Now is the time

Now is the time to know
That all that you do is sacred.
Now, why not consider
a lasting truce with yourself?
Now is the time to understand
that all your ideas of right and wrong
were just a child’s training wheels
to be laid aside,

When you can finally live
with veracity and love.
Now is the time for the world to know
that every thought and action is sacred.
That this is the time
for you to compute the impossibility
that there is anything
But Grace.
Now is the season to know
that everything you do
is Sacred.

by Hafiz

We had our Introduction to Meditation class yesterday.   I appreciate the Yoga Bliss community members who practice mindfulness and yoga on a spirited day of Hawks soaring!  In both meditation and yoga we focused on the experience of embodiment.

We discussed the challenges of concentration and the effort’s purpose.  How do we take our practice into daily life?  I shared bits from a wonderful discourse, Coming to Life:  Four Noble Truths in Daily Life, given by Heather Sundberg at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center‘s Solstice Retreat.   Mindfulness gives us an opportunity to recognize that we have a choice – how to think, speak and act.  Like any habit – whatever we repeatedly think, say or do inclines our mind to continue along that track – whether it’s helpful or not.  Just sitting can deepen our awareness of the tracks we habitually play.  As in parenting, it is also an opportunity to practice patience and unconditional love.

Heather reminds us that while we are given instructions to follow, there is no such thing as doing it wrong.  There is no such thing as doing it right.  Our experience revolves around our intention.  Do we really know what our motives are?  If our motivation doesn’t come from our heart – how can we realize it in the deepest way?  It’s often recommended that we meditate early in the morning before we do anything else. Heather’s friend, a busy working mother of three small children, didn’t have mornings to herself.  Heather suggested that she just take whatever time she had upon awakening – yes, lying in bed – and reflect on her true intentions for mindfulness that day.  It could be just wishing another driver well – that they get where they are going safely.  There are innumerable ways we can be mindful in daily life – the more we bring our intentions into our hearts the more we incline our minds to support us.

Lately my practice has been to recognize and savor the many “small kindnesses” people give me.  My partner, Tim, makes our bed, he washes “my” tea cup when I leave it out.  (I could go on and on . . .)  Right know I hear Thomas Dybdahl singing:

Doesn’t it feel good . . . to know that you’ve been loved?