Transcending Grudges with "The 10 Good Things Exercise"

"Double Happiness" char-
acters in Chinese script.

        This is a great exercise to help start the new year on a positive note.  The main purpose of this exercise is to help you clear your mind and emotions of negativity toward someone.  It has a multiplicity of applications, as you could probably imagine.  What you're doing here is reframing your perception of a person, rewriting the script in your mind about him or her.  It could be a person you've wronged, or a person who's wronged you (or both).  Either way, you are ready to move on, tired of carrying the weight of the negativity that the thought of this person inspires within you.  I have tried it.  It works.  It can be a very liberating experience. 

        You may or may not realize it, but harboring grudges seeps energy from your soul, slowly.  Like a fire needs logs placed into it occasionally to keep it burning, in order for a grudge to stay vibrant and charged it feeds on your soul's emotional energy.  A grudge is a slow, but powerful, life-sapping leak. 

        This exercise has nothing to do with whether what transpired between you and the other person was right or wrong, who was at fault, and so forth.  That is an entirely separate issue.  That may have to be handled concurrently or later.  In some cases it may even need to be handled legally.  No, this exercise is solely a personal thing, for your own mental health, to help you to "lighten" the energy around your perception of this person.

        And if you have several grudges against several people, well you've better get working on this ASAP!  

Personal Ascension

A model created by researchers at
The Max Plank Institute in Germany. 
It shows the pattern a thought takes 

when firing through "neural networks"
within an average brain.

Old Dog, New Tricks

        It's been said, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks."  I would have to disagree with that.  I think anyone any age could expand their horizons with new interests, lifestyle changes, changes in values, and so forth.  And I think science bears me out on this one.  Brain research has proven that when you're an older learner, someone with some life experience under your belt, you're better able to connect new information that comes into your brain with the old information stored in "neural networks" you've created through life experience.  You understand the "bigger picture" quicker than someone without this advantage.  You literally are better able to "connect the dots."  We just keep growing, it seems.

        In fact, it seems to me there are two urges we all have: one, to find balance, and the second, to expand.  These two urges seem to be across the board for humans, in my observation.  When we have too much of anything, we instinctively find balance for our bodies and minds again.  But balance and stasis could lead to stagnancy, so it seems that we then get an urge to expand again ...take a new class, embark on a new love relationship, visit a new place, take a chance on something we were previously reluctant about before.  It seems that throughout our lives there's always higher vibrational levels to which we aspire, and we're driven like salmon swimming upstream to get there.  Nothing and no one will stand in the way.  We need to go higher, dig deeper, better understand our boundaries ....then expand them.

Personal Ascension

         I've come to term this growth as, "Personal Ascension."  I don't know if that's already a popular term somewhere, but I said it spontaneously during a reading once, and it's stuck with me since (note: I am not using this term in relation to the current New Age trend of "ascension to the 5th dimension," etc. that is popular right now).  I can tell when people are experience this, as there tends to be telltale signs of it...

There's No Wabi Sabi Here

In our mechanized and computerized lives, it's easy to forget that we are in fact part of the natural world.  The objective behind wabi sabi is to bring us back to our roots, to nature, and the sense of peace that it could impart to our lives."  
--James Crowely, author


        I sat on a park bench today admiring the autumn leaves, as kids played tag on a nearby playground.  I looked down and inspected the wood of the bench.  It hadn't been repaired in a while.  It was split here and there, and whatever paint and finish had been applied to it, was long gone.  In fact, winter rains and hundred-degree summers, as well as the friction from thousands of butts sitting down and getting up over the years, weathered the wood rather beautifully.

        With that bench, what appears to be dangerously splintered, misshapen wood is, in fact, quite smooth to the touch, even "polished" in some places.  It was an example of the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi, where weathered, frequently-used items are valued for their unique beauty and character.   I guess Western interpretations of this aesthetic might be the "shabby chic" furniture popular years ago, or "acid-washed" jeans, and the like.

        My being a child of Western culture, and my mother being a child of Eastern culture as she was, resulted in my mother and I often having funny misunderstandings about the oddest things.  Despite her efforts to fit in here, the underlying Buddhist aesthetics of her upbringing in rural Japan, such as wabi sabi, never left her.

Christian Yoga

  “Adapting yoga to suit the needs of every unique individual is where the true greatness of yoga lies.”  --T.K.V. Desikachar

Some say, during his "Lost Years"

between 12 years old and 30

years old, Jesus investigated 
schools of esoteric teachings,
and may have been well-acquain-
ted with yoga practices.

        Though the roots of the spiritual and physical practices of yoga predate Hinduism proper, yoga has long been associated with Hinduism, both being spiritual paths originating in India. Yoga practitioners adopted aspects of the worship of the Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses, viewing them as personifications representating universal energies around us,  "chosen ideals."

        The Hinduism-tinged aspects of yoga practice, with its Sanskrit terminology and chants, tend to make many Christians uncomfortable.  They may feel that yoga is really a kind of Hindu religion, even idolatry.  Yet, many Christians are also interested in enjoying the known health benefits of hatha yoga practice.

Dealing with Restlessness During Meditation

original title: 
Restlessness During the Practice of Silent Illumination

by Barry Wadsworth 
Guest Blogger

Meditation instructor Barry Wadsworth shares three approaches

for dealing with restlessness when you're trying to meditate

        A friend I met at a Silent Illumination retreat at the Dharma Drum Retreat Center [DDRC] last December wrote, "I have trouble focusing on the present, my mind swings back and forth like a monkey swings on a tree.  Last night I meditated using the Silent Illumination method, I couldn't be silent more than one minute.  I will keep trying....".  How many of you meditators out there have experienced this?  Everyone, I'm sure.  

        How many meditators that have been practicing more than 5 years still experience this at times?  Unless you are made of special stuff, again, everyone, I'm fairly certain.  Now here is where it really hurts.  How many of you meditators out there that have been practicing for 30 years or longer still have meditations like this occasionally?  No one?  Well, I guess I'm the only one that still has meditations like this at times.

          There are many causes of restlessness.  The fact that you choose to sit during a time when you are feeling restless is coincidental.  It's just that you become acutely aware of restlessness during meditation.  So first, lets look at the causes of restlessness and what can be done about them before meditation.  Then, let's look at what we can do about restlessness during meditation.