In today's class we decided that life during the past week definitely was looking up. Most of us continued with our comfort-seeking-mission through the last seven days.
Tricycle Magazine sent a relevant article a couple of days ago, befitting as always:
From a Fixed Vantage Point
Once
you have located your own breath point with clarity, don't deviate from
that spot. Use this single point in order to keep your attention fixed.
Without having selected such a point, you will find yourself moving in
and out of the nose, going up and down the windpipe, eternally chasing
after the breath, which you can never catch because it keeps changing,
moving, and flowing. If you ever sawed wood you already know the trick.
As a carpenter, you don't stand there watching the saw blade going up
and down. You would get dizzy. You fix your attention on the spot where
the teeth of the blade dig into the wood. It is the only way you can
saw a straight line. As a meditator, you focus your attention on that
single spot of sensation inside the nose. From this vantage point, you
watch the entire movement of breath with clear and collected attention.
--Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English
In determination to stay focused on moving up the emotional scale, there is also a helpful process referred to as segment intending: setting an intention for a specified amount of time. It could be for a day, an hour, or for the next natural segment of time you engage yourself (a meeting, an important phone call, or the drive home). Here's an article entitled The Size of Your Segment DOES Matter. I can't wait to see what the next week brings!
Photo: Frank Sutton (where are you, Frank?)
In today's class we decided that life during the past week definitely was looking up. Most of us continued with our comfort-seeking-mission through the last seven days.
Tricycle Magazine sent a relevant article a couple of days ago, befitting as always:
From a Fixed Vantage Point
In determination to stay focused on moving up the emotional scale, there is also a helpful process referred to as segment intending: setting an intention for a specified amount of time. It could be for a day, an hour, or for the next natural segment of time you engage yourself (a meeting, an important phone call, or the drive home). Here's an article entitled The Size of Your Segment DOES Matter. I can't wait to see what the next week brings!
Photo: Frank Sutton (where are you, Frank?)