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New Years Resolution
LesC
Bermuda Veteran
Well I've made my New Years Resolution... Along with getting back on my diet and all the regular stuff, I've decided that I will focus for one month on one each of the Noble Eightfold Paths.
I use the mnemonic SAVE CALM to remember them, so starting in January, I will focus for the whole month on Right Speech, and February will be dedicated to Right Action, March - Right View, April - Right Effort and so on.
I think just focusing on one path for a whole month will be more meaningful for me and probably easier to accomplish. Well, we'll see... :rolleyes:
I'll keep you apprised of my progress...
I use the mnemonic SAVE CALM to remember them, so starting in January, I will focus for the whole month on Right Speech, and February will be dedicated to Right Action, March - Right View, April - Right Effort and so on.
I think just focusing on one path for a whole month will be more meaningful for me and probably easier to accomplish. Well, we'll see... :rolleyes:
I'll keep you apprised of my progress...
0
Comments
Palzang
Absorption of the lesson is one thing.
Living it is quite another, and I don't ever expect to accomplish this to my satisfaction in this lifetime.
But I'm enjoying the attempt!
That wasn't intended to be any form of admonishment or criticism, by the way, Les.
Just telling it for my part, the way it is for me.
Although I might give more thought to my practices this year - apart from joining in on Healing Circles I have somewhat let it slip.
Palzang
Good article though - another thing that my psychiatrist advised was anthropomorphising one's problems - visualisation is a very handy tool and conquering a visible foe is much more easy than an invisible one.
Do you know this book, KW?
What We May Be
I am working through all kinds of visualisation, NLP and behavioural therapy techniques with my beloved Dr W ... this can only be to the good.
An example of what I was talking about was when I was having a bit of a struggle with the booze-demon, so I sat and had a conversation with him, visualising him rather like the little devil that appears on Tom's shoulder in the Tom and Jerry cartoons. I asked him to leave me alone for half an hour and then come back if he really felt he must. That gave me 30 minutes peace and quiet in which to go and find something more constructive to do. It also gave me an empowerment - I could ask him to go away, something I couldn't do before.
I have used this technique both professionally and personally with good results. There are a number of Roberto Assagioli's visualisation exercises in the book. Psychosynthesis was what he called his system and, when I did my NLP training all those decades ago, I was able to add it to the 'toolbox' we were developing.
I've lost contact with at least 2 long-time friends and mentors because they failed to consistently reply, and I'd hate for someone to have that sort of experience with me.
I think people look at resolutions the wrong way. It isn't that the date is special, or that you even need a hard goal. It's just slowly working on habits, and Jan 1 is a good time to reflect on them. That's all I did here, really. I identified a poor habit I have, and I'd like to work on changing it.
This is a kind resolution, Matt, and one which leads to considering how we envision this Internet of ours. I have two favourite images, which are, indeed, my images of our journey through life.
In the first, we are all wandering in the desert, from waterhole to oasis. In the second, it is a dark and virtually trackless forest. Along the way, we meet others, also "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita". Some may have been with us from the start, others we meet as time goes on. In the lonely dark, we huddle round a camp-fire, and share our food and water. We tell our stories, sing our songs and then, because that is our geas, we move on. For a while, the others can hear us and we them, but, after a time, their voices become fainter and disappear. Sometimes, they vanish just when we thought they were beside us.
That is the nature of our Long March, our Journey out of Egypt.
And we have, as ever, a choice. We can accept, laughing, the curse of movement and action, or we can grind our teeth and moan. We can find the beauty in impermanence by stopping hankering after what or who has gone or may yet arise.
A Happy New Year, Matt. May you find joy in your resolution.
Thanks Pally, for that insightful article. Definitely Food For Thought.