Making Sure I'm Still Here
.... and Life Coaching with Joe
MONDAYS 7pm (et) - new link!
During our evolution we lost our fangs, claws and venom as we traded up for a big brain. As this brain grew, it gained the processing ability to go beyond the defensive reaction of its dark beginnings and, learning to see a bigger picture, strategize its way past danger and toward sustenance. This remarkable ascension […]
Today’s photo evokes the romance of the school dance. An oft used descriptor of that moment would be “innocence” although, events later in the parking lot might not be very innocent. Yet, we wistfully remember clumsily fumbling around another person in the dark because whether it was glorious, frightening or both, opening the heart was […]
Compassion is a very large idea. But in order to make it a practical idea, we can see how it can become right-sized. If we conjure images of Mother Teresa, Gandhi or the Dalai Lama we are likely conjuring something inherently out-sized, that we can never attain. These outsized images are not only unrealisitc, […]
Seeing Beyond Our Pain We are the product of love. Even if our life sometimes seems separated from love, the act of love happened someplace. Love is everywhere around us whether or not we are able to contact it. Contacting love in our life is possible if we are free of the turmoil […]
——- THE PATH BETWEEN EXTREMES ——- A river flowing down the mountain began its journey as a puddle, its ill defined boundaries leaking into mud. At some point, gravity urged it into a downward stream that found a path of least resistance down the mountain. Over time the trickle became a stream, which cut its way […]
Slowing Down to Move Quickly We began our discussion of flow by establishing the practice of calm abiding (Shamatha) to settle into the present, so that we can let go into a natural organic flow in our practice and life. Last post we used an analogy of the flowing water to depict the movement of […]
LETTING GO INTO THE RHYTHM OF LIFE This post follows “settling into the groove” and it indicates a next step, letting go and moving on. Settling in relates to the “Samatha” level of our meditation training. Samatha means peace, or cultivating peace in its active rendering. In Tibetan Buddism it is taught as a 9 […]
SETTLING INTO LIFE’S GROOVE There is an odd juxtaposition between settling and grooving. The seemingly disparate energies of connecting to the earth and letting go into the flow can be in opposition when we are not synchronized, when we cling to one over the other. On the other hand, they might combine into an elegant […]
DHARMAJUNKIES MONDAY ZOOM 7PM (ET) meeting: https://tinyurl.com/DharmaJunkies/ tonight: OPEN DISCUSSION Bring your thoughts, concerns, questions or insights tonight for an open community sharing circle.
DO I EVEN KNOW IF I’M NOT HERE NOW? As we go through life things happen that stop the mind long enough for us to be fully present. Sometimes these moments are beautiful, as in the birth of a child, or a connection with nature that stills the mind. Other times they may be painful […]