Civilization: Know-where

Thinking,
Ruminating—Stopped
And noticed:
Mindfulness of thinking.

Every time
I stop and notice
Is helpful
And skillful.

It doesn’t matter
When it happens
Or how long in between,
It’s still beneficial.

Whether I be
Caught in
Craving or aversion
Every return is important,

Being found
After getting lost
In the deep end
Is valuable, educational,

Learning how to
Find my way back,
As significant as
Being here,

Missing now,
Not knowing it,
Is what I need to
Know it,

I have to know
Before I can forget,
And forget
In order to know:
This is the great mystery.

Civil: Breakfast Notes

Horrible depression,
Inertia,
Aching,
Discouragement
And despair.

What am I supposed
To do with this?
How do I practice
With such anguish
And difficulty?

I decided to
Practice the practice of
Keep moving,
Keep trying to do,
While being open,

To be present for
These states,
This situation,
This particular set
Of conditions.

But then I lay down
What is that?
I wrote this,
I started thinking,
I lay down,

I thought some more,
Then I got up again,
felt better,
And wrote again
Of what happened next.

Now what?
Eat my oatmeal, I guess,
And try to be present
For that too.

Circumstances: Pain Flow

Pain in the body,
But brought spaciousness
Of attention to it,
And felt quite comfortable,

Including everything
In my view
Filled my screen
Making pain a tiny fragment,

A seemingly irrelevant
Bit of fluff
That barely registered,
Hardly perceived.

Then, back to the body,
noticed pain in chest and back,
Looked for resistance,
But none appeared,

The discomfort
Held in acceptance
Flowed through
Without opposition,

No need for suppression
Or escape,
Simply sitting
And letting all be as is.

After that lost in thought,
For a time,
All things forgot
By the wandering mind,

Then came back to
The breath for
The last few minutes,
To hear the bell resound
And this meditation was finished.