Consciousness- The Mystery

I've walked by the book a number of times in the local Barnes and Noble. I looked and thought it was one of those "new age" type of books. Proof of Heaven by Dr Eben Alexander never really caught my attention. I tend not to worry about heaven. Somehow or other I know there's not much I can do about its existence (or lack thereof). What is important is what I do and how I live in the here and now. Yes, I believe in eternal life, but I sure have absolutely no inkling of what that means, what it will look like, or even where it's located. We know far less than a lot of preachers and "believers" lead themselves to believe. I am looking forward to a reunion on some distant shore, but I don't get all caught up in the pursuit of it.

Then the other noon I was driving home and I started listening to Minnesota Public Radio broadcasting a talk by Dr. Alexander. Suddenly I was intrigued. He was talking about neuroscience, which I also talk about a great deal. He talked about meditation, mindfulness, and centering prayer, which I also talk about a great deal. He talked about the great mystery of "consciousness" and the difference between the brain and "mind." It seems he had a near-death experience in which he had visions that sound more extensive than the near-death experiences usually discussed. He talked about the "mystical" experience and the beauty, the sounds, the colors and light. He said that in deep meditative states the same things are possible. They are on the other side of some kind of consciousness veil (my words).

Then instead of taking some clear doctrinal path into traditional religion he seemed to talk about the truth at the foundation of all religious and spiritual traditions. He talked briefly while I was listening that our poor human words are almost useless. He had me at that point. No, not a believer, but willing to at least read his book, which I am about to start.

I feel life is too rich and powerful to be limited to what we can see. I have read too many examples of people having all types of spiritual experiences that are not easily explained- or explainable at all- by our human science. There are enough stories of the power of mindfulness and meditation; centering prayer in many forms is a deep and profound connection with something; the Celtic understanding of "thin places" where this world and the spiritual world are closer than other places expresses this same understanding.

We are living in a time, I feel, where the underlying spiritual quest of humans is being discovered and re-discovered. Jon Kabat-Zinn in Massachusetts has developed and proven the value of mindfulness-based stress reduction in physical illness. Dr. Amit Sood at Mayo Clinic has been developing a program of attention and interpretation therapy. These are but two elements of what is happening.

So I will keep exploring. I know I will never have it figured out- none of us will. But put all the pieces together and we might have a tiny sliver of the biggest picture.

Meditating Whle Riding

What a great addition to my life bicycle commuting has become. I haven't quite got some of the logistics worked out into a little easier method, but it's getting there. As I said a couple weeks ago after starting this habit, that it is a great way of both starting and ending the work day. The possibilities for new things to be seen and heard, new smells, the changes in the ride from day to day- they all make it an experience in mindfulness and meditation.


 Dr. Amit Sood, author of Training Your Brain, Engage Your Heart, Transform Your Life made a comment to a group of s a few weeks ago. Many of us in 21st Century United States have a difficult time doing "sitting" meditation. We are not necessarily made that way. Of course we can train to do so; many of us can and do show that. But that isn't the only way to become mindful and experience meditation.

Since hearing that from Dr. Sood, I have started utilizing some of my bike riding as a means of cultivating my mindfulness and meditative practices.

The first time was a few weeks ago on my long weekend ride. I started out with a significant uphill challenge as a strength and endurance building. As I struggled up the last part of the hill I heard myself telling me to head over to the Douglas Trail, a former rail bed without significant hills, to do some "mindful biking."

So I did. The ride on the trail took on a different rhythm and feel. It was a first.

Then last week I was heading home after work and realized that I was really working a lot harder than I had on other rides on the same trail by the river. Oh- there was a head wind. I got home and said to my wife, "Mindful riding is a lot more difficult with a headwind!"

Which was only partly true. What happened was that I had to switch what I was being mindful of. Suddenly my body was more important to monitor. I was exerting more. I had to pay attention to my switching gears to keep from exhausting myself. I had to watch the pace and really pay attention to my breathing. The mindfulness moved from the stuff around me to the stuff within me.

Then on another morning I left home knowing there was a chance of rain before I got to work. I wanted to ride; I didn't want the rain to keep me from it. (That's one of the logistics I'm still working on.) So I headed down the street toward the river watching the clouds, feeling the breeze, pedaling at a decent pace.

