more on dreaming and meditating...
When asked, “How do you exhaust karma?” meditation teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche simply said, “When things come up in your life, you feel them completely and fully and you don’t hold back. You live them right through until they have completed themselves.”
Often the hardest thing about meditation isn’t…
following our breath
the way our bodies itch, ache, hold tension...make themselves known
the rising of our thoughts...the endless stream of opinions and judgments
feeling our feelings...sadness, loss, joy, and love
sitting still in silence
When we take the one seat in meditation….we are alone with ourselves...
Often the hardest thing about meditation is...
we have a terrible time being alone with ourselves
that we call it silent meditation but it’s really the noisiest place there is...
our own mind…
full of endless opinionated thoughts
Imagine if our mind were outside of us, in the body of another person, dogging us all day with a running commentary on everything and everybody. Who wouldn’t get tired of being with that?
So many of us…
prefer guided meditations so we don’t have to be alone with our mind
keep busy doing something we consider more productive
distract ourselves with a social calendar filled with people and events
keep the tv and radio on in the background.
constantly seek out others (which is interesting in that we have a hard time being with ourselves but we expect others to want to be with us)
All of these activities can be wonderful and beneficial in and of themselves. But maybe we should first check in with ourselves. Are we doing them to avoid something else? Being alone...taking time to get underneath the discursive mind...giving ourselves a chance to know ourselves in a deeper, truer way.
Sitting in meditation...being with all that arises...allowing ourselves to be with all of who we are...to take a breath...and another breath...and stay...and stay a bit longer...we begin to truly understand what is meant by being in the present moment. We open to and develop tremendous capacity for presence...presence with who we are...all of who we are...presence with others...all of who they are.
And if we’re not sure of who we truly are…our dreams will help us with that…and give us precious material to take into our meditation.
With love, Mary Jo
Mary Jo Heyen is a Natural Dreamwork Practitioner working with clients throughout the country and abroad in person, phone or Skype. Learn more about her work with dreams at www.maryjoheyen.com or www.thenaturaldream.com