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February 3 - February 11, 2022
But for many of us, even when we are most joyful, there is fear behind our joy. We fear that this moment will end, that we won’t get what we need, that we will lose what we love, or that we will not be safe.
The only way to ease our fear and be truly happy is to acknowledge our fear and look deeply at its source. Instead of trying to escape from our fear, we can invite it up to our awareness and look at it clearly and deeply.
If we don’t acknowledge and look deeply at our own fears, we can draw dangers and accidents to us.
Our greatest fear is that when we die we will become nothing. To really be free of fear, we must look deeply into the ultimate dimension to see our true nature of no-birth and no-death.
Our desire to have a partner is, in part, a continuation of our desire for someone to take care of us.
We need to look closely at our relationships to see whether they are based primarily on mutual need or on mutual happiness.
Similarly, if you like to spend a lot of your time at a café, it may not be because that particular café is so interesting. It may be because you’re afraid of being alone; you feel that you always have to be with other people. When you turn on the television, it may not be because there’s a fascinating program you want to see; it’s because you’re afraid of being alone with yourself.
Looking deeply into the vegetables, we see sunshine is inside them, a cloud is inside, the earth is inside, and a lot of hard, loving work is also there in the food before us. Looking in this way, even if no one else is sitting down with us to share that meal, we know that our community, our ancestors, Mother Nature, and the whole cosmos are right there, with us and inside us in every moment. We never need to feel alone.
Some of us have depression and continue to suffer even if in the present situation everything looks all right. This is because we have a tendency to dwell in the past. We feel more comfortable making our home there, even if it holds a lot of suffering. That home is deep down in our subconscious, where the films of the past are always projected. Every night you go back and watch those films and suffer. And the future you constantly worry about is nothing other than a projection of fear and desire from the past.
Much of the fear, anxiety, and anguish that we experience is there because the inner child has not been liberated.
Often we either don’t plan at all, or we get caught up in obsessive planning because we fear the future and its uncertainty.
And whenever we recognize that these are only movies and pictures, not reality, we are free. That is the practice of mindfulness.
“Breathing in I see myself as a five-year-old child. Breathing out I smile to that five-year-old child.”
The five remembrances are: 1. I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape growing old. 2. I am of the nature to have ill health. I cannot escape having ill health. 3. I am of the nature to die. I cannot escape death. 4. All that is dear to me, and everyone I love, are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them. 5. I inherit the results of my acts of body, speech, and mind. My actions are my continuation.
I have arrived, I am home In the here, in the now I am solid, I am free In the ultimate I dwell
Just practicing the first line of the poem, “I have arrived, I am home,” can make you very happy.
“I have arrived, I am home.” I have run all my life; I am not going to run anymore; now I am determined to stop and really live my life.
These eyes are not me. I am not caught in these eyes. This body is not me. I am not caught in this body. I am life without boundaries. The decaying of this body does not mean the end of me. I am not limited to this body.
This body is not me. I am not caught in this body. I am life without limit. These eyes are not me. I am not caught in these eyes. These ears are not me. I am not caught in these ears. This nose is not me. I am not caught in this nose. This tongue is not me. I am not caught in this tongue. This body is not me. I am not caught in this body. This mind is not me. I am not caught in this mind.
These things I see are not me. I am not caught in what I see. These sounds are not me. I am not caught in these sounds. These smells are not me. I am not caught in these smells. These tastes are not me. I am not caught in these tastes. These contacts with the body are not me. I am not caught in these contacts with the body. These thoughts are not me. I am not caught in these thoughts.
The past is not me. I am not limited by the past. The present is not me. I am not limited by the present. The future is not me. I am not limited by the future.
If we try to go to the ocean as a single drop of water, we will evaporate before we ever arrive. But if we go as a river, if we go as a community, we are sure to arrive at the ocean.
Communication is the practice. We live in a time when there are so many sophisticated means for communication—e-mail, cell phones, text, Twitter, Facebook—yet it is very difficult for individuals, groups, and nations to communicate with each other. We can’t seem to use our words to speak, so we end up using bombs instead.
Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”; but most of the time, the truth is more like “I think, therefore I am not really here.”
“Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I’m aware of my whole body.” “Breathing in, I am aware of some tension and pain in my body; breathing out, I calm and release the tension and pain in my body.”
May I be peaceful, happy, and light in body and spirit. May I be safe and free from injury. May I be free from fear, anxiety, anger, and afflictions.
1. We are aware that all generations of our ancestors and all future generations are present in us. 2. We are aware of the expectations that our ancestors, our children, and their children have of us. 3. We are aware that our joy, peace, freedom, and harmony are the joy, peace, freedom, and harmony of our ancestors, our children, and their children. 4. We are aware that understanding is the foundation of love. 5. We are aware that blaming and arguing never help us and only create a wider gap between us. Only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow.
Art is the essence of life, and the substance of art is mindfulness.
