Heart Advice of the week: THE PATH OF PAUSING The primary focus of this path of choosing wisely, of this training to de-escalate aggression, is learning to stay present. Pausing very briefly, frequently throughout the day, is an almost effortless way to do this. For just a few seconds we can be right here. Meditation is another way to train in learning to stay, or, as one student put it more accurately, learning to come back, to return to being present over and over again. The truth is, anyone who’s ever tried meditation learns really quickly that we are almost never fully present. I remember when I was first given meditation instruction. It sounds so simple: Just sit down, get comfortable, and bring light awareness to your breath. When your mind wanders, gently come back and stay present with your breath. I thought, “This will be easy.” Then someone hit a gong to begin and I tried it. What I found was that I wasn’t present with a single breath until they hit the gong again to end the session. I had spent the whole time lost in thought. From her book Taking The Leap pemachodronfoundation.org/store/buy-books/#leap Thank you Shambhala Publications for these heart warming words of wisdom from Pema. To sign up to receive, go to shambhala/heartadvice/
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 14:07:16 +0000
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