Ah, bliss! It’s so wonderful to welcome your visit. You return when I least expect you, embracing me and bringing peace and calm just when I still myself and end needless thoughts.
Are any thoughts actually needed when I go within? I need but seek a quiet moment with no thought save the intent to be free of the past and the future, thus ensuring I will rest “in the now.” It’s not based on my part alone. I find that I need the inspiration that others give me. You, who give your love so easily by opening your heart, unafraid of any consequences, allowing me to touch your soul and be one with you. Yes, I become one with you when the truth from the Source touches me as I hoped it would while writing from the depths of my inner being. It is then that I feel the kinship, the brotherhood with men and women alike.
I seep into your arms, feeling the comfort you offer. It is palpable, this feeling that arises. It is like a warm, fully-lined coat, puffed up with weather-protected soft materials wrapped around me. I feel totally protected. Like a baby in a car seat with padding upon padding to ward off any harm.
I approach this level of consciousness by remaining perfectly still, freezing my body and then my mind. I sit with my eyes closed, taking in the sounds of a pet bird, motorists driving outside my home, and the ticking of a nearby clock.
It’s as close to heaven as I could ever imagine one could reach. I have no wants and no desires. I simply “am.”
Uh oh. I feel a slight pain in one leg I crossed over the other. Do I dare try to relieve this suffering by breaking the stillness? Can I remain in this state by easing my leg into a more comfortable position?
There, my leg is straightened out. I send my concentrated awareness to that part of the body that signaled the discomfort. I feel a warmth spread over that area. It is soothing. It blends in with the focus I still keep in this moment. I am still “in the moment.” My peaceful calm has not been destroyed, but simply adjusted. I need not fear slow, methodical actions to curtail my new, higher level of consciousness.
Should I experiment? Open my eyes and try to do something mundane? Ok, Michael, pay the bill. You can’t get any more mundane than that. You’re writing the check, placing it in an envelope. You’ve just used the left hemisphere of your brain, now let’s scoot back to the right side. There, you have it. Peace and calm are still here. You worked mindfully, just like the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, said you would.
Someone now asks you a question. You answer from what feels like a different world inside of you. You answer a second and third questions, undisturbed and completely surprised that you can continue your feelings of love and happiness despite a break in your “meditative” posture. No, you don’t need to keep your eyes closed or to stay seated on a mat to be mindfully engaged with the world.
You just have to do it. Do these actions mindfully.
If you could only sell it to the world, we’d all live in peace and harmony. Hell, why don’t you just give it away freely?
Offer it here for the taking.
Contoveros 
It’s such a relief when I settle into that quiet stillness…such a relief. (btw I show up as PocketPerspecitves when I leave comments, but I’m also a part of Reflections from a Friend, http://reflectionsfromafriend.wordpress.com/ , written with a friend who is a Buddhist monk and who nurtures and encourages me in meditating and life. Thank you for your post…
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Kathy,
I bow to you with hands clasped together and across my chest.
Buddhist practice is cool, particularly when you can have fun humbling your “self” in greeting another who shares your love and compassion.
I wish I could do this all the time, that is, assume this meditative posture once I get off the mat and “go into” the World. I need to practice it, and I need people with whom I can practice with.
I think I might be able to do that with pocketperspectives.wordpress.com now that you’ve introduced yourself here. My karma has ripened, I believe, for me to take action at both of your homes, http://reflectionsfromafriend.wordpress.com/, and I look forward to visiting you. I also feel enriched in having made your acquaintance.
michael j
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real manure says:
Greetings! Happy to be sharing mindfulness with you and everyone here.
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As Mr Spock said in his greeting to friends: “Live long and prosper!”
May you live for thousands of kalpas, my dear Livvy.
But, do I really have to your refer to you as “real manure” when what you offer is the farthest thing from the bull crap I see on a lot of other blogs?
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I accept. And I noticed that your email notice of this post came at 11:11 a.m. To me, that time is certainly a reminder to return to the moment. I’ve just been reminded doubly. Can’t get much better than that.
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“This Magic Moment” was sung by both the Drifters and Jay & the Americans and I like to think it was written by some monk in a cave after meditating for 20 years and coming up with the way to discover enlightenment. Treat every moment as “this magic moment.”
But, you’re too young to remember music from the 60s, Amy, Here is a U-Tube version from Ben E King and his friends:
michael j
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Oops. Make that Jay & the Americans.
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When I first started meditating, I’d balk at the idea it might take YEARS before I “got good at it.” Oh wow, remembering there is no judgment, just what is, but still! They weren’t a kidding!
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I read one of your articles, Tana, and it stayed with me as I meditated and “felt” your words sinking in. The next thing I knew, I’m writing this post from a really good place that I’d love to return to on a regular basis. Thanks for giving your self so that others might live a little wiser and freer.
Ya’ll come back now, hear!
michael j
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The feeling and experience is mutual, