Practice

Here are some of the War and Peace Project collages that Lynn and I did last Friday in the studio. This Friday there will be 4 of us. Lynn, Emma, Lynn's friend Adrienne and I. We hope to get a whole bunch done as we won't be in the studio regularly in the summer months. We have now finished 144.

Today I had a few interesting insights about meditation. I had finished 30 minutes of meditation and 45 minutes of yoga. I was resting in savasana, the "corpse" pose where you lie down quietly and rest. I heard the neighbor's windchimes, and suddenly realized that my mind was somewhere completely else. Not at all present. And this is during formal practice! Then I rode my bike to work and as I was peddling along, I realized that again my mind was completely somewhere else. Imaging what would happen with a certain patient at work, what someone said yesterday that upset me, whatever.

I really "got" how much I live in my thoughts that usually have nothing to do with what I'm doing in the present moment. It is hard to describe adequately, but it felt like a small realization -- that as the Buddhists say, I really do mistake my thoughts for reality.

So as I pedal along, or whatever it I am doing, I will try more and more to be present with what I'm actually doing rather than totally caught up in thoughts. A very interesting morning for practice. The zen teachers always say, "when doing the dishes, just do the dishes". I finally had an experience of that teaching. Now I really understand what that means. Cool.