A satisfied mind and mindfulness...
11 days before our cycling adventure in China, my random thoughts:
Yesterday night I saw a movie called "The Drummer".
In it, a young son of a gangster in modern Hong Kong, flee the town because he sleeps with another gangster's woman, and insults him.
For his protection, he hides in another town by the mountains.
In the mountains he encounters a group of mindful drummers, living a simple life of mindfulness and awareness.
The boy asks to join them, but despite being a good drummer, he is not ready to drum with their group.... As his personality has not yet been conquered... And he is filled with arrogance and impatience....
He is also not filled with mindfulness.... And his movements are jerky and clumsy....
He is NOT moving through life with humility, awareness and POISE, but instead he is too filled with passion and urges....
(I will not give more details of the movie, as not to spoil it for those who want to watch it.)
When it was time to shut the lights and go to sleep, I did a "MINDFULLY falling a sleep exercise."
I laid on my back with my arms and legs stretched out, and commanded my body not to move a muscle.
I laid there without moving a toe.... For over an hour.... and watched my mind shifting it focus from this to that..... Until it relaxed...and my awareness shifted and I saw in my inner eye a spinning circle.... Filled with images... They spun and spun until I drifted to unconsciousness...... It felt good.
I have been thinking that in only 11 days, I will not be able to access Facebook, for two months.
It seems so long....
I know that some people view social networking, as time consuming, even addictive.....
Many have a strong resistance to this medium of communication.
But I believe that it is a great platform, to meet people that in our daily lives, we will never be able to meet, and to share ideas with....
I find it wonderful, that we can connect with kinder Spirits all around the globe, and read each other poetry, or stories, without the intermediate element of publishing houses or newspapers....
Some people do not use this platform wisely.......they spend their time online, fighting with other people, criticizing their ways of living and thinking...... and criticizing their poetry, deleting and blocking people, and generally use it as an outlet for moods swings.
Of course there are many people who use it to connect with their loved ones and friends, to share ideas, to laugh together, to raise awareness or call attention to some issues..... and to make new global friends.
Much of the way we experience things on the social networking, is similar to any other aspect of life........ It all depends on how we choose to do things.....look at things.......and how we use the gifts and tools that life gives us.
Everything can work FOR us.... Or against us... By our own design.
Roger Ebert who used to be a famous film critic in the USA, suffered in the past few years from a very debilitating cancer, which caused him to lose his voice.
He regains his ability to speak, with the use of computer voicing.
I watched a video of Roger, who talked about how much he loves Facebook and Twitter.
He spoke about how much he appreciates the gifts that social networking gave him.....and how much it enriches his life, now that he is house ridden and so ill........
He spoke about how much he values having FB friends, to talk to, and to share ideas with.
He mentioned that when he is physically close to people, some find it hard to look at his disfigured jaw or to listen to the voice of the computer, which lacks tonality fluctuations, and feelings....
He spoke about how nice it is to converse and exchange ideas, and have ample time to respond... To formulate an answer...
He view social networking as a great tool for communication, and he loves the slow pace of response,......... And the fact that you can communicate and laugh with people from all over the world... Regardless of his physical disadvantages.... Which prevents him from being physically mobile....
Funnily, but when the life we created gets us to our knees, we learn to value and appreciate things that we cynically put down before....
I cannot stretch enough, the important of MINDFULNESS..... As well as developing a satisfied mind.....
It is really all that you need to carry you through the rough patches...... And to make you SEE and appreciate the beauty and blessings in your life.....
Mindfulness, is a practice of being FULLY present at every moment.......by slowing down your movements, to become fully aware of every bodily urge and movement.... Every thought.... Every intention... But instead of 'running' with every whim, we simply stay poised in the center..... and allow these fidgety feelings to pass us by...
Every life is so precious....
And mindfulness, brings into awareness, the joy of sipping tea MINDFULLY,.........of mindful walking.......... Of being where we are fully, and not rushing about...
And if we open our eyes.... We can see the magic...... and beauty....... And majesty that an "ordinary" life has......
