Summary of today’s (Jan 2, 2022)
Live session: Happy New Year everyone! We had over 650 of us practicing together today from at least 22 countries—and all continents (except Antarctica).
The theme today was cultivating ‘resources’ to support us in our meditation practice—and in daily life. Resources can help us settle and arrive at the beginning of a meditation session and can provide powerful support when we are working with difficult mind states or emotions, or in dealing with challenging situations.
I highlighted a number of potential resources, including:
1) Our breath—both as a focus or ‘anchor’ in meditation and (through deeper breathing) as a way of relaxing the mind and body.
2) Inviting a smile, which can relax the body, mind, and nervous system.
3) Placing a hand on your heart (and possibly the other on your belly) and connecting with yourself and meeting difficulties with a gesture of kindness. 4) Bringing to mind a poem or some lines from poetry that inspire you—and consider learning poems or parts of them ‘by heart’, so that they are readily accessible without having to take out your phone and google the poem.
5) Reflecting on things—people, conditions, etc.—in your life that you are grateful for. Gratitude helps us step out of our frequent focus on what is ‘wrong’ or what we lack and shifts attention to what we have and are grateful for.
6) Bringing to mind someone who inspires you or who helps to open your heart—it might be a loved one, a teacher or parent/grandparent, or other person who has cared deeply for you, or an inspiring spiritual figure, etc.
7) Remembering to pause, particularly when things are difficult, and bringing awareness to your direct experience—rather than your worried or angry thoughts, for example. A practice to help us pause goes by the acronym SOBER (Stop-Observe-Breathe-Expand awareness-Respond mindfully). If you’re interested in this practice, I have a SOBER meditation on Insight Timer.
8) Taking refuge in community (sangha)—remembering that you are not alone.
There are numerous other potential resources that can support you. You might think about these and other resources, so that they are available to you in times of difficulty or when you want to relax and settle the body and mind. What helps you to feel safe, supported, held, and not alone when you are experiencing difficulties or painful emotions or mind states? This can be one of your resources.
The poems I shared today included lines from poems I often come back to: Mary Oliver’s ‘The Summer Day’ and ‘Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too was a gift’; Martha Postlethwaite’s ‘Clearing’; and Rumi’s ‘The Guest House.’
I also shared two well-known, short poems by William Blake: ‘He who binds to himself a joy…’ and ‘To see a world in a grain of sand // And a heaven in a wild flower…’; and ‘Walker’ by Antonio Machado.
Zahra shared in the comments two ‘poetry and meditation’ recommendations: Roger Housden’s books: ‘Ten Poems to Change Your Life’, ‘Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime’, ‘Ten Poems to Say Goodbye’, and others. I love his books too. They include the poems and his reflections on them. Zahra also shared Daisy Goodwin’s ‘101 Poems to Save Your Life’.
I hope this summary is helpful. Please let me know if anything is missing. Wishing you a lovely week ahead—and a happy and fruitful 2022! See you next Sunday at 9am eastern!
Warmly, Hugh
