Reminder

A Soft and Gentle Light ... Let It Be ... A Soft and Gentle Reminder -- February 2020, Kailua, HI, iPhone 11 Pro

A Soft and Gentle Reminder

In honor of Thich Nhat Hanh

I set up a meditation bell

Using his Plum Village app

Such that, every so often

It rings its soft and gentle chime 

To bring me back to the present moment

Actually, it doesn’t bring me back

It softly, and gently, reminds me

Such that I may choose

To stop and to breathe and to Be

Soft and gentle, mindful and present

Magically transported to the Now

To witness that alchemic change 

From a contracted and tense ego

To something soft and gentle, in an instant

It's really quite magical

Some might even say, miraculous

And here’s another benefit

I'm finding it quite astonishing 

Just how fast my life is flowing past me

When I’m not fully present

So how would you like to spend

Your one luminous Life?

Would you like a soft and gentle reminder?

What is this? Quite simply ...

Calligraphy by Vietnamese Buddhist monk and author, Thich Nhat Hanh

I came across an article from the online version of Lion's Roar magazine.  I really love the simple, yet deeply profound writing of Thich Nhat Hanh.  He has been such a luminary for our time.  Here are some sections that spoke to me:

Our true home is not in the past. Our true home is not in the future. Our true home is in the here and the now. Life is available only in the here and the now, and it is our true home.

Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that are already present in our lives. You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life. There are those of us who are alive but don’t know it. But when you breathe in, and you are aware of your in-breath, you touch the miracle of being alive. That is why mindfulness is a source of happiness and joy.

We spend so much of our mental energy and thinking mind focused on the past and the future.  And yet we can, if we choose to, drop the thinking mind to be fully alive and experience the world, as it is, right here, right now.  And only in the here and now.

Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not mindful of being there. That state of being is called forgetfulness—you are there but you are not there. You are caught in the past or in the future. You are not there in the present moment, living your life deeply. That is forgetfulness.

The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally.

 This is really so.  I find it is often easiest to experience this way of living when we are connected to the natural world, experiencing the animals, realizing the dance of life all around us, and seeing everything as interconnected (literally).  It is Spring now as I am writing this, and to witness the rebirth of plants and trees and animals that had been dormant or hibernating -- is really awe-inspiring -- something you "feel" rather than "think about".  Hence the connection with your body; itself an integral part of nature's unfolding.

The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.
-Thich Nhat Hanh

On Fearlessness

Don't Fall, Tel Aviv, Israel, November 2012, Nikon D600 with FX 28-300mm VR lens, 
28mm, 1/500 sec @ f3.5, ISO 100, -0.3 EV, no flash © Steven Crisp  [Click on the photo to enlarge]

Stop!  Don't Jump!  Or Slip and Fall!  Or get accidentally pushed over the edge!

Do you ever have that feeling of vertigo when you get near the edge of a top floor on a tall building?  What is that exactly?  I'm not sure, but it does lead me into my topic today.

And that is fear, and its alternative, fearlessness.  It's something I've been struggling with a little just under the surface of my everyday existence.  

Things going well, life arranged as one had planned, financial situation comfortable, family situation wonderful, etc. etc.  Pretty much the definition of happiness.  And yet there is the small tingle of underlying fear.  Nothing grave.  Just that lingering worry that at any instant, something beyond your control could completely topple your well organized life.  A major illness, or an accident, or a financial scandal, etc.  (I know, this is the kind of problem many people, facing real tangible crises and challenges, would like to have.)

I think these fears are common, but my sense is they are preventing deep, abiding inner peace and contentment.  This morning I received this article on fearlessness by one of my favorite spiritual authors, Thich Nhat Hanh.   My plan is to reflect on it and see to what extent I can work on addressing this underlying fear.  We'll see how it goes.

Oh, and have no fear ... no flowers were hurt during the photo shoot ;-)