There are two meditations that are particularly hard for me. The first is the mountain meditation, the second is the lake. While I'm okay with visualizing both and am happy with the guided meditations (this is using one of the Mindfulness apps) being able to then transfer that visualized image is just beyond me right now. Usually that would be a reason to give up or at least put trying on hold but I'm in a space where I'm reading it much differently and will focus on doing the mountain daily for a while to see how that works.
The other news of note is that now that the class is over, I've made a decision to attend the SF Insight Wednesday night sits at the First Unitarian Church. While I've heard good things about both the Sunday and Wednesday sits, from what I've heard, the Wednesday night gathering is smaller and that fits me better right now. I also had this weird moment watching "The Life of Pi" and identifying with the protagonist when he's young and the way he's drawn to all these different faiths. Christian, buddhist, hindu; each of them has aspects that he finds appealing and meaningful and I feel like I'm in a little bit of that right now myself. I mean, I'm not kidding myself here. I'm a very Presbyterian person in both a denominational way and theologically but not to the point of at least giving a shout out to the other faith traditions.
"By becoming the mountain in our meditation practice, we can link up with its strength and stability and adopt them for our own. We can use its energies to support our energy to encounter each moment with mindfulness and equanimity and clarity.
It may help us to see that our thoughts and feelings, our preoccupations, our emotional storms and crises, even the things that happen to us are very much like the weather on the mountain. We tend to take it all personally, but its strongest characteristic is impersonal.
The weather of our own lives is not be ignored or denied, it is to be encountered, honored, felt, known for what it is, and held in awareness… And in holding it in this way, we come to know a deeper silence and stillness and wisdom.
Mountains have this to teach us and much more if we can let it in…"
From "Mountain Meditation by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Lovely passage. I have worked in my life to discover my own "emotional weather" as well. This morning, I watered the thirsty trees, flowers and vegetable garden in the backyard. The overcast morning skies have been reflective of a malaise that hit when I was in the throes of a brutal cold for over ten days recently. But this morning, I was thankful for the gray sky, as the plants needed to absorb the water before the sun makes its way through after noon. Watering the plants (despite the drought) has become like meditation for me.
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Thanks for the comment Jonah. One of the truly special aspects to meditation is that there are limitless ways to find that space. I've heard stories about busy stay at home moms who have built their meditation routines around laundry and dishes and know for myself that sometimes my meditation happens on MUNI amidst the noise and chaos. I'm picturing you watering the plants and seeing you smile as you notice the smells and textures of the plants and dirt and thinking that must be a wonderful thing.
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