced with the three essential keys to life balance and personal peace – centering practice, self reflection and body care. I can anticipate any rapids that I might be approaching and make the necessary adjustments to navigate those life challenges with greater equipoise and greater peace. This is made so much easier if I’m already rowing along with centering practice, self reflection and body care.

When I’m taking care of myself through regular centering practice, self reflection and body care – the boat of my life floats along life’s current with much greater ease. If I neglect one of these, I’m sunk. Though I’d really like to unpack this topic more completely, a blog post just doesn’t lend itself to this exploration. That’s why I created the Reclaim Your Life 21 Day Challenge. Stay tuned. I’ll tell you more later.

In the meantime, what about you? How’s the boat of your life packed today? Are you making sure to pack your boat well? What one thing can you do today that will help you feel more centered?

By Melanie | Posted in meditation, mindfulness, power of now | Tagged inner peace, mindfulness, packing a boat, peace, practical spirituality, present moment, spiritual practice, spirituality| Comments (10)

sacred threads ~ say ‘hello’ to this moment

May 19, 2010 – 12:13 pm

Thich Nhat Hanh, a contemporary Buddhist monk, writes with great elegance of the joy to be found in bringing our awareness to the present moment. He encourages us to be so completely immersed in the task at hand that it becomes to us the most important thing in our life.

He writes, “While washing the dishes, you might be thinking about the tea afterwards, and so try to get them out of the way as quickly as possible in order to sit and drink tea. But that means that you are incapable of living during the time you are washing the dishes. When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you’re drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life.” (Miracle of Mindfulness, p. 24)

With such great beings as Brother Lawrence, and our own contemporaries, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, we are in good company in our search for the Truth. It is through the glimpses of the Divine that philosophers, poets and saints have experienced and shared that we find assurance that such a search is not in vain.

From their yearning to know Truth, they seem to have attained great understanding and found their way Home. It is our good fortune that they left many clues on the path. The reverence with which they approached the moments of their lives, continue to inspire seekers today.

Such seekers seem (for who among us truly knows the experience of another) to deliberately approach life with an appreciation of the uniqueness of each moment, each circumstance, each person.

We, too, can let each moment become a moment of deliberate, conscious living. We, too, can learn, with practice, patience, and perseverance, to greet the Presence in the present and welcome that formless Presence regardless of the form. We, too, can let each moment’s experience become a way of seeking out Presence and open to that experience whole-heartedly. Even the joys and the sorrows, opening to what is present.

Not one of us escapes heart-ache and truly not one of us lives every single moment in that kind of pain. It seems that in opening to be with what is as it is, ‘what is’ seems to change. All this to say, say ‘hello’ to this moment with your whole heart.

By Melanie | Posted in Uncategorized, sacred threads | Tagged brother lawrence, inner peace, mindfulness, peace, power of now, practical spirituality, present moment, spiritual memoir, spiritual practice, spirituality, thich naht hanh| Comments (5)

want this, not that

May 12, 2010 – 10:23 am

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but suffering in life is not going away. I’m reminded of this for many reasons. And, no the suffering in my life is not one of them. Just turn on the news or talk with someone for whom you care. Suffering in our very human lives is here to stay. Still reading?

Here’s the good news, not all of life is suffering. What this means in terms of being in life with more equipoise, with greater equanimity, is that as you practice being in life with friendly detachment, the ups and downs of life’s storms – - – even the emotional storms have less power over you.

Rarely does an emotional storm just hit. Imagine you are standing in your doorway looking out on a bright sunny day and then all of a sudden, I mean in an instant, you are swept out of your doorway into the broiling fury of a hurricane.

Storms don’t really work like that. First you might notice a cool wind, then the clouds start to shift, then the sky gets dark, then it starts drizzling, then it starts raining. Then the thunder and lightening, then maybe there’s hail and furious winds, by now, you should be taking cover, right? Gradually, the storm dissipates. The thunder and lightening rolls away, the rain lessons and then becomes a sprinkle and soon the sun is back out with it’s warmth and promise.

Emotionally, it’s much the same. Notice the choice points every step of the way. There are choice points where you can notice the thought (maybe it has something to do with attraction or aversion), you can right then practice being with the thought and the emotion while it’s a breeze before it becomes a wind. As a physician friend said, you begin to activate Heisenberg’s Principle (I think that’s correct). Watching changes what you are watching. Wanna read that again? Watching, changes what you are watching. When you observe something, what you are observing changes.

I think of this as kind of naming the beast of whatever you are experiencing. You name it. Then just practice being with it — as the ocean is with it’s own waves. It’s not upset that there’s a wave. It’s just there. It’s part of the ocean, but it’s not the whole ocean. So it is with our own upsets. So it is with the circumstances of our lives.

This is much much much easier to do if you have a formal meditation practice. I know I tend to get on a soap box about this. So I’ll not rant too long. If you don’t meditate or engage in some centering practice. Start. You will be so happy you did. I’ve got a couple of free recordings under free stuff to help you get started. Soon, I’ll have more resources so stay tuned.

Then there’s all the times we just don’t want to do the work – there’s the play of aversion in having to work at being in our life with greater ease. Again, EVERYONE on the planet has some thing in their life that they just don’t want to do. We all get tired of doing — there is aversion to one experience and attraction to another. Be easy with yourself in these times. Be a kind friend to yourself.

I don’t think that the attraction and aversion play is really the problem. I think it’s our holding on to our attractions and aversions that create problems. Just play with noticing the play of attraction and aversion in your life. Notice how you are attracted to one experience and averse to another. You needn’t try to change it. It’s a natural part of human life. And, these moments of being attracted to one experience and averse to another contribute to our feeling off — not quite centered. Notice, and practice letting go.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know I’m facilitating a women’s retreat very soon in France. (Wanna come? We have ONE opening!). Anyway, last night, I was looking for airfare and noticed my shoulders beginning to hunch up, there was a tightness setting in around my mouth and eyes. Then there were the barest of responses to my loving and patient husband. My aversion to the high airfare was starting to get the best of me.

Can you see how it’s not only the big aversions that throw us off. It’s the little aversions and attractions as well.

After a while, after spending a little too long in this play between my frustration because of being caught up in the attraction to easy low fare and the aversion to high fares, I took a deep breath and closed my lap top. With practice, maybe next time, I’ll just watch the attraction and aversion like waves in the ocean of my experience and book a flight.