[From The Season for Nonviolence, 64 Ways in 64 Days pamphlet]
“Feb. 9 CONTEMPLATION ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.’ (Bible) For at leat 3 minutes, relax, breath, and let your mind be fed by ‘whatsoever is good and beautiful.'”
Right now I’m distracted by the fact that there’s a giant advertising balloon that says “Search all Inventory under $11,000” stretching out covering part of my post. How do I make it go away? Do I need to search all inventory first? All inventory? This is certainly not my idea of the good and the beautiful.
Okay, I’m going to do the 3 minute thing right now. I’ll be back in a moment. Okay I’m back (did you miss me?) I thought about my children, and telling the truth and trusting myself.
I love contemplation. I regularly meditate for about 40 minutes a day now but it has taken me years and years to work up to that level. I can remember when just carving out 5 minutes of sitting was agony. Now I spend 20 minutes connecting with the energy of the earth and sky and clearing out anything that’s troubling me, another 10 minutes contemplating a quote for the day and a final 10 minutes sitting completely still and silent.
I do it in that order because this way I can kind of clear out some of the crap and have a fighting chance at just sitting still and being present. I still will wander. We all do. Monks who have been sitting on the cushion 30 years wander. The trick, I find is catching it. that’s the real meditation.
Hmmm, this days tool was “contemplation” not meditation. I’ll bet they have different word for a reason. I’ll contemplate that.