Dear Friends,
In the spirit of Andrea Fella’s seventh talk from the Daily Life Practice Retreat, I’m going to keep this simple.
Her advice to the participants was to simplify things as part of their retreat week. The question she suggested they consider was: “is this necessary?”
In our daily lives, we have to think. But sometimes we do stuff that’s “extra”. Andrea F encourages us to question whether a certain train of thought (e.g. planning a future vacation) is necessary right now.
Another of her suggestions included cutting back on one’s consumption of media (radio, TV, internet, etc.), since that’s often a way we tend to get lost. So you can first question: is this necessary? And if you do decide to engage in some media, then she advises to really notice how it impacts you. Can you be present for that? How does it make you feel? And then can you notice how it feels when you turn it off?
A few weeks ago, Jeanne talked about renunciation as one of the qualities we can develop as we move toward a greater wisdom. Renunciation doesn’t have to mean deprivation and suffering. Instead it can have this quality of simplicity, of lightness and freedom.
Perhaps you want to play with this today or over the next few days:
- Ask “is this necessary?” with regard to trains of thought or other things (like the chocolates someone brought to work yesterday).
- Simplify your consumption of media (or chocolates).
- Be present when engaging with media (chocolates) and notice how it makes you feel.
- Notice how it feels when you turn the media off (or when the chocolate is gone).
I’m interested to hear your reflections and observations. Feel free to reply by email or post below.
With best wishes,
Andrea
I awoke this morning to yet another full plate of love of the Dharma. and to that I have you to thank Andrea !
I don’t always respond to your generous offerings , however I do appreciate and devour every word on the page each day. It amazes me how much work and dedication you have placed in this project , and to that I bow to you for another plate of Dharma chocolate , so sweet it is.
Namaskar. Bill
Thanks for your kind words Bill!
Thanks for all your good pointers to keep us mindful. I do know when I am getting low on chocolate bot I must admit I am not always aware of all my media Immersion. John
Perhaps being mindful about which media we consume is as necessary as being mindful about how much we consume. After all, as I learned from one of Molly Hahn’s buddhadoodles, Sylvia Boorstein has written, “The mind is like tofu. It tastes like whatever you marinade it in.” In my inbox today from the Stephen Lewis Foundation, I found this lovely email about the City of Joy and the ten guidelines for living with love and resilience of the women who live there after enduring horrific violence in the DRC. Those guidelines make a mighty fine marinade methinks :
Dear Susan,
As 2016 came to a close, there was a lot of public discourse around what a difficult and disheartening year it was. With the presidential inauguration south of the border tomorrow, it doesn’t seem like 2017 is offering a reprieve any time soon.
With this in mind, we thought we would share with you 10 guidelines for living with love and resilience in unstable times. These guidelines were formed by tenacious leaders from one of our long term partners, City of Joy, who have been working to build a better world in an environment of conflict for a very long time.
City of Joy, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was inspired by the work at Panzi Hospital, where medical treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation is provided for survivors of sexual and gender based violence, which is used as a strategy of war in the DRC. Their country has been locked in a brutal conflict that has been raging for over 30 years with no end in sight and the numbers of women in need of treatment are staggering.
A beacon of hope for women across the DRC, City of Joy’s extraordinary work begins once a woman’s physical wounds have been healed. It offers a 6-month residential leadership program where 90 women live together and gain the tools and support they need to transform their pain into power. The houses are built in traditional style and arranged like a village, with an orchard, an area to tend livestock and many communal areas. The women live ten women to a house and participate in a range of programmes from self-defence courses, literacy, fine arts, women’s rights, computer, advocacy and media training, accounting, income generation, and storytelling. Along with these activities, the women are actively engaged in community-building, and they developed the guiding principles for their life together. This is what they came up with:
1. Tell the truth.
2. Stop waiting to be rescued. Take initiative.
3. Raise your voice.
4. Know your rights.
5. Share what you have learned.
6. Give what you want the most.
7. Feel and tell the truth about what you’ve been through.
8. Use it to fuel a revolution.
9. Practice solidarity.
10. Practice kindness.
In an environment of perpetual instability, division and violence – these women choose to re-write the rules. They insist it can be different, that it must be different.
This New Year we want to thank the women of the City of Joy – for their courage, their leadership, and their willingness, after all they have endured, to fearlessly rebuild their lives on a foundation of truth and love. They are fueling a revolution. Our 2017 resolution is to be a part of it.
Those guidelines seem to me in full accord with what I have learned of Buddhist teachings. What say you?
Hi Susan,
I appreciate being reminded of Sylvia’s marinade analogy. 🙂
The 10 guidelines from the women of the City of Joy and the background to their community is certainly inspiring to read.
Thank you for sharing these thoughts.