Nice. I find that meditation…even walking meditation, stopping for a second outside, helps me to ground in the here and now. My dogs do that too…since I am so often trying only to see what they are noticing ( some of it selfishly in case I have to yank it from their mouths) but also because they live so in the moment…experiencing joy in a falling leave, a bird in flight that they can quite reach….I guess for me, the retirement benefit is learning to be more present.
I agree that walking meditation is a great practice. It's less austere than just sitting. When I walk, I can be present with my whole body in motion and the miracle of feeling the soles of my feet on the earth (or even just the floor).
Engaging the senses directly is an antidote to alienation. It can be the smallest thing…..the way the light falls on the reeds on the edge of the pond. Noticing the light calls me back from a long list of mental sinkholes, the monsters of regret, judgment and worry, not to mention the stranglehold of overthinking......OH MY, SUSIE. THIS IS JUST THE PERFECT INVITATION.
I can imagine you strolling around connecting with sights and maybe sounds in your new environment. Bringing some of your former Stockbridge self and also forming new perspectives. Lovely piece.
It's all there all the time, isn't it? Sometimes when I'm talking to a native Minnesotan, I'm aware that they must here the New York on me. They don't even know that I lived in New England for 50 years.
Thanks, yes - the streams of color - older than events and language. Something visual artists intrinsically understand. While we writers are panning for gold, as we do exactly as you said, funnel unrelated impressions through language.
Sometimes I feel a gentle cool breeze waft through and I feel touched by something beyond understanding. Sometimes meditation takes me out of myself and brings me back calm and settled.
It's remarkable to me how much of this contemplation has to do with being taken out of oneself. It seems to me that we spent a lot of time trying to find ourselves only to discover that self-preoccupation is not of value.
meant hear
Nice. I find that meditation…even walking meditation, stopping for a second outside, helps me to ground in the here and now. My dogs do that too…since I am so often trying only to see what they are noticing ( some of it selfishly in case I have to yank it from their mouths) but also because they live so in the moment…experiencing joy in a falling leave, a bird in flight that they can quite reach….I guess for me, the retirement benefit is learning to be more present.
I agree that walking meditation is a great practice. It's less austere than just sitting. When I walk, I can be present with my whole body in motion and the miracle of feeling the soles of my feet on the earth (or even just the floor).
Engaging the senses directly is an antidote to alienation. It can be the smallest thing…..the way the light falls on the reeds on the edge of the pond. Noticing the light calls me back from a long list of mental sinkholes, the monsters of regret, judgment and worry, not to mention the stranglehold of overthinking......OH MY, SUSIE. THIS IS JUST THE PERFECT INVITATION.
We are on this path together.
The beauty in “as is” - yes. Wabi-sabi. The beauty of imperfection 🧡
So much bandwidth was paid to perfection when we were growing up. Imperfection is a glorious new perspective.
I can imagine you strolling around connecting with sights and maybe sounds in your new environment. Bringing some of your former Stockbridge self and also forming new perspectives. Lovely piece.
It's all there all the time, isn't it? Sometimes when I'm talking to a native Minnesotan, I'm aware that they must here the New York on me. They don't even know that I lived in New England for 50 years.
Thanks, yes - the streams of color - older than events and language. Something visual artists intrinsically understand. While we writers are panning for gold, as we do exactly as you said, funnel unrelated impressions through language.
I'm fascinated by this as a deep subject.....the ancient nature of seeing as against thinking and conceptualizing.
The details you observe ring true with things I have seen . (Holmes: The difference, Watson, is you see but you do not observe.")
I meant what takes you to a place of immediacy in your own life?
Sometimes I feel a gentle cool breeze waft through and I feel touched by something beyond understanding. Sometimes meditation takes me out of myself and brings me back calm and settled.
It's remarkable to me how much of this contemplation has to do with being taken out of oneself. It seems to me that we spent a lot of time trying to find ourselves only to discover that self-preoccupation is not of value.
I can picture it all. Well done!
Curious what takes you to that place of immediacy?