Best Of

I've been doing a mindfulness practice recently. It's maybe a little like Jon Kabbat Zinn's teaching of eating a raisin mindfully and appreciating all of the facets of the experience. And I've also read about mindful washing of dishes. Normally when I do tasks like laundry, dishes loading and unloading, or tidying I am thinking of how it is my task and I want to get it done. I think of it as a daily goal. And that is fine as it's fine to have goals and tasks. But I bring mindfulness by doing everything slowly and noticing more of what I am doing rather than thinking. So instead of being efficient I slowly bring a plate out of the dishwasher and heft it and slowly walk to the cupboard then slowly open the cupboard and notice what's inside as a slowly set down the dish.

Yesterday, within the difficulties of poor sleep and anxiety/excitement due to moving, I practiced:
Right speech: especially with my mother. No need to take my troubles out on her. I screwed up once, but apologised, a.k.a. tried to make it right.
Not taking what is not given: my father gave me a small liquidity loan to pay for the movers. A small amount was left over. I typically might postpone paying him back until I 'feel like it' a.k.a. would not prioritise it highly. But I paid him back immediately, even though there was a lot of unpacking to do a.k.a. it slightly inconvenienced me.
Insight: I think it is safe to say that those around me would say that I already am moral/ethical. But when I look at the little things, there is so much room for improvement. And of course, when aggravated by negative emotion/thought, I too can be a vanilla asshole 😄

I'll start:

Yesterday, I practised the precept of not taking what is not given.

I am moving house and the rented flat came with some old pots and pans, cutlery, glasses, and the like.

Instead of doing it half-assed, with the attitude that ultimately it does not matter much if an old butter knife is mine or of the flat, as long as I leave some behind, I put in a lot of effort to determine what is mine, and what came with the flat, for each item.

To me, since I slept poorly and was extremely busy with packing, that extra wholesome effort, counts as a win

• I am the Dharma Practice (and probably at least three other precious jewels)
• Went to my local libray to securely print out a page of text (10p) Was told off by the librarian and did not practice anything wrathful Buddha style
• Had a good Hotei style laugh over a cup of tea
• Fed our garden birds, compassionatley
• Helped one of my siblings (not too much - I am too humble to be thought of as good)
• Congratulated the Sun on excellent shining
• Posted usual extreme dharma and Zen tip on https://universeodon.com/home

...Oh wait have not done the last one yet.
Off to be a Busy-Bodhi

Dear everyone,

I thought it would be beneficial and encouraging for us to have a thread in which we could post our concrete, daily Dharma practice wins and activities.

General guidelines, at least from my perspective:

• Focus on wins. Mentioning "wins", in addition to activities, is intentional. Focusing on the wins and the progress, rather than the long distance ahead and how we fall short of our ideal, helps us get into a mindset of celebration, positivity, encouragement, determination, increased energy and commitment, etc. This promotes a positive feedback loop of further progress.
• No win or activity is too small. No win or activity, if done intentionally with wholesome intent, is "small" or "insignificant" or "not worthy of posting". Literally.
• Start where you are. The only person who can practice is us, as we are, now. There is literally no other place to practice. So, no one is too spiritually "behind" or "ahead" to not post their wins and activities. We all start where we are. Daily. Ours is a very large tent, inclusive of all aspiring to practice Dharma.
• Dharma practice is comprehensive. Finally, the idea is for this thread to be both about meditation but also all other aspects of Dharma practice.
• With comments to others, try to be encouraging. Maybe it's just me, but I get the feeling that we're all too self-critical already. Some say it's a "Western thing". Encouragement brings forth all of the aforementioned goodies: increased resolve, inspiration, determination, energy, a genuine desire to practice more, etc.

Whadyathink? Sounds good?

Hmm, let’s see…

Today I practised awareness of the breath, as part of my ongoing year of being conscious of my breathing. There were three separate moments where I remembered I should take a moment to focus on my breath, which is not a bad start to the day.

I also practised my compassion. An elderly friend of my father sent me an email about seeing my father’s funeral ceremony online, and I sent him a mail back in which I explained to him that the ceremony hadn’t been recorded. I did also send him the text of all the speeches that were held, so that he could still get a little of the feeling.