I was just reflecting on just how much time I spend rehearsing my life, rather than, in a sense, just living it directly. By this I mean …. how much time do I spend thinking about what I should do in the future? How much time is caught up in going through various scenarios of […]
Rehearsing my life Read Post »
I was driving into work today, and suddenly run into a traffic jam. We inched forward, and eventually I could see cars signalling to pull across into the right hand land. Clearly there’s a car ahead, probably an accident, I thought. When I got alongside it was a Porsche, with the driver down on his
Money can’t buy you everything Read Post »
Did I love well? Did I live fully? Did I learn to let go? Jack KornfieldA Path with Heart I’ve recently been delving back into ‘A Path with Heart’ by Jack Kornfield after many years, and once again came across this lovely aphorism. He relates how when one is lying on your deathbed you are
The Measure of a Life Read Post »
Following on from yesterday’s reflection on the simple pleasure of sitting, just sitting – it struck me today how odd it is in a way that I can get so much joy from just looking at trees, the sky and the wind. I’d just finished meditating yesterday, and looked up and out at the trees.
I’ve found myself experiencing some wonderment recently, at how pleasurable simply sitting still is, and doing absolutely nothing, (other than remaining in awareness). Doing nothing? How much of my life is caught up in doing? How much of it is to do with getting somewhere, achieving something, or trying to somehow alter what actually is?
One familiar grouping of emotional obscurations in Buddhism is the five poisons – greed, hatred, pride, jealousy and ignorance. I was reflecting this morning that my predominant poison has changed from what it was 6 months ago … so …. Let’s ‘name and shame’ !!!! My predominant poison at present is anger / hatred. (It’s
What’s your Poison? Read Post »
I was reflection on the notion that attachment or desire is not just for objects, but also for our sense of self. We are not only attached to things of the material world, (and also to thoughts and emotions), but also to our sense of who we are too. All of them we think of
Illusory Objects of Desire Read Post »
I was reflecting on covetousness, and the whole area of craving this morning. I was in particular wondering why my mind tends to focus in a particular way in relation to this. In a sense, it has a choice. It can either focus on what it has already got, or on what it is lacking
Covetousness – Craving Read Post »
Yesterday morning as I was driving along a cat suddenly shot out from the woods and into the path of my car. In an instant my rear wheel hit the cat. In my rear mirror I could see it jumping around on the road, obviously in pain. The poor thing … what would I give
Suffering and Karma Read Post »
I remember very clearly my new boss at a company telling me (upon my finding out that he was a Buddhist and asking him what practices he does), that he doesn’t practice, that he’s taking a ‘holiday’ in this life, and that he’ll practice in the next life. It struck me at the time that
