Good Morning! Today, as I was sitting in the bus, I thought, ’hmmm….nothing to write about today, so when I get to school I’ll get on to my to-do list right away. And then my mind took off on a spin as I thought about my grandparents, my sons nursery, my husband, the trees, my work, etc. and a general and uninterestingly random stream of thoughts soon occupied my full attention. I snapped out of it suddenly when I had nearly reached my school. As I entered consciously into body awareness (like Eckart Tolle recommends), and I started smiling at the massive random roll my thoughts had just been on. I was reminded of the metaphors I had heard often on the workings of the mind, ‘The mind works like mad monkeys let loose’, ‘An untrained mind is like a mad elephant while a trained mind is like a trained elephant’, ‘Ones mind can be ones greatest enemy as well as ones greatest friend (Bhagvad Gita), etc. I thought of whether I was doing enough practice to train my mind or whether I was just assuming that it’s nature was basically dysfunctional and therefore was I shifting into body awareness merely to give myself a break from my mind’s chatter. I started wondering, if I could do something to use the mind effectively for my spiritual growth (as a helpful tool instead of just thinking of mental chatter as a nuisance).
As I got down from the bus I straightened my spine, and told my mind, hey…’I’m watching you now’, and for fun I visualized turning a torch on inside my head to watch out for the arising of the next thought’. I liked the using of this experiential metaphor, and the stillness that came with it. Me being playful me I started playing with exactly where I would like to visualize the torch shining within, and as I shifted the torch around I finally settled on the heart area and I felt an intuitive nudge to make it a torch of love and light both instead of merely light! Boom! This was my Satori moment for the day. I was flooded with an expansive feeling of love and knowing as a new insight dawned on me and I realized that so far whenever I became aware of my thoughts, it was as if the thoughts were an enemy, or at least something unwanted and dysfunctional that I had to rid myself of. I had to rid myself of the habit of these thought patterns that don’t serve me. Now, as I was shining both love and light together on my thoughts I saw, not a mad monkey, not a mad elephant, but an innocent and ignorant child, a playful harmless puppy. I still felt that my mind could use a lot of training, but not an intensive army rigour, just some loving presence, a cuddle maybe and a bit of acceptance. I would have to watch out and be alert still to catch the mind when it strays away, but not with a feeling of condemnation. Not an, ‘oh no there goes my terrible mind on its unwanted spree’, but a loving, ‘oh no little child, don’t you go running there’,….. and ‘I always love you, no matter what, but I’m not going to let you run that way!’. Maybe it’s the parent in me that has brought out this ability to see a possibility of a love infused disciplinary regime. In my youth I always associated discipline with rigour, and maybe that is why I had interpreted ‘training the mind’, as a somewhat harsh regime.
By the time I entered my school, my pace was quicker, my face was vibrant, and my insides were jumping with enthusiasm. I could not wait to get my hands on the keyboard, and I looked to my source and said, ‘You win again! And I’m glad you do! I just have to write this down before I start on that ‘to do list’ waiting on my desk’.
And It cant go out without a verse can it?
Love, Love and Love some more
Love is all that it ever takes
Just keep including love
For no mistake, love ever makes
Love , Love and Love some more
Love your enemy and your foe
Only love can bring him around
As a friend onto your door
Love, Love, and Love some more
Love with all your heart
And no matter what you’ve done before
It is never too late to start
Love, Love, and Love some more
Infuse your practice with love
For then your work will be done for you
By streaming grace from above
Love, Love and Love some more
Love the process and the act
Love is the light, love is the art
It is the essence of our divine pact
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