Heading down the river I found myself preoccupied with the weather. Will I make it? I rushed on. Then, just as I got to one of the bridges I ride under, the sound of pigeon wings taking off grabbed me. It broke through and I looked up in time to see the bird heading away from me and the trail.

I didn't realize the sound of one bird flying could be that loud.

It brought me back, mindful, of what was happening. Always something new or different to experience. How can one get bored in such a changing and diverse world?

No, I didn't quite make it ahead of the rain. But it was close.

I then had the pleasure of a tail wind on the way home in the afternoon that made up for the morning.

I am actually finding myself expectant each evening to what might be found on the ride the next day. A turtle on the side? New flowers blooming? The trash left on a spit of land by careless people fishing? Children swimming in the creek near the confluence with the river?

But always the pedaling and the water; the feel of the rolling wheels and rhythm of my legs and body moving forward.

A Gift of Morning Grace

I finally had the chance to ride my bike to work this past week, Tuesday and Thursday. That meant heading out the door around 6:10 in the morning for the slightly less than six-mile ride. It starts out on a quiet residential street, crosses a busy cross-town street, then winds through another residential neighborhood.

Then comes a better part. I cross the Zumbro River and coast south along the river on the bike trail. One more bridge along the main highway and back to the trail and the best part- several miles along the Cascade Creek. Heavenly.

Then the final leg along the streets to work.

At 6:30 in the morning the streets are pretty much left to the joggers, rabbits and cyclist. The river had its share of fishermen out for an early catch. The Creek was noisy with ripples and running water. The smell of lilacs and damp earth wafted in spots as the morning cool kept me focused and wide-awake.

It was a ride of mindful meditation. You don't have to sit and breathe in rhythm to meditate. In fact most of us are not all the good at that. But to get in the zone and pedal the morning calm with mindfulness and openness to what is happening around me was a great way to start the day.

The ride home was different, but no less exhilarating. More cars meant more fuel smell. More walkers and strolling with dogs. The temperature a bit warmer but I was on the way home so I didn't worry about the sweat. The Creek still set the tone for the ride. Nothing like running water in its natural environment to get the mental kinks from a day at work.

This, too, was a meditative ride with a different focus. Renewal in the afternoon was just as powerful as starting well in the morning. Over these months of developing my meditation and awareness, I didn't expect this.

But then again, if life were all about what we expect, think how boring that would be. To become aware and mindful can even turn commuting into a deepening time.

The Last Freedom

I love to surf and find these places on the Internet that give life meaning and purpose. Sean Burcaw's story that I have highlighted before is one. Joshua Prager is another. Several years ago I read his amazing book on Bobby Thompson, Ralph Branca, the Dodgers and Giants in a fateful baseball game, The Echoing Green. I knew nothing about him. Last week I moseyed over to TED Talks on You Tube and came across a talk he gave at TED this year. I was immediately entranced. At age 19 he was severely injured in an accident in Jerusalem. Twenty years later he returns to meet the truck driver that changed his life.

I was mesmerized by his story and his telling of it.

I realized that this is what I have been reading and thinking about in some of the Attention Interpretation Therapy program I have been in. All the themes from gratitude to acceptance, forgiveness to meaning are right here.

The TED blog website has this to say:

“This,” Prager quotes, “is the last of the human freedoms: to choose our attitude in any human circumstance.” The aging and the anxious, the divorced and balding and bankrupt … everyone can choose to rise above bad fortune, to enjoy community, study, work, adventure, friendship, love. The good.

Take the 18 minutes to watch this. Put it in full-screen and watch Joshua's face and story grow. Be amazed. Be changed.

You Read When You Are Open and Ready

Several years ago I bought and started to read a book by bassist extraordinaire Victor Wooten. Called simply The Music Lesson, Wooten tells a magic realism story of a strange music teacher who shows up in his life one day. I never got past chapter 2. Not because I wasn't interested- the book intrigued me- but because I now know I wasn't ready to hear the teacher on its pages. Last week I picked it off the shelf and started over.

