literally translated in sanskrit to be Means to Accomplish Something.   

I finished watching and listening to the Blessing of Mortality Workshop that Michelle sent,  Ram Dass, Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski,  with Rameshwar Das.   Many times this thing of Sadhana came up as  Practice toward a Goal.  

As i've said,  every one of my days begins by calling the Old Cowboy to see if he answers the phone.  If he doesn't,  the plan is for me to drive in there to find out why.  So far, he has answered the phone.  This may go on for months or maybe even YEARS,   Who Knows,  but i agreed to it.  I am his partner for the Long Ride.  And watching and listening to these Souls speak of Life and Death,  i realized that this will become more and more the center of my Practice.  By Going with him,  i will take myself.   The learning will be our ride.  I don't remember which of them said it:  "welcome everything, push away nothing.  we don't need to like it, we just need to meet it."  I'll begin listening again and take notes this time.     

So i called him this morning and we had pretty much the same conversation we have every morning.  A report on his night and how difficult that was,  how many times he had to wake up and pee,  how hard that was to accomplish,  how his head is full of stuff,  (mucous),  and feels like a base drum,  how hard the coughing is,  the breath less ness of that.  Then into whatever it is he is dwelling on,  still the Money thing.  Then we drift into me saying well,  if we could stop dwelling on the Money thing, maybe we could feel free enough to use his new wheel chair to take a walk around the block.  He doesn't know.  That sounds like "dangerous territory" to him.  And at the end of all the Usual this morning,  after listening to Ram Dass,  Joan and Frank,  i just took a breath and was 

silent

didn't say  "well, OK,  talk to you later"     Was just quiet.

and he started up telling me how he tries to get up early enough on Sunday mornings to see the

"colored guy" on TV

who goes all kinds of places.  That today,  he took him to all kinds of beautiful places where no one lives any more.  And then to a place where they have Alpacas…he didn't know the word,  by context we figured out Alpacas,  and how they showed all the really beautiful things they made from their wool.  He was animated,  telling me this.  It was quite wonder Full, really,  that he had something to tell me that was beautiful.

So this is my Goal.  The Goal of the Sadhana.  To be more and more OPEN.  To Let what comes, Come.  Open to it.  To Welcome everything.   and today,  to understand that it takes time for Everything to appear.

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i like looking at it from a distance.  Get more of a sense of things spinning Off

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couldn't get the color True…but good enough.   I stitched the "kite" down…Invisible Baste,  Jude Hill.   I need to take it on and off the wall.  And forwhateverreason,  these initial scraps need to stay in place.  There will be more.  But these created the Beginning and need to be as is.

 

 

 

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13 responses to “Sadhana”

  1. judykeathley@cox.net Avatar
    judykeathley@cox.net

    i am sort of reeling from the last few posts.
    that semi-life story ( have you ever really considered writing a book?-a memoir?)
    welcoming everything —
    holy moly-
    what a relief it would be to truly be there –welcoming everything.
    not trying to control –or even understand.
    just meeting it all.
    .. with friendliness.
    i cared for my mother as she was dying.
    it turned out to be about 6 months.
    but i didn’t know that.
    i was exhausted & kept asking the hospice nurse -how long?
    i loved my mother –& as these things go , she was easy.
    if somebody could have said to me —
    hang in there , it will only be 6 months & then your mother won’t be here on this plane…you will be able to get a full night’s sleep .. & then you will miss her–& even have regrets…
    but nobody could tell me that —
    just as nobody can tell you what it means –this commitment to the old cowboy.
    but here you are —
    crossing major life paths with somebody who you wouldn’t have chosen —
    invisible baste –yeah , it changes the whole thing.
    a depth, a dimension that isn’t just about holding things in place ……..
    sigh…

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  2. Dana Avatar

    Keeping open is hard… Judy is right about the unknown length of time making caretaking scarier, but it sounds like you are settling into a path, as your cloth is settling into itself.

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  3. yvette Avatar

    magnificent writing Grace!
    sadhana ment for me accepting things being part of infinity
    it also reminds me of tonglen
    breath the difficult in breath goodness out
    how long can we listen to lonely people to reach the point they really start talking other then health problems
    it is so important

    Like

  4. patriciaspangler47@gmail.com Avatar

    there is absolutely so much here that’s relevant to every thing. and this–to welcome everything–yes–and i remember now the other thing that jumped out at me when i watched parts of this–the reminder that resistance isn’t to be resisted. just noticed–and i guess in light of this post–to be welcomed. so as i read this wonder full, insightful post, this “welcoming” aspect is the most important to focus on. and if followed through, will create a domino effect. the “just going” again that Jude chants. blessings

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  5. .cynthia Avatar
    .cynthia

    ..today was a good day..but hard for me in some ways and it was good to have your words echoing in my head…..it takes time.. just going..gentle day

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  6. grace Avatar

    yes. oh so yes. just “meeting it all …. with friendliness”…
    BEAUTY FULL words here…with friendliness. How beauty full, Judy,
    this friendliness. Love, good if it shows up, but not necessary.
    just FRIENDLINESS is good and will do just fine.
    and i learned, from the time with Alz B. and other residents at
    the Old Folks Home, that there is NO KNOWING. Such a huge mystery, the lingering and then the seemingly sudden Leaving.
    The really great thing with OCB is that this is said. OutLoud….
    that there’s no way to know. Gets said almost every day. So…
    this gives us a clear path into the WhatEver. it’s nice.

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  7. grace Avatar

    yeah. somehow, i am. Settling in. a little surprising.

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  8. grace Avatar

    Tonglen, yes.
    listening to lonely….you are right….there is just Listening.
    Listening and Listening. There’s nothing Lost by this Listening.
    There is nothing taken by it. It can just be a very quiet thing.
    I am learning this. No need to SAY. But to just listen with an
    Openness to whatever may or may not come.
    LOVE,

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  9. grace Avatar

    yes…the Welcoming. I love very much seeing those three people
    just talking, just Going with their thoughts. Ram Dass, still
    being so Stoned but in such a different way, with his stroke,
    his aphasia…but now Stoned with having Lived and with Living….
    and how so much it is , it IS, Just Going, but with such
    Openness, such Curiosity and such Love

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  10. grace Avatar

    i love and i know you do too, LOVE, that hard and good can
    be there within a single day, that one does not negate the other.
    We have arrived. We have arrived at this great and grand place
    of learning.

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  11. saskia Avatar

    how wonderful that he told you an interesting story, for the both of you
    i’m kind of sure everybody wants to do that, share something more than ‘moaning and health issues'(which I’m not belittling, mind), but it isn’t easy to begin with, it takes practice and you have to listen to each other and be prepared to be vulnerable on a whole new level
    i must say i admire your commitment

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  12. grace Avatar

    it’s interesting, how it’s going. Not sure what to make of it in the moments, but he DID do this and it was very new. Usually he is so preoccupied with himself
    but
    no… and yes…you are right…To Begin With…it will take practice, it will take doing and listening
    and most, Yes, ” to be prepared to be vulnerable on a whole new level” a whole Different Level. We”re somewhere New and there’s
    no Map. Learning as we Go.

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  13. Tracy Avatar
    Tracy

    Listening to my mom years ago, we had to get through all the bad things first. It could take an hour on the phone. Hard work to listen. Then she would move on to happy things. It was a process and it takes patience, and like you say, acceptance.
    Thanks for this post. I have piles of things to do today and I needed to remember to just go and welcome it all. Greasy stove and my latest project too. Bothersome tasks are less work if you stop thinking about how much you hate them and just do them.

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