windthread

,

   returning to post  of  3/4    Truth       add ons     

paraphrase from Sharon Salzberg's   Real Happiness     a 28 Day Program to Realize the Power of Meditation ,   the text  companion to this 28 Day Challenge   i just completed in February:

Mindfulness ~ focusing attention on the breath,  the present moment simply noticing any thought, emotion  or physical sensation that arises and letting it go.   Return to the breath,  the actual experience of the present moment.     Noticing what is "added on"  because of "habitual responses developed over a lifetime"  ….   projection to the future,  memory of past,  self judgement,   associative thinking.    To distinguish our direct experience,  which is Peaceful,  from the baggage of the Add Ons.  To let the Add Ons     go,   as they appear,  not letting them become a bread crumb trail into past,  the future,   the NoWhere.   

learning to Be Present.   Which in the case of all those add ons of 3/4,   was  peaceful,   warm from the camp heater,   dry Peaceful.   Yes.   i would need to go Feed.  Yes   there is RAIN.   Yes,  things have broken unexpectedly in the last few months.  Yes i love the desert.       And          i am Here.    And there is no where else i'd rather be.  period.     So……

this moment.   This singular present.     I am.      There is a great freedom in this.    I see things,  like the skin of a tree.   

and maybe the best way to talk about this is just examples as they come.   Here's one.

Standing at Jack's gate where i talk to those two lizards.    Sun has broken through and   is flowing down upon us.   I follow the breath.   down the hill onto   Old Olive   i can see the  tops of cars and trucks,  hear the intrusive sound of them….loud….fast…..add ons begin about our society,  its    loudness/fastness/mindlessness…..here it goes…….and i remember to stop,,,,let it go…..return to the breath   the warmth of the Sun,   the sound of Jack chewing his hay               and,  i see again  tops of the cars and trucks like my son's childhood matchbox toys    and   i thought

most likely,   there is Urgency and maybe Angst    inside those        and it occurred to me to say Metta     for them.   for all of us in this United States of America.                   and there came a peacefulness in     me.   a kindness.    i was able to go back     to   follow the breath.   feel the Sun    hear Jack chew.   I'm learning.