Talk about getting blown away. When the student is ready, the teacher appears; when the mind is open, the book jumps off the shelf. I realized as I worked through the book that I needed to be more involved in making music before the book would make even greater sense to me. So, in the past 4 years I have been playing my trumpet a lot. I play in two bands- a Big Band and a community concert band- and a brass quintet. I have gone farther in my musicianship in the past 4 years than I would have believed possible. I still have a long way to go. I now see that what Victor and his teacher, Michael, have to share is where I am heading.

From the book's website:

THE STORY

The Music Lesson chronicles the story of a young bass player desperately in need of improving. He awakens one day to find a strange man in his house. This man tells the young bass player that he is his teacher. "Teacher of what?" the student asks. "Nothing," the strange man replies. This is the start of an interesting and entertaining journey.

After choosing Music as a subject, the two musicians start on an expedition that opens the student's eyes, mind, and body to things he never before dreamed of. He quickly realizes that he is learning much more than Music. He learns, along that way, that as well as helping himself, he is actually helping his Life and the Life of Music in the process.

Michael and the student decide on ten areas of Music to look at and explore from a completely unusual and unorthodox point of view. The starting point is simple and profound- as most simple things are.

Music is a language and we learn language as babies by "jamming" with professionals at it- our parents. Yet we don't do that with music. With music we go to lessons with other amateurs like us. We do rote exercises. We don't feel good when we make mistakes. Wooten has a TED Ed talk on this. It's short and worth the listen.

As I read on in the book, I discovered that a synchronicity was occurring with several things going on in my life right now. Michael is teaching mindfulness and meditation, awareness and acceptance, meaning and celebration and gratitude- in other words the themes I have been studying and experiencing in the Attention and Interpretation Therapy course I am involved in with Dr. Amit Sood of the Mayo Clinic. I have also been working on developing a deeper mindfulness and meditation group for work including Tai Chi and Yoga. In addition I have been working through a book on Improvisation for the Spirit. All of these, and a few other thoughts in the past 5 months or so, meant I was ripe for what the book has to say.

In other words, I am ready to make a change in my music, excuse me- Music Life. It means I am going to have to listen and feel differently when I am working with Music. I can no longer just "play" music. I have discovered some things about being in the "groove" and dynamics, articulation, and listening to the rests. I have learned that zero is not nothing, but gives shape to the Music. I have to be involved with it. But I am not to work hard at it. I am to work easy at it.

Music is also about relationships- not just of the different parts, but the notes and rests with each other. It has to do with the relationship of emotions and thoughts. It is about the relationship of the people in the group with the people listening. It is even about the greater relationship with Music and Life and the world I live in.

Fortunately- I know the language, I can "read" it. I have listened to it and experienced in thousands of ways over the past 65 years. I have even "jammed" by singing along with some of the greats in the privacy of my car. I am now, finally, learning to speak it, to jam with it more fully, and to listen to the silence and emotions.

I have already been having a great time playing music over these past 4-5 years with these different groups. Now I am going to be part of the conversation, instead of just one of the voices and helping make and share Music.

You know what- I have absolutely no idea what any of that means. But I am looking forward to being there when it happens. I will keep you posted.

The Key to Life and Power

If we are to become mindful of ourselves and each other, we have to give up some of our defensiveness, let down some of our barriers, become vulnerable. Brené Brown's TED talks have been a huge sensation. Rightly so. She has challenged us to that vulnerability. It is the key to our lives.

Owning our story can be hard
but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.

Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky
but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on

• love and
• belonging and
• joy—

the experiences that make us the most vulnerable.

Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.
― Brené Brown

In my meditation and mindfulness I must come face to face with that part of me that is vulnerable. I have to look within and see that when I love, I am taking a risk not to be loved back or to be disappointed. When I look for relationships, I find that I may be rejected and not belong where I thought I belong. It is in sharing this basic human condition that I will become fully who I can be.

To be other than mindful or accepting of it is to deny the many possibilities of life.


Vulnerability Video Link
Shame Video Link

Continuing Growth

Over the past several years I have taken several steps in the direction of continuing personal growth. It really started to kick in a little over 5 years ago when, in preparation to turning 60, I started exercising to do a 60 mile bike ride along the Pine Creek Rail Trail in northern Pennsylvania. I have done a number of other things including taking some trumpet lessons, playing my trumpet on a very regular basis in three different groups, developing my mindfulness training, and still exercising.

