Dear Friends, In Joy on Demand, Chade-Meng Tan describes four sources of joy, two of which he says are short-lived, and two which are “very important and highly durable.” The two that he describes as short-lived are the joy of novelty, and the joy of perceived agency. The joy of novelty is the excitement of experiencing something new,… Read More »
Dear Friends, We’ve covered a lot of ground these past few days, so let’s take a moment to recap. We started by talking about intention – setting an intention for the year, the day, a meditation practice, a chore – and we also looked at closing the day, practice, etc. with a dedication. We reviewed a few different… Read More »
Dear Friends, How’s it going with your mindfulness-bell activity? Remember, the goal is not to be perfect. If you’ve remembered that you’ve forgotten, just notice what’s obvious now, say “I’ll keep trying”, and then carry on. The recommendation for the activity yesterday was something that was relatively quick and occurred often. The second project Andrea Fella recommended in… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the fourth talk from the Daily Life Practice Retreat, Andrea Fella mentions that the tool of “what’s obvious” can work well in sitting meditation, but often what is obvious is not strong enough in our daily lives to help pull us out of our “habitually lost” mode. In our sitting, we have some reminders about becoming… Read More »
Dear Friends, Walking meditation. There are plenty of instructions on how to do the formal practice. An older article in Tricycle collected thoughts on walking from a number of respected teachers: Walking: Meditation on the Move Achaan Chah, Sylvia Boorstein, Yasutani Roshi, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh, Joan Halifax, Bruce Chatwin, Henry David Thoreau, and Matsuo Basho on walking meditation… Read More »
Dear Friends, In the first guided meditation in the Daily Life Practice Retreat, Andrea Fella encourages the meditators to begin by cultivating a sense of ease and relaxation. Then, once one finds that place of ease, she suggests moving into a simple practice – not directing the attention to anything in particular, but sitting in the midst of our… Read More »
Dear Friends, At the insight meditation retreats I’ve attended, the first day often starts with reviewing the precepts. For those not familiar with the concept, the precepts are a way to explore creating a community with an attitude of respect and care for the community – a container of safety – oriented towards non-harming. Andrea Fella’s first talk in the Daily… Read More »
Dear Friends, I’m so glad you will be part of this month-long adventure! We have a great little community that has signed up to be part of this daily email list. Many of you have returned after last year’s initial offering (thank you), and I’m glad to see we are joined by many new folks too (welcome!). The… Read More »
Dear Friends, Another way to contemplate body, as specified in the Satipatthana Sutta, is in terms of the elements: And further, monks, a monk reflects on this very body, however it be placed or disposed, by way of the material elements: “There are in this body the element of earth, the element of water, the element of fire,… Read More »
Dear Friends, Andrea Fella led a series called “Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation” in 2012. Her week 5 talk included a handout on “Mindfulness Meditation Week Five: Daily Life Practice“. One suggestion from that handout is something I’ve picked for today’s “stealth meditation”: Choosing a Reference Point for Daily Life A main practice for daily life that helps to… Read More »
