Captiva, Florida taken by Jaime Pujals Ruiz
Archive for April 23, 2014
A new level of reality has been coming over me in gentle waves, lately. One I have to admit I have never noticed before. You know how there is all this talk about “Mindfulness”, being “In the Moment”, “Living in the Present”? Well, I don’t know about you, but this has always been baffling to me. I mean, where the hell else can one be? I realize that my head is always going a million miles a minute, that I am often sort of transported, mentally, into things I want to do later, items I need to pick up from the grocery store, phone calls I need to return. The truth is, it has been so common for me to live my life in this state of distraction, I wasn’t even aware that I wasn’t really EVER present for what was before me.
Suddenly, without any conscious effort on…
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Confucius John says “Your Mind Must Be Empty.”
John is a local Chinese doctor who is developing quite the following in my sleepy city. Apparently we are waking up to the ancient wisdom of Chinese medicine. As is typical of where I live, we are a little late in cottoning onto this source of knowledge. But hey, at least we’re catching up. Sort of.
One of John’s pearls of wisdom really struck me: the mind must be empty. And no, he was not suggesting that I adopt the airhead persona of a bottle-blonde bimbo. (At least I hope not. That would be a cringe-worthy blonde moment on my behalf, wouldn’t it?)
This idea of clearing your mind is supported by modern trends in psychology such as mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT). John’s point was that holding onto negative thoughts and their resultant emotions will have a detrimental effect on your…
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powerful techniques for a peaceful mind
Many experts say that meditation early in the morning, before starting your day is best. This method is going to place positive energy into your mind and once its a habit it is positive energy that will normally last throughout the entire day.
1. Upon waking or after basic bathroom duties, place positive thoughts into your mind. Keep it simple, especially at first. Here are some examples:
- I am a peaceful and relaxed person and I choose to be.
- A top priority today is to develop a positive outlook and a peaceful mind.
- I plan to radiate peace outwards from my heart for every person that I come into contact with.
Begin with one and then another and the last meditation phrase. Add others, that is fine. The objective is simple enough. You want to make sure that in ten or fifteen minutes from when you get…
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♠Plato´s Dialogue, “The Symposium”:
“On Platonic Love and The Myth of the Androgyne”:
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“The Symposium” ( Συμπόσιον) is a dialogue by Plato dated c. 385–380 BC.
Plato sets the action in a symposium hosted by the poet Agathon to celebrate his first victory in a dramatic competition, the Dionysia of 416 BC. Each man must deliver an encomiun, a speech in praise of Love (Eros). Each participant, by means of very personal expositions, adds something to a body that at the end is developed by Socrates.
The dialogue concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love, and (in latter-day interpretations) is the origin of the concept of Platonic Love.
Platonic love is a type of Love that is chaste and non-sexual. This idea is also examined in this dialogue. Of particular importance is the speech of Socrates, relating the ideas attributed to the prophetess Diotima, which present love as…
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The present moment
contains past and future.
The secret of transformation,
is in the way we handle this very moment.
Thich Nhat Hahn, Understanding Our Mind
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“It’s not what’s happening that’s important.
What’s important is our relationship to what’s happening“
~Joseph Goldstein
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Joseph Goldstein forged by leading insight loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide beginning in 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. I really enjoy listening to Goldstein’s calm voice and strong insights. I decided to feature two of his talks today.
Before taking up with myself a path of deepening spiritual awareness, I was blessed to discover a lot about myself and other by family life, in my career and then via activities in my personal living. Life took its course for me more by happenstance it seems though than by directions for living that I could count upon. I had a vision one day and awakening to divine purpose then became…
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