Meditation Journal
Rob_V
North Carolina Explorer
Chances are I won't keep this up, but meantime feel free to comment or add your own entries.
My meditative style is generally quiet. I am blessed to have a separate room for meditation. It is my sacred space. In it is a shrine/altar on which I burn incense (air), in salt (earth), candles (fire) ine which rests over a glass of water.
I sit on a padded riser (I have a hard time getting off the floor) and a 4" cushion. Some mornings I listen to Thanisarro Bhikkhu for a few minutes, sometimes not. Sometimes if its later I may chant a short 'namo tassa...' and take refuge, but usually it's too early and it'll get the dogs going. So I try, usually unsuccessfully, to focus on the breath alone. I usually resort to grabbing my mala beads and using the 4 Nobles Truths and the Eightfold Path of the Nobles as a sort if mantra. I'll do 108 of those sitting, and another 108 walking. I'd like to bragg and say I do this all the way through, every single day. That'd be a whopping lie. I often do both, 4 or 5 days a week. Sometimes.
So for today's journal; meh! '_(°•°)_/' I've had better. Couldn't seem to concentrate this morning. My mind kept wandering into fantasy land or planning mode (the same setting in my brain...). I did manage to have the discipline to complete the session though, so there's that. Ah well, even a bad session is better than none I guess.
Metta!
🙏
Comments
Had a best friend for much of my life who was a Dharma brother. He was committed to a daily meditational journal recording as part of his means of addressing some heavy karmic demons but worried that if his wife ever read them, that his marriage would be irreparably damaged. He asked me one day if some of what he wanted to privately journal about, could be attributed as my thoughts instead of his, to mitigate that possibility.
I said if those journals were private then sure.
8 years later he died. One of the last things he asked from me was to check in on his wife after the dust settled from his death to make sure she was ok.
That visit occurred after she took his journals out on a solo wilderness camping trip to burn them.
That visit put me in the presence of someone who surprisingly now not only viscerally hated my guts but apparently seemed to revel in that hatred.
I am guessing that some of those journals got read before being burned. I said nothing.
Hmm. Difficult — I’m sure she would have recognised his handwriting. But a good warning about the difficulties of maintaining a meditation journal.
@Rob_V i think the journal is a brave effort, I hope it goes well
Good on you! Hope it’s beneficial
Seems like a plan
Meditation Journal (Stardate 2218)
"I'm giving her all she's got, Captain! She cannae take anymore."
Montgomery Scott
Errmmm...neat trick!
Qiong interests me, but I'm not patient enough to learn it..
Good for you. Someone had to
Worst part? We ALL have those demons, they just manifest uniquely for each of us.
Did a quick 20 minutes after work. I'm trying to get in 2 sessions a day. We'll see.
Mind wandered, but I'd just heard a Dhamma talk by Ajahn Jayasaro about exercising mindfulness and how it's strengthened by bringing it back to the breath quicker each time, so I didn't worry about it.
Meditation Journal day 2
Zoom participants have been partially redacted to protect the guilty
BEFORE
AFTER
It never ceases to amaze me how a still mostly asleep brain can reorder your entire morning in an instant when the alarm goes off so that you can sleep another hour.
I was able to do 25 - 30 minutes before I felt it necessary to pick up the beads. I also had a bit less reliance on the 4NT/8FNP mantra this morning.
Lately, while sitting, I find myself with my head cocked upward and to the right, much like I've observed the blind do. It seems perfectly natural to me, so I don't fight it. Any thoughts on that?
At any rate, an educational and productive session I'd say.
Lobster meditation Journal (third daze)
Hail Meditation, full of grace,
the Lord Buddha is with us.
Blessed art sum amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of the earth, Sangha.
Whole Meditation, Mother of Nirvana,
pray for us weeners,
now and at the hour of our awareness. Hrih.
Originalish
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Lobster meditation Journal Supplemental
Was able to stand and do some serious bowing to zendo (aka front room), zoomeries, stray cat, Buddhas and any visiting devas.
https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/26703/nb-meditation-zoom/p1
Went straight into a Raja yoga routine from Youtube ...
Soon I will be ultra-practitioner (Engage!)
I discovered that a growing desire to have something noteworthy to write about in my meditation journal interfered with the quality of my meditations and so I stopped keeping one.
I'm not looking for noteworthy, I'm looking for patterns, ruts that I may be stuck in, perhaps some mutually beneficial encouragement as well.
Indeed.
Meanwhile:
02:42am Thors day
https://theartofliving.com/journal-meditation-finding-zen-problem-solving/
Despite this message from my ISP was able to attend.
We are writing as we have some planned works to enhance the reliability of your service and improve network performance in your area.
These works will take place on Friday the 29th of January.
Please expect up to 3 hours of downtime between 05:00 am and 08:00 am and please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience caused. These works are essential in order to keep our network performing at optimal levels.
(my zoom meditation is in the middle of this and requires the internet at 06.00am) It was down for less than an hour ... phew ...