oh my, a new year..

The deliciousness of a cup of tea…it is so healing, even if we are not aware of how…or why…it just is.

It is New Year’s Day. It is quiet here. Many bird songs, dogs, the occasional car, the buzzing of cicadas (very common at this time of year), and I cannot sit still. I find myself scrolling ABC News, The Guardian, Facebook, Messenger, SMS, and email. There is a loud voice inside my head saying “What a waste of precious time” but it doesn’t speak forcefully enough…It is as though I am on a mission. I want to understand what is happening in my world: but more than that. I think that there is a part of me that wishes to be perturbed, ruptured by the news…and I am not so fond of that shadow… presently we have flooding, preceded by a tornado, on Mt. Tambourine and surrounds. Unheard of I think, till now; thunder louder than I have ever heard in my life above me in outer Brisbane. Too many car crashes, accidental drownings, a ridiculous number of people ill, and these are just the things happening reasonably close to me. Go wider afield and the list of disasters extends. Go outside of Australia across the seas and many people are killing each other…so often the innocent…women and children.

I simply cannot get my head around the why of all this…and I am upset about my urgent need to ‘find out more’. It’s enough MBA, you know what is happening. Leave it alone but it is like picking at a scab. You know you shouldn’t, but you do.

To counterbalance these ecological and man-made episodes that are rocking the world, my emails serve another purpose: they give me links to inspirational readings, to counterbalance the overwhelmingly sad news. I subscribe to several organisations, and my favourite is Plum Village, a Buddhist organisation that has spread across the world. Today I read about the 16 Exercises in Mindful Breathing. I’ve cut and pasted them below just in case you want to incorporate them into your meditation practice.

Along the same lines, my favourite mantra is the one I learned earlier this year “When I breathe in, I breathe in. When I breathe out, I am home”. This is another one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s offerings, and I find myself using it every day. For the next few weeks, I will expand my choices, and use one of the exercises of Mindful Breathing, as a way of breaking the ‘needing to know more’ circuit: when I reach for my phone, what I am hoping is that I will return it to where it lay…I want to stop the cycle of needing to know more about the world. Because really, that is just an excuse. I am only exercising my inability to concentrate. Yes, I will allow myself to access the news once or twice a day. Ok. But not ten or twelve times of mindlessness. Mindlessness is what is killing our world.

You can find out more at: https://plumblossomsangha.org/mindfulness-exercises/

16 Exercises of Mindful Breathing

It is recommended to begin with this, them move on to the others, not necessarily at the same time: “Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.”

1. Breathing in a long breath, I know I am breathing in a long breath. Breathing out a long breath, I know I am breathing out a long breath.

2. Breathing in a short breath, I know I am breathing in a short breath. Breathing out a short breath, I know I am breathing out a short breath.

3. Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body. Breathing out, I am aware of my whole body.

4. Breathing in, I calm my whole body. Breathing out, I calm my whole body.

5. Breathing in, I feel joyful. Breathing out, I feel joyful.

6. Breathing in, I feel happy. Breathing out, I feel happy.

7. Breathing in, I am aware of my mental formations. Breathing out, I am aware of my mental formations.

8. Breathing in, I calm my mental formations. Breathing out, I calm my mental formations.

9. Breathing in, I am aware of my mind. Breathing out, I am aware of my mind.

10. Breathing in, I make my mind happy. Breathing out, I make my mind happy.

11. Breathing in, I concentrate my mind. Breathing out, I concentrate my mind.

12. Breathing in, I liberate my mind. Breathing out, I liberate my mind.

13. Breathing in, I observe the impermanent nature of all dharmas. Breathing out, I observe the impermanent nature of all dharmas.

14. Breathing in, I observe the disappearance of desire. Breathing out, I observe the disappearance of desire.

15. Breathing in, I observe the no-birth, no-death nature of all phenomena. Breathing out, I observe the no-birth, no-death nature of all phenomena.

16. Breathing in, I observe letting go. Breathing out, I observe letting go.

Wish you all a peaceful New Year and invite you to join us in Sangha each morning, M-F, at 6 am Brisbane time. You will need to join the Facebook group page “Sangha for Artists of Life, where you will have access to the link for the Zoom session.

Margi