Every. Single. Thing.
Is Practice.
Consider.
Contemplate.
Cultivate.
Get underneath and
Go beyond
The conditioned thoughts
The cultural norms
The habitual routines.
Surround yourself with
What has always been
Waiting for you…
Who are you?
On and off the cushion…
Practice settling thoughts.
Practice breathing into the gap between thoughts.
Practice breathing into the gap between cells.
Bring your practice into each moment as you journey your world today.
What dance is dancing you?
September 2, 1993 I witnessed Mikhail Baryshnikov become the dance at the Santa Fe Opera. I wept as the sun went down over the Jemez Mountains and the dance danced him. It was a sacred, holy time. He. Was. The. Dance.
Becoming the dance didn’t happen miraculously for him that early fall evening. It took years of practice, discipline, and inspriation. It took finding mentors. It took staying focused. It took sacrificing and saying no in order to say yes to the dance, one hundred percent.
What have you become? And who are you becoming? What are you practicing? What are you focusing on? What are you sacrificing so you can say yes to your dance?
Going Beyond the To Do List
Take three minutes
With pen and paper
And write down
My Best Traits List.
Keep your list close by
To remind yourself
(When you have forgotten)
Who you are when living life at your best.
And now practice
Being that person
Again…
And again…
And then yet again
Living life at your best.
••••
For silent support:
Join colleagues from around the world to meditate and “Explore the Silent Spaces of Infinite Mindset” each day from 6am – 6:30am Mountain. We are beginning our fourth week and it has become a refuge for many of us.
The Zoom room opens around 5:50am Mountain. So come early and settle in. Then at 6am we begin. Here is the link :
https://zoom.us/j/271214182?pwd=bDNGQS9Pc0VPd0x0T3FjdC9XRGtFZz09
Deep bow to every….single….thing.
Practice is Reining in the Mind
Each day we sit on our cushions we keep awareness alive.
As Monkey Mind mutters, chatters and stews
As Inner Critic paints harsh judgements
As Gremlin bullies ourselves and others
We sit, settle and train our minds.
We rein in our minds
With wholehearted determination and curiosity.
We continue coming back to the breath.
We continue coming back to this moment.
We continue being here now.
No negotiation.
If you penetrate one barrier, there is another.
Daikyu Ebo (1715-1774)
This reminder is a map of life. If we consider a challenge, an obstruction, a barrier as a prevention of our destination then it will prevent us moving forward.
By re-framing the barrier into a part of the journey’s map we skip over the disgruntlement, the despair. Instead it’s just part of life to observe and continue moving forward.
Meditation is called “practice” because practice is required daily to train for an awakened existence.
Daily, I must penetrate these barriers, to live the life of liberation. This is what gets me to my cushion each day…I call it Cushion Wisdom!
Ann-Marie's Blog 