Flox!!

OK, enough of the irrational exuberance.  These are gorgeous, though, and they’ve shown up as the Blue Bells have exited.

Baby Ducks!!

One of my favorite events of the year -- the first ducklings.

Chlorophyll!!!

Scenes from a morning hike:

I try not to anthropomorphize, but I hope these two enjoy each other's company.

Morning light bouncing off the river.

Deepening the Wonder

This week’s topic was on The Heavenly Messengers:  Sickness, Old Age and Death.  When we are touched by them, our lives take new shape.

Below is poem from Hafiz.  Below that, the image of a decaying yearling deer I came across on one of my river walks recently.

I find the the image of form dissolving back to the elements both horrific and wonderous.

Deepening The Wonder

Death is a favor to us,

But our scales have lost their balance.

The impermanence of the body

Should give us great clarity,
Deepening the wonder in our senses and eyes

Of this mysterious existence we share

And are surely just traveling through.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,
Hafiz would call for drinks

And as the Master poured, I would be reminded

That all I know of life and myself is that

We are just a midair flight of golden wine
Between His Pitcher and His Cup.

If I were in the Tavern tonight,

I would buy freely for everyone in this world

Because our marriage with the Cruel Beauty

Of time and space cannot endure very long.

Death is a favor to us,

But our minds have lost their balance.

The miraculous existence and impermanence of

Form

Always makes the illumined ones

Laugh and sing.

Form and Emptiness

Last of the Blue Bells

With hot weather coming on, the Blue Bells are on their way out.

I think he's sussing out a dead rodent, but it's a nice image.

What Buddhist Personality Type Are You?

This week in class I mentioned the three basic personality types identified in Buddhist psychology.

1. Aversive
2. Greedy
3. Deluded

You can read a great article on the topic here at Tricycle Magazine.  At the end is a quiz.(How Cosmo.)

Anyone up for creating a Buddhist Dating Website?  ”WM Aversive seeking ….”

Spring Transitions

One of the more dramatic transitions is watching Forsythia post bloom

Stereophonic Trillium

Fiddlehead fern. A little olive oil and salt ...

Virginia Bluebells at their peak.

Meditation and Mediation

A definition of meditation I use all the time:

“Meditation is noticing what’s happening – while it’s happening … and noticing your relationship to what’s happening.”

This definition can be most helpful when it comes to relationships and conflict.  We are more inclined to look outward rather than inward.  When conflict arises with another, we tend to skip paying attention what’s going on inside and focus more on the externals.

The practice of RAIN helps immensely in this process of self-inquiry:

R – Recognize and Realize what is actually going on

A – Explore what it means to Accept or Allow your experience just as it is

I – Investigate or be Intimate with the experience.  What do you feel inside?  What are you believing?

N – As you rest in awareness of what is moving and shifting inside, Non-Identification or Natural Awareness can help cultivate a shift in your relationship to the issue

This model helps us recognize more intimately what is actually going on and how to be with it.  How we respond to conflict can be profoundly influenced by this practice.

Consider this model, a hybrid of NonViolent Communication, Mindfulness and Whole Messages. .  When you encounter conflict with another you might reflect on these inquiries:

Observable Behavior: What are the facts?  Describe the situation without evaluation, judgement or analysis.   Can you describe what happened in a way that the other person would agree?

Thoughts:  What does this lead you to believe?  What ‘stories’ arise?

Feelings:  How does this make you feel?   What sensations and emotions do you feel inside?

Needs: What are you needing?   What needs can you identify that are unfulfilled?

The NVC model goes on to form a Request that might bring you and the other person into greater harmony. (In this model, the other person is left free to honor or decline the request.)

We are constantly buffeted by the “8 Worldly Winds” of pleasure and pain, praise and blame, loss and gain, fame and disgrace.  Each of us is in a constant inner battle to maintain a sense of equanimity  (or simply trying to hold it together as best we can).

Taking ownership for our inner experience can begin to open us to empathy for another.  We can begin again to open to the inner-connectivity of our lives.

Happy for No Reason: I Dreamed a Dream

This viral video has been touching hearts around the world.  Quite wonderful.  As a friend who passed it on to me said:

It makes me cry every time I see it. There is some sort of deeply moving lesson there about judging mind…

Update:  I can’t seem to get the embedded video to work.  You might try the link here.

Enjoy.

Hat tip to Ellen.

Happy for No Reason: The Sound of Music, Antwerp