Buddha Talks About "Wild Thoughts

 

Buddha Speaks - Wild Thoughts

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Your thoughts run around like a wild horse and your feelings jump about like a monkey in the forest. When the monkey and horse step back and reflect upon themselves, freedom from all discrimination is realized naturally. "--Dogen, "Instructions for the Tenzo"

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Have you ever had an encounter with someone, and then walked away and had all these wild thoughts running through your head?  Thoughts like:-“I would like that person to have a taste of what they dish out”; or “I would like to banish them to the Arctic!”; or, “I wish all their friends, if he has any, would turn away from him!”

These are thoughts that are wild and free and may be drawing from your past life memories.  They may even be associated with a past life with this person.  The thoughts do not make you a bad person.  They are human.  When thoughts like these come your way, bless them and thank them for the creative vision of what could happen, and then allow them to leave. 

What makes our character is the way that we handle our thoughts, emotions, and impulses.  When we can let them go, then we are moving on the path of blissfulness.

Blessings,

Judy

Magpie Drops In

Magpie dropped to the path ahead of us (the dogs and me), and began to chatter.  Slowly, the chattering took form in my mind.  Here are some of the thoughts.

• Spend time in the present for this is where your power comes from.  In the present, you will be open to all that is available from the Oneness.
• Magpie does not dwell on the past; we remember the lessons.  One lesson is that a man with a long stick that smokes (gun) will hurt or end us.  Remember the lessons and let go of the emotion, the scene and all the blame!
• Walk more.  Even though we fly, we walk on the ground because it does ground us.  Humans do not walk enough.
• Play more.  Magpies enjoy each other and other animals.  We play.  We see you compete, we do not see you play.

I contemplated what Magpie was saying and realized that I can do better in being in the present.  I worked to stay in the moment as I wrote this blog.  I realized that my mind is like a herd of cats, different thoughts wanting to go different places.  I had to consciously work back to the moment.  When I did that, I felt more energy.  I am grateful to Magpie.

Blessings,

Judy

Are You Super Glued To Certain Thoughts?

Super glue picture from http://www.fnal.gov 

Have you found that sometimes, the same thought plays over and over in your head?  Have you experienced the reliving of a memory that was painful and thought for the one thousandth time, I’d like to make that person pay?  Do you have a story that runs continuously in your mind and that you tell your friends over and over?  Welcome to the world of sticky thoughts, that is, thoughts that are glued to your mind.

The problem with these thoughts is that they create barriers to you doing a lot of other things with your brain power and with your life.  These thoughts take up your time and energy, drag you down, and create inertia.  In some, it creates a great tiredness that prevents them from doing anything to improve their life, other than to say, “Someday!”. 

If your thoughts are super glued and you cannot seem to shrug them off, then remember this – we are not thoughts!  Thoughts are not true! To achieve peace and relief from anxiety and fear, we must learn to still our thoughts. Osho has a great technique to still your thoughts – a releasing of the super glue.

Meditation – Touch Your Eyes – by OSHO

Use both your palms, put them on your eyes, and allow the palms to touch the eyeballs ― but just like a feather, with no pressure. If you press you miss the point, you miss the whole technique. Don’t press; just touch, like a feather. You will have to adjust, because in the beginning you will be pressing. Put less and less pressure until you are just touching with no pressure at all ― just your palms touch the eyeballs. Why? Because a needle can do something which a sword cannot do. If you press, the quality has changed ― you are aggressive. And the energy that is flowing through the eyes is very subtle: a small pressure and it starts fighting and a resistance is created. If you press, then the energy that is flowing through the eyes will start a resistance, a fight; a struggle will ensue. So don’t press; even a slight pressure is enough for the eye-energy to judge.  It is very subtle, it is very delicate. Don’t press ― like a feather; just your palm is touching, as if not touching. Touching as if not touching, no pressure; just a touch, a slight feeling that the palm is touching the eyeball, that’s all. What will happen? When you simply touch without any pressure, the energy starts moving within. If you press, it starts fighting with the hand, with the palm, and moves out. Just a touch and the energy starts moving within. The door is closed; simply the door is closed and the energy falls back. The moment energy falls back, you will feel a lightness coming all over your face, your head. This energy moving back makes you light.  Even if you are not entering deep meditation, this will help you physically. Any time in the day, relax on a chair ― or if you don’t have any chair, when just sitting in a train ― close your eyes, feel a relaxed being in the whole of your body, and then put both your palms on your eyes. But don't press ― that’s the very significant thing. Just touch like a feather. When you touch and don’t press, your thoughts will stop immediately. In a relaxed mind thoughts cannot move; they get frozen. They need frenzy and fever, they need tension to move. They live through tension. When the eyes are silent, relaxed, and the energy is moving backwards, thoughts will stop. You will feel a certain quality of euphoria, and that will deepen daily. Osho: Excerpted from The Book of Secrets

May you release the glue that holds your thoughts in place and may you move to another level of being!

Many blessings,

Judy

Silence and Meditation

Over the last twenty years, we have been lucky enough to have a friend named Al who lives far away from us but who visits when he can.  We three enjoy one another’s company, and the lively discussions we have on enlightenment, choice, healing tools, and the books that we are reading. 

Our time together also has moments of silence when we contemplate the words that have just been spoken. There is a courtesy and thoughtfulness that goes with our “silences”. 

In light of many of our conversations, I found this little Zen teaching on silence very funny.

Sounds of Silence

Four monks decided to meditate silently without speaking for two weeks. By nightfall on the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out. The first monk said, "Oh, no! The candle is out." The second monk said, "Aren't we not suppose to talk?" The third monk said, "Why must you two break the silence?" The fourth monk laughed and said, "Ha! I'm the only one who didn't speak."

The teaching around this little story varies. Generally, the story reflects the challenges of sitting in meditation. Each of the monks experiences a block that affects their practice.

I was thinking about this and realized that this little story is also a reflection of our lives and the situations that block us from attaining our true goals.

What are your thoughts?

Blessings,

Judy

Change and Growth In Your Life

 Have you ever gotten a vehicle stuck in the snow or in the mud?  Do you remember how difficult it was to get out of being stuck, especially if you had to do it all by yourself?  Do you remember that often, you could not get un-stuck without calling for help from a tow truck driver or from others near by?  

To change the stuck in the snow situation, we had to change the thought that we could get un-stuck with no help.  Realizing that we were wrong and accepting that we were wrong is a big change.  It is also a metaphor for life where we have to move along and take responsibility for needing to change.

Too often, folks get stuck in a rut… a situation that is not healthy for them or for those around them.  Instead of making up their mind to change and grow, they instead play the victim and blame everyone and everything in their life for how stuck they are.

Very early in my spiritual journey, several of my teachers explained that each road block or stuck situation in my life was a chance to learn and to change.  Making that shift in my approach to life was a challenge because I was not raised that way.  Each time that I was feeling stuck, I had to learn to step back and to look at the lesson that the situation presented.  I learned so much!

I learned about setting boundaries, and about saying NO.  I learned about changing or releasing expectations.  I learned that people are exactly who they appear to be and not to have expectations about their behaviour.  I let relationships go.  I learned that when there are not any blocks to what I was doing, I was in the flow.  I was in balance. I learned to let people leave my life when they were trying to manipulate me, boss me around, or take advantage of me.  I learned over time how to be me.

Blessings,

Judy