Yesterday night I saw a movie called "The Drummer".
In it, a young son of a gangster in modern Hong Kong, flee the town because he sleeps with another gangster's woman, and insults him.
For his protection, he hides in another town by the mountains.
In the mountains he encounters a group of mindful drummers, living a simple life of mindfulness and awareness.
The boy asks to join them, but despite being a good drummer, he is not ready to drum with their group.... As his personality has not yet been conquered... And he is filled with arrogance and impatience....
He is also not filled with mindfulness.... And his movements are jerky and clumsy....
He is NOT moving through life with humility, awareness and POISE, but instead he is too filled with passion and urges....
(I will not give more details of the movie, as not to spoil it for those who want to watch it.)
When it was time to shut the lights and go to sleep, I did a "MINDFULLY falling a sleep exercise."
I laid on my back with my arms and legs stretched out, and commanded my body not to move a muscle.
I laid there without moving a toe.... For over an hour.... and watched my mind shifting it focus from this to that..... Until it relaxed...and my awareness shifted and I saw in my inner eye a spinning circle.... Filled with images... They spun and spun until I drifted to unconsciousness...... It felt good.
I have been thinking that in only 11 days, I will not be able to access Facebook, for two months.
It seems so long....
I know that some people view social networking, as time consuming, even addictive.....
Many have a strong resistance to this medium of communication.
But I believe that it is a great platform, to meet people that in our daily lives, we will never be able to meet, and to share ideas with....
I find it wonderful, that we can connect with kinder Spirits all around the globe, and read each other poetry, or stories, without the intermediate element of publishing houses or newspapers....
Some people do not use this platform wisely.......they spend their time online, fighting with other people, criticizing their ways of living and thinking...... and criticizing their poetry, deleting and blocking people, and generally use it as an outlet for moods swings.
Of course there are many people who use it to connect with their loved ones and friends, to share ideas, to laugh together, to raise awareness or call attention to some issues..... and to make new global friends.
Much of the way we experience things on the social networking, is similar to any other aspect of life........ It all depends on how we choose to do things.....look at things.......and how we use the gifts and tools that life gives us.
Everything can work FOR us.... Or against us... By our own design.
Roger Ebert who used to be a famous film critic in the USA, suffered in the past few years from a very debilitating cancer, which caused him to lose his voice.
He regains his ability to speak, with the use of computer voicing.
I watched a video of Roger, who talked about how much he loves Facebook and Twitter.
He spoke about how much he appreciates the gifts that social networking gave him.....and how much it enriches his life, now that he is house ridden and so ill........
He spoke about how much he values having FB friends, to talk to, and to share ideas with.
He mentioned that when he is physically close to people, some find it hard to look at his disfigured jaw or to listen to the voice of the computer, which lacks tonality fluctuations, and feelings....
He spoke about how nice it is to converse and exchange ideas, and have ample time to respond... To formulate an answer...
He view social networking as a great tool for communication, and he loves the slow pace of response,......... And the fact that you can communicate and laugh with people from all over the world... Regardless of his physical disadvantages.... Which prevents him from being physically mobile....
Funnily, but when the life we created gets us to our knees, we learn to value and appreciate things that we cynically put down before....
I cannot stretch enough, the important of MINDFULNESS..... As well as developing a satisfied mind.....
It is really all that you need to carry you through the rough patches...... And to make you SEE and appreciate the beauty and blessings in your life.....
Mindfulness, is a practice of being FULLY present at every moment.......by slowing down your movements, to become fully aware of every bodily urge and movement.... Every thought.... Every intention... But instead of 'running' with every whim, we simply stay poised in the center..... and allow these fidgety feelings to pass us by...
Every life is so precious....
And mindfulness, brings into awareness, the joy of sipping tea MINDFULLY,.........of mindful walking.......... Of being where we are fully, and not rushing about...
And if we open our eyes.... We can see the magic...... and beauty....... And majesty that an "ordinary" life has......
