#667 Experiencing the Benefits of Meditation Practice

     "Gradually, by experiencing the benefits of concentration and insight first hand, you will gain confidence that you have the capacity to endure pain with equanimity, that you are able to let go of destructive habits, and that you are worthy of the joy of a deeply tranquil mind."

       Shaila Catherine "Wisdom Wide and Deep. A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana." Wisdom, Boston, 2011.

DavidAMWA   www.dpreview.com

#518 Meeting Fear Effectively

     "By inviting fear into the relaxed, openness of your heart, by reaching out to your fear when you feel calm and grounded, you can begin to develop a connection between these two areas in yourself. Later when you become afraid, a connection already will have been established to help you call upon your calm, grounded being. When you feel connected to your inner wholeness, you can offer that as an ally to the place in yourself that experiences the pain and helplessness of being afraid. Shunryu Suzuki said, 'The only way you can endure your pain is to let it be painful' and maybe the same is true of fear. The way to endure our fears is to just be with them. Being present without trying to change our experience is how to tame and transform our pain."
 
        Phelan JP. Practicing with Fear. Mindfulness - published online 06 September 2012.

wgjohnston   www.dpreview.com

#468 Endurance, Perseverance & Transcendence

     "Most of all, we have to learn to trust our own capacities to endure pain. We can endure much more than we think we can; all human experience testifies to that. All we need to do is learn not to be afraid of pain. Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don't deny it, don't be overwhelmed by it. It will not last forever. One day, the pain will be gone and you will still be there."                                            Harold S. Kushner

       Streep P ed. Spiritual Illuminations. Meditations for Inner Growth. Viking Studio Books, NY, 1992.

Ice Storm, Toronto, Christmas 2013

#463 What is Most Solid?

     Standing on stardust
     Ephemeral energy
     One thing endures
     Kindness

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

#348 Heart of Mindfulness Practice - Perseverance, Embracing "Difficulties"

     I was very excited to read the paper below on strengthening resiliency. It nicely describes "heart" as a collection of critical qualities that can be developed in a number of ways, such as sports and enduring a difficult childhood, but perhaps the most efficient laboratory-like conditions for creating heart is mindfulness practice. See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/06/heart-can-should-be-cultivated.html

     "Kokoro is the Japanese word for heart or fighting spirit. The Koreans refer to kokoro simply as the 'indomitable spirit.' ... it is something housed in all of us, and all we need to do is simply find ways to release it. ... Heart only needs to be tapped into and enriched.
     In martial arts, confidence, which can be defined as having trust in one's abilities, is recognized as being 'a product of one's previous experience.' Thus, training an individual by exposing him or her to supervised challenges that require 'reaching down inside' for heart teaches the student to have confidence in the ability to draw on fighting spirit when severely challenged. To be internalized, such training must be continually practiced and rehearsed. Such training is invaluable ... as everyone runs the risk of being exposed to traumatic stress."
       Bell CC, Suggs H. Using sports to strengthen resiliency in children. Training heart. Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am 1998; 7(4): 859-65.

     Heart allows one to PERSEVERE, and by experiencing a sequence of mini triumphs - daily meditation practice, sitting still for the predetermined time, despite urges to do stuff, itchy nose, stiffness, sleepiness, anxiety, boredom, plans, worries, etc, etc, etc one remains like-a-mountain sitting still - one builds internal strength to PERSEVERE, gradually transcending "ordinary unhappiness," finding greater and greater ease, equanimity, joy.

Anne Bastedo   http://www.serenityimages.ca

#347 Training in Equanimity

     "In sitting meditation you can begin to train to be objective with the unpleasant ... It sounds rather like a form of self-mortification or torture - but in the arising of unpleasantness, you can really begin to see objectively that 'This is changing' or 'This hurts; this feels this way.' The little bit of training in a session of sitting practice might only be five minutes and then you move, or it might be thirty minutes and then you move. This effort brings a kind of strength and power into the mind (for later) when you need to be with something unpleasant that is more emotionally powerful. You've intuitively understood how to be with the unpleasant in a way that's not intellectual, but more like a craft. ... It's in your body; it's visceral. ... Your whole body begins to understand ... to be at peace with the unpleasant ... Over time that builds a lovely strength of mind."     Ajahn Viradhammo

a complete unknown   www.dpreview.com

#191 The Battle vs the War

     It's easy to become disheartened by difficulties and obstacles that incessantly block our path. We all fantasize (much more than we realize), especially when trying to achieve some worthy goal, that God, Mother Nature, or "The Force" should walk on ahead of us to sweep away all annoyances and petty hindrances!
     That line of "reasoning" is flawed in many dimensions. First and foremost, difficulties in life spare no one. You are not alone! And the kicker: one's intelligent, conscious interaction with difficulties is precisely what creates a mature evolved person. In fact, truly successful well-rounded people typically have had a surprisingly challenging life - see Kenneth R. Pelletier's remarkable 1994 book: "Sound Mind, Sound Body: A New Model for Lifelong Health." Simon & Schuster.  https://drpelletier.com/
     So sticking it out, be it in a marathon or a job, may be the polar opposite of martyrdom and self-abuse - it may well be exactly what you need to grow as a human being. Accepting the inevitability of loosing many battles along the way helps us win the war - and emerge as an evolved wise person.