April 23, 2022
"Reasons to practice"
[ For other months, see Notes from previous monthly meetings ]
By Pema Chödrön:
5 Reasons to Meditate and
How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with your Mind:We do not meditate in order to be comfortable. In other words, we don’t meditate in order to always, all the time, feel good. I imagine shockwaves are passing through you as you read this, because so many people come to meditation to simply “feel better.” However, the purpose of meditation is not to feel bad, you’ll be glad to know. Rather, meditation gives us the opportunity to have an open, compassionate attentiveness to whatever is going on. The meditative space is like the big sky— spacious, vast enough to accommodate anything that arises.
In meditation, our thoughts and emotions can become like clouds that dwell and pass away. Good and comfortable, pleasing and difficult and painful—all of this comes and goes. So the essence of meditation is training in something that is quite radical and definitely not the habitual pattern of the species: and that is to stay with ourselves no matter what is happening, without putting labels of good and bad, right and wrong, pure and impure, on top of our experience.
If meditation was just about feeling good (and I think all of us secretly hope that is what it’s about), we would often feel like we must be doing it wrong…
As we meditate, we are nurturing five qualities that begin to come forth over the months and years that we practice. You might find it helpful to reconnect with these qualities whenever you ask yourself, “Why am I meditating?”
The “Five Qualities”:
1. Steadfastness: Loyalty to yourself
2. Clear Seeing: Seeing ourselves and our habitual patterns clearly
3. Courage: Courage to “stay with” your experience, even when it’s difficult
4. Attention: Opening to the unknown, flexible to the present moment
5. No Big Deal: Equanimity:
Humanitarian organizations which have Ukrainian aid programs:
World Central Kitchen
UN World Food Program
Global Empowerment Mission
KIND - Kids in Need of Defense
Direct Help for Ukraine
Mercy Corps
International Medical Corps
Save the Children
From CNN: How to Impact Your World