Chiefly: Together*

Mindfulness of breathing
Carried over into my
Next activity:
Cooking supper.

As I prepared the meal
The rhythm of breathing
And activities
Moved together.

I could not tell how,
Or whether one
Regulated the other,
But they just synchronized.

This rhythm felt natural
And comfortable,
And as I continued to watch,
Actions matched breathing’s pace.

All movements flowed together:
Those of breathing,
And those of meal preparation,
In a Graceful,
Seamless,
Inseparable process.


*Today’s entry is the last one UNTIL May, as tomorrow I start an insight meditation course, and I really want to focus on that.

Thanks for reading!

Lee

Chatter: Plan Mode

Too much restlessness
Was how my meditation started;
At last I lay down
And gave up.

Later when I tried again
Surprise!
Calm returned, that is,
Until the planning began.

It’s remarkable
How often
I accomplish little
All day,

And then when I sit,
Suddenly,
There’s my to do list
Right before me.

One day I shall
Get this organized
So that my plans
Emerge when I’m available,

Or maybe that’s the trouble:
That my mediation
Makes me more accessible
And then the internal memos appear,

All at once
Everything suppressed
Arises,
And my tasks multiply,

Like carpet beetle eggs,
They hatch all over
When I forget to vacuum
For too long a time.

Chased: Air Flow

The air flows:
In
Out,
And mindfulness grows,

Sleep eludes me,
Frustration blows,
But I do my tasks,
And keep practicing.

Bad news keeps coming too,
But I tell myself
This is what
My practice is for,

It’s not just for sunny days
When all is going well,
But for days when I feel
As if I dwell at the bottom of a well.

The mud is thick
And my legs are stuck,
It pulls me down
But I fear not the muck.

In a day or two
My new mediation course will start,
And then we’ll see
If I still have heart.

Through the murky water
It’s hard to see
Where I am going
Or what I can be.

Will I be able to continue
On this difficult trip?
Can I float to the surface?
Or, will I merely further slip?