Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“ Kamala poses a question we can ask ourselves.How can we stay open and connected when it’s so hard? One equanimity phrase she introduces to help foster this openness and connection is from Ajahn Sumedho:“It’s like this.” Kamala explains, Just taking in what’s going… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with the talk from Kamala Masters, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“ Kamala mentions the eight worldly conditions. They are: Gain and loss Fame and disrepute (when Adrianne Ross was in Saskatoon last October, she described this as “being seen and being ignored”, which might be more relateable) Praise and blame Pleasure and pain Here’s… Read More »
Dear Friends, Kamala Masters starts her talk, “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“, with a quote from Howard Thurman: How may we work in the world courageously and intelligently, on behalf of a decent world, without despair and complete fatigue? What are the resources available for … rehabilitation and renewal? That [we might] be able to look out… Read More »
Dear Friends, For the next few days, I’m listening to the next talk from the Equanimity and Awareness Retreat, given by Kamala Masters, titled “Equanimity-Seeing the World with Quiet Eyes“. However, before diving right into the talk, I thought I’d share how, for me, Kamala exemplifies living with equanimity. I haven’t had the opportunity to sit with Kamala… Read More »
Dear Friends, Continuing with Sally Armstrong’s talk, “The roles of mindfulness, metta and equanimity in our practice” – now turning to the practice of metta. There are many ways to translate metta: lovingkindness, friendliness, goodwill, benevolence, acceptance, heartfulness. I was first taught this as “lovingkindness”, but as Sally mentions, “If we use the term “lovingkindness” – as soon… Read More »
Dear Friends, For the next few days, I’ll be picking a few tidbits out of a talk by Sally Armstrong on “The roles of mindfulness, metta and equanimity in our practice” from the Equanimity and Awareness retreat. Sally mentions that it’s helpful to begin with basic teachings and practices of mindfulness. She highlights how mindfulness informs metta (kindness),… Read More »
Dear Friends, In Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, Jack Kornfield explains the first hindrance of desire as follows: The first hindrance is desire for sense pleasure: pleasant sights, sounds, smells, tastes, bodily sensations, and mind states. What’s the problem with desire–what’s wrong with it? Nothing, really. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying pleasant experiences. … But they fool us.… Read More »
