📖 Day 10 Cookbook Discussion Prompt - TIME & SPACE

[Emily_Shiell]

Yes! I love that story so much

[Kathryn_Erbe]

This morning I woke from a very deep sleep feeling off balance. Time felt like an enemy. I was grateful to stand at my kitchen counter with my anxiety rising and focus on my breath and the feeling of the ground beneath my feet. I came back to here and now.This stabilized me enough to have the clear thought to go sit in proper meditation. Later at breakfast with my partner I found myself able to stay in a conversation and be present listening with care and compassion on a topic I had trouble relating to.I was even open about not relating! I am not always able to do this and it felt like growth.Actually given how discombobulated I felt when I woke up it felt miraculous! What a relief to be doing this work. Before I started meditating I would read Ram Dass and Pema Chodron and not know how to “get there from here”. I am starting to understand and it is a great gift!

[Angela_Catalano]

I actually had a really powerful meditation with “just be” today. Right at the end of the meditation, when the bell rings, I felt that I wasn’t ready to finish meditation so I stayed. I then started feeling everything going on in my body very intensely, and still noticed thoughts coming and going but was not identified with them at all, just watching them. I also felt my body slightly moving back and forth with my heart beat, it was really interesting. I felt very fresh after this, it reminded me why I love meditation.

[Angela_Catalano]

I loved reading this story you shared, Kathryn

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

Love this! I think we can all relate to the grumbling. Such great relief when we can notice and just let it be! Thank you for sharing!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

This reminds me of that prompt “watch your thoughts like watching leaves float down a river!” Thank you for the reminder!!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Emily_Shiell

I find it easy to be in the here and now when I am painting or drawing or knitting. Hours go by and I don’t notice at all.

Flow state! The best. Ram Dass has a classic story where he is talking about these expanded states of consciousness - really “far out stuff” and an older woman in the front row is sitting and nodding. After the lecture he asks her, “how do you know about this stuff?” And her answer was “I crochet.”

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Gail_Rastorfer

In 2005 I was hit with debilitating insomnia. I would go for days without sleeping. I was told to meditate but my mind AND my body was to “electrified.” So I began with guided meditations with binaural tones that would change my brainwaves. It was not immediate but life altering nonetheless.

Wow! What a powerful experience. Yes, we all need different ways in and binaural beats and guided meditations are so wonderful!! Thank you so much for sharing this experience.

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Louisa_Flynn

or now, I am at peace with my coastal storms, and the breath anchors me, for sure, as I watch everything come and go.

I find the idea of ‘identifying with the sky’; of accepting and allowing it all to be there, just as it is, just as I am - to be a truly healing practice.

I love this! The Ram Dass story of the picture of a blue sky with storm clouds, but the frame only allows us to see the clouds. and when we put it in just a bit bigger frame we can see the blue sky behind it. Sounds like exactly what you are doing!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Kate_Sarfaty

intentional about how I spend my time each day. I will count each lapse as one of the thousand times that brings me closer to the truth.

YES!!! The practice of coming back IS the practice!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Zac_Townsend

Or the worry that it i

Totally resonate with this!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Zac_Townsend

That self compassion is so important.

The key for so many of us I think!!!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Travis_Barker

My habits are firmly entrenched. And the world can be a bit harsh. Many opportunities to reinforce these habits. In principle, practicing mindfulness and stillness ‘on the cushion’ provides me more mental spaciousness (buffer) between trigger-thought-reaction when ‘off the cushion’. I suppose, always ‘on the cushion’ in my mind wherever I am. Not gettting caught up in internal or external judgments. It is…a process.

Yes. So well said. Thank you!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Travis_Barker

What practice is. What the dharma is. What being a good ‘x’ is. Our role in society, the family, career, etc.

Yes. I think this is why the self compassion that Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Pema Chodron (and all the others) is such a key part of the practice.
Thank you for sharing. So helpful.

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

[quote=“Honor_Tuohy, post:16, topic:979”]
‘Future tripping’…
[

@Honor_Tuohy

‘Future tripping’… the phrase sounds like it might be fun, but yes, usually it has an agonising edge to it.

I’m gonna steal that phrase though! Love it!

LOL!!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Harmony_Joy_Groth

I have found when I let go of worrying about what things are not; this helps me to actually be more present and enjoy people, places, and things for what they are. Being here and now helps me to also be more grateful. It also helps me to be more mindful and aware of how I am feeling as well as how others are feeling. It also helps me to be calmer versus being overwhelmed. Something that I have to often do, especially within my profession as a bartender, is if I start to get overwhelmed by there being alto of people coming in at once, I remind myself I can only do one thing at a time, and this helps me to be present in each task. I also try to remind myself to be thankful that I have a lot of customers). When I find myself getting overwhelmed, I remind myself to breathe and also say the phrase I am human. This helps me to remember to also give me grace when I am not in the “here and now”.

Yes. I can feel it in these words! Thank you for the helpful reminders. I know I need them all of the time!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Pete_D

When it seems that I am living in the present, I usually feel that I am connected to everyone and everything. Its such a warm, calm and loving feeling. I also have a feeling of confidence in myself and that everything will be alright, no matter what happens. There’s also a feeling of compassion for myself and everyone in the universe, and I treat myself and others so much better.
When my mind wanders into the past or future, I seem to lose all of that good stuff. So its really nice when I’m able to get back to the present. It has helped me have a better relationship with that brain of mine, which I don’t take as seriously as I used to.

Yes! This is it! This is why we do it! And hearing it, and remembering it, definitely makes me want to practice it as much as humanly possible!!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Kathryn_Erbe

This morning I woke from a very deep sleep feeling off balance. Time felt like an enemy. I was grateful to stand at my kitchen counter with my anxiety rising and focus on my breath and the feeling of the ground beneath my feet. I came back to here and now.This stabilized me enough to have the clear thought to go sit in proper meditation. Later at breakfast with my partner I found myself able to stay in a conversation and be present listening with care and compassion on a topic I had trouble relating to.I was even open about not relating! I am not always able to do this and it felt like growth.Actually given how discombobulated I felt when I woke up it felt miraculous! What a relief to be doing this work. Before I started meditating I would read Ram Dass and Pema Chodron and not know how to “get there from here”. I am starting to understand and it is a great gift!

A powerful example of it happening in real time. THANK YOU for sharing this!!!

[Jacquelyn_LSRF]

@Angela_Catalano

I actually had a really powerful meditation with “just be” today. Right at the end of the meditation, when the bell rings, I felt that I wasn’t ready to finish meditation so I stayed. I then started feeling everything going on in my body very intensely, and still noticed thoughts coming and going but was not identified with them at all, just watching them. I also felt my body slightly moving back and forth with my heart beat, it was really interesting. I felt very fresh after this, it reminded me why I love meditation.

Yes. Another great real time example! Thank you Angela for sharing!!

[Lisa_Lupa]

When I get into the here and now, the things that bother me or bring me down fall away and I can experience the peace of the moment.