This afternoon I added another item to my list. I did my first session of Tai Chi at the healthy living center. I have heard of Tai Chi and known a little bit about it for many years, but have never taken the opportunity to do it. I decided that I would rectify that today.

It was really neat. I felt a calm and body/soul connection as I went through the movements. I began ever so slightly to feel the movement. It was quite an experience. I also saw how it applies to meditation practice. The deliberate movement, in slow motion, allows the breath and body to work together in a deepened awareness. It is a helpful addition to my mindfulness growth. Our western cultural practice of separating mind, body, and soul into non-connected boxes, sure leaves us short-changed.

I know I have a long way to go in this. It does look like an intriguing practice.

Sidenote: An interesting aspect of it is that 45-minutes of a slow, deliberate series of movements can impact muscles like I am feeling this evening AND, according to some websites, it uses as many calories as my 30-minute, 7 mile bike ride. Huh!

To Start on Relationships

The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
--Thich Nhat Hanh

Give that gift to those around you today.

Share it in your prayer and meditation.

Send silent blessings to those you meet.

Be a living gift to all today.

Control and Interpretation

I guess that the idea of "being in control" or, as we often hear it these days, being a "control freak" is really based on our interpretation of thing. These of course include

• the world,
• our place in the world,
• our ability to change things in our world, and, at the bottom,
• our ability to have enough power over ourselves and others that we get what we want.

I have been reading a book on Improvisation for the Spirit and at one point she talks about control.

Control is elusive and wanting control just leads to suffering.
-Katie Goodman

Suffering. Not something any of us would naturally accept. But that brings to mind another saying that goes around the recovery community from time to time:

Pain is real; suffering is optional.

In other words our perception of pain and our interpretation of it can lead us into suffering or something else. The suffering naturally leads to things like resentments, "poor me", anger, fear. We then pull away, isolate or strike back. We try yo find ways and places of control. We suffer.

Goodman then says something profound in the improv book:

Trust is the opposite of control.

Wait! Trust? But trust in what? Or who?

Trust, among other things that the world is the way it is and that in some way or another beyond our control, it will be okay for the world.

…All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.
-Julian of Norwich

Then things begin to fall into place a whole lot easier. The daily themes we have talked about can begin to intertwine:

• Acceptance- all is what it is
• Compassion- others are in the same place we are
• Gratitude- that all is and will be in the hands of a power greater than ourselves
• Deeper meaning- which can be found in the midst of that lack of control
• Forgiveness- for others and ourselves when we seek to take that control
• Celebration- for all that we have been given
• Prayer and meditation- to keep in greater and greater contact with our higher power

Life begins to flow differently when that begins to happen. Life begins to have a rhythm that we can fit into because the world is just doing its thing (for better or worse in our interpretations.)

As I learn more of being mindful and to meditate I learn that my focus needs to be on what is and what that means. I learn that much is far beyond my control and to fight back like that is to cause myself to suffer. I need to be mindful of needing to trust and let go of my ways and learn the ways of peace.

Who's in Charge Around Here?

This week I continue looking at some of the aspects of the Attention and Interpretation course I am doing with Dr. Amit Sood of the Mayo Clinic. As usual, I note that the thoughts and interpretations (!) here are mine, not his or anyone else's.



So, we have been looking at paying attention and developing a mindful attitude toward the world and our own lives. Through the practice of meditation we develop a basic set of facts, thoughts, data, that in and of themselves have little if any meaning. Ah, but do we give them meaning! Hence the second part of what I am discovering and experiencing- interpretation. It's what happens when we look at, feel, or respond to whatever it is we become mindful of. The interpretation is what gives it meaning- or not. Often that interpretation can be based on more than just the facts. It can be based on past experiences, fears, hopes, dreams, history, faith, lack of faith, and on and on. It is often just a set of assumptions.

All one has to do is listen to the same bit of political news on MSNBC and then on Fox News. You will have a hard time believing it is the same story. The one you like or respond to will be the one that matches your political views, the facts be damned.

All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

The same is true of the interpretation of the things we pay attention to in our own lives.

We may not use the idea of power vs. truth within ourselves, but in reality the ideas and assumptions that have the upper hand (power) in our lives will generally lead the way to an interpretation. What we think we believe is right or wrong will color the interpretations we give to an experience.

The consequences can be troubling to much worse. Or they can get us to believe in God.

The book and movie, The Life of Pi, is one of the best examples of how this works. In the end, we are asked to decide which is the better story. Which interpretation is more helpful, hopeful, life affirming? That may be the best way to start looking at interpretation of the things we become mindful of.

Reality is how we interpret it. Imagination and volition play a part in that interpretation. Which means that all reality is to some extent a fiction.
--Yann Martel

Meditate on what it is that makes your interpretations. Be non-judgmental and allow what is to be.

Down to Earth

It isn't just about some "other-worldly" place. It is not about being out-of-touch with reality. It is not something for just those times when there's nothing else to do.  True spirituality is the air we berathe, the environment we live in, the people we meet and those who have gone before.

Sometimes people get the mistaken notion that spirituality is a separate department of life, the penthouse of existence. But rightly understood, it is a vital awareness that pervades all realms of our being.
-David Steindl-Rast

Go Gently

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh,

Not Just for the Elite

I have known people who say they don't have the time to meditate. To them it is for people who have a life of luxury and the "free time" to sit around and do nothing.

Ah, but how sad that is. They are missing out on the wonders of a life that gets in touch with itself and the universe around them. To be busy is to lose sight. To be busy is to miss the still small voice. In the Christian tradition the classic, Practice of the Presence of God, disproves everything people might say about those who can afford the time to meditate. The author, Brother Lawrence, lived in the 17th Century. Born Nicolas Herman he:

entered the priory in Paris as a lay brother, not having the education necessary to become a cleric, and took the religious name, "Lawrence of the Resurrection". He spent almost all of the rest of his life within the walls of the priory, working in the kitchen for most of his life and as a repairer of sandals in his later years.

No matter what, no matter where, he developed the spirit and soul of one in touch with the Holy.

So for today I leave you with a thought to meditate upon. Not from one who spent his hours doing nothing in order to pray and meditate, but rather spent his days meditating and praying so he could do all else.

“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
― Brother Lawrence

Creating the Environment

Surfing the internet the other day I Googled "How to pay attention." A lot of the ideas I found were about focus. In other words, attention.

Whether I have ADHD or not, my brain is not easily focused. That's why I have been talking about "training the brain." One of the problems we face is that, in essence, our mind has two modes:

• Focused mind
• Default mind

The focused mind is what we need to pay attention. It is what zeroes in on things. It is what helps us get things done.

Underneath that is the basic, skimming-along, automatic-response brain. It is our default mode as Dr. Amit Sood of Mayo Clinic calls it. It is white noise most of the time. Background. Just there. We don't notice it. It's like watching a football game on Sunday afternoon. On the screen is the game you are watching. The announcers are giving their commentary; the cameras catch the action. It has your attention.

But down there on the bottom of the screen is a crawl that is giving you scores around the league, fantasy stats updates, etc. When I am focused on the game I don't see the crawl. It is the default mode of my brain. It is the automatic thoughts that are at work. They don't disappear.

Until I let them come to the front. And then I am all over the place and have no idea what is happening in the game. I am learning about another team's stats, etc. My wife will then comment on the game and I have to pretend I know what just happened. The default mind of the crawl has defeated me.

(By the way, have you noticed that they disengage the crawl during commercials? They don't want anything to pull you away.)

Paying attention allows us to know what we are looking at, experiencing, and feeling. Training the brain is learning to recognize which we are paying attention to- and which we need to pay attention to. When we just skim along in default mode we have no idea what we are feeling. But take a moment and focus, bring the focusing part of the brain to work and you will begin to learn.

One of the suggestions on one of the web sites for paying attention is quite simple- and profound.

• Create the right environment.

Distractions remove our ability to pay attention. The default crawl of thoughts that are just beyond our conscious awareness keep us all over the place - and no where in particular. Paying attentnion, using the focused mode, is a learned behavior. It is NOT the default mode. In order to get this done, to learn to pay attention, we have to create the right environment(s) in our lives. We need to nurture first the quiet willingness to do something that may take some psychic energy. We need to then explore the simple ways we can shift attention to one more focued.

This is the role and place of meditation and mindfulness.

Creating an environment where we can pay attention more fully, more often.

But it can be tough. Our primal instinct is to let the thoughts roll. It is to go with an unconscious flow. But as our primal ancestors discovered- that's dangerous when you don't see or hear the lion charging you because you've allowed your mind to wander. They learned- and developed- the focused mode- the ability to pay attention.

It takes time and inner energy. Some days I am great at it- just take a few breaths and I am back, focused. Other days, an hour of breathing can be as ineffective as anything else.

The key is to keep on doing it. Training takes time and effort.

So, try it. Just do it. Create your inner environment and pay attention.

Paying Attention

I am doing these from a course I am involved in right now on Attention and Interpretation Therapy with Dr. Amit Sood here at Mayo and his book:

• These thoughts are all mine, by the way. The understandings and interpretations are my own of what I have been reading and experiencing. 

Last week I looked at the question of why try training the brain? This week I will move a little deeper into the idea of paying attention. That is one of the goals of mindfulness, of course, learning to pay better attention to the world around us- and the world within us.

A simple quote will set the tone for the posts on attention. Take and ponder:

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now
without wishing it were different;
enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will);
being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).”
– James Baraz”

Basic Training

When we begin to talk about the ways and whys of training the brain into mindful and attentive paths, we could end up all over the place. Basically, from a scientific point of view it is simply this:

Mindfulness is good for you and helps your health!

All around the country science has been researching the impact of meditation on people of all kinds with all types of issues. Some have studied Tibetan monks; others have worked with terminal cancer patients. With the rise of newer technology such as functional MRI scans we can look at things in the living brain that reveal more mystery than answer- but show the positive ways meditation and mindfulness can touch our lives.

One way it has been described is that positive emotional states can be a learned skill. In other words, we don't have to stay locked into negative emotions. We can learn ways to help ourselves move into new ways of thinking which can have benefits in many areas, physical as well as emotional.

Remember that all signals and information transferred around our bodies from toe to head and back again are through physical interactions- electrical and chemical. If things get short-circuited (electrical) it can throw off the chemical balance. And vice versa! There is a fine and critical balance in our brains between chemical and electrical that simply change the ways we feel or can feel. Different physical or emotional events can throw any of these off. Some of these are even genetic.

For example:

• Pain- we produce too much of some chemicals as a buffer, or response to pain. We are thrown off.
• Depression- perhaps for many a genetic concern that doesn't produce the right balance of the right chemicals.
• Stress and anxiety- the fight or flight response is sure a chemical reaction that changes things quickly.
• Substance Abuse- talk about throwing off the chemical balance!

These areas, by the way, have been shown through much research to be positively impacted by mindfulness and meditation! That does not mean that all we have to do is learn to meditate and these things will go away. Oh, if it were only that easy. But to train our brain- or in many instances, re-train the brain- is to improve the foundation on which can be built new coping skills, positive emotional responses, stress relief, and recovery.

The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.
Carl Sagan

Note: When I talk about "training the brain" I am not referring to the idea that we should keep training the brain as we get older. That concept is a narrow focus and isn't where I am going when I talk about it.

Careful What You Seek

Well, then, why train the brain?

I am tempted to be a smart-alec and say that

a wild brain is something to be feared. Train it.

The truth is that a wild (untrained) brain IS dangerous. It keeps us potentially unhealthy. It keeps us from seeing what is around us. It keeps us from focus and awareness, stuck in what was, what never will be, or what we wish would be.

“Few of us ever live in the present. We are forever anticipating what is to come or remembering what has gone.”
― Louis L'Amour

The obvious result is we lose out on what is NOW.

Of course training a brain is not the same as "taming" it like a wild beast. In fact it is not even any kind of attempt to make it docile and dull. To the contrary, a "trained" brain works better, is more creative and interested in the world. It helps us see more things and, I firmly believe, it helps us become more adventurous because the world becomes more and more interesting each day.

I also have a hunch that training the brain makes it more open, more willing to live with paradox and uncertainty. You see when we begin to look at- and increase our awareness of- the present moment we can begin to see the small nuances and differences that help make up the overall pattern. Nothing is as complex as it seems, it is much simpler. Neither is anything as simple as it seems, it is much more complex. Simple and complex can become judgment words. Training the brain helps us move toward an open and non-judgmental approach.

Which leads to one more thing, I think, a deeper and broader understanding of truth and the ultimate awareness that it is always just beyond our grasp.

“Walk with those seeking truth…
RUN FROM THOSE WHO THINK THEY’VE FOUND IT."
--Deepak Chopra

We are always seekers of truth. But truth is always bigger than our minds can embrace.

Keep seeking.

Keep questioning.

Keep meditating.

Training Your Brain

I'm going to take a step back now in this series of posts on meditation and mindfulness. I am doing this from a course I am involved in right now on Attention and Interpretation Therapy with Dr. Amit Sood here at Mayo and his book:

• These thoughts are all mine, by the way. The understandings and interpretations are my own of what I have been reading and experiencing. 

The past seven weeks I have posted on the seven daily themes that we are invited to cultivate in each day's growth in awareness and mindfulness. They are:

• Monday: Gratitude
• Tuesday: Compassion
• Wednesday: Acceptance
• Thursday: Deeper Meaning
• Friday: Forgiveness
• Saturday: Celebration
• Sunday: Reflection and Prayer

Having set that out, I want to think a little more deeply. Over this and the next seven weeks I will look at some of the background. This will include things like awareness, meditation, paying attention.  To get it started I want to talk this week about why this is important. The title of this post sets it out- the purpose is to train the brain- train ourselves- to be more intentional, aware, and focused. So much goes by us in each day and even each moment. So much happens that we never see because we are simply not paying attention.

Mindfulness and meditation get us trained to see things that are already there and to experience things that are already around us- and we don't even see or experience them most days.

I will simply start the week, then, with a quote from the man who has probably done more to pull all this into the American health care consciousness, Jon Kabat-Zinn.

The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.
― Jon Kabat-Zinn

The more we are aware of those things and those moments, the better we will be at life.

They are not little. I will ponder that, meditate upon that for today.

Reflection and Prayer

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.
--Etty Hillesum

One of the problems, though, is that sometimes we have to learn to be mindful of the breaths and the minutes of prayer. That doesn't just mean taking the time to do it- it means we have to become aware that we are breathing and even praying. With something as natural (and necessary) as breathing, we don't pay any attention to it until it is difficult. Like when walking up a steep flight of stairs or an asthma attack makes it harder to breathe. We don't pay attention to the possibility or existence of prayer until we are in the proverbial fox-hole where, we are told, there are never any atheists.

What if prayer became as natural as breathing and breathing became as intentional as prayer?

What if prayer- as the ability of talking to God was what we did on a regular basis and breathing was what we paid attention to needing each moment?

Sure, some might say, we would never get anywhere since all we would do would be talk to God and count our breaths. I don't think so. I have a hunch that once we became more mindful of our breathing we would most likely fall into a healthy balance- a rhythm based on the normal ins- and outs- of our breath. I also have a hunch that if prayer became as intuitive and natural as breathing we would become more and more conscious of the presence of God around and within us all times of all days.

I don't think we can ever be THAT perfect at it.

But it is sure worth the journey.

Habits

Habit rules the unreflecting herd.
― William Wordsworth

Continuing on this week's theme of reflection and prayer, that's a great quote. Not that there's anything wrong with habits, especially good ones. But even those can get in the way with better things if we stay in the rut. hence the need for reflection. Looking in, looking around, looking through our lives pulls us away from the herd and directs us in new paths..

Which leads nicely into another quote I found in my surfing:

Usually, when the distractions of daily life deplete our energy, the first thing we eliminate is the thing we eliminate is the thing we need the most: quiet, reflective time. Time to dream, time to contemplate what's working and what's not, so that we can make changes for the better.
― Sarah Breathnach

Take the time to reflect on your life, we are being told, especially when we have lost the energy. Don't give up on the reflective mind or the reflective discipline. That's where we will find the renewed energy and a greater touch with ourselves and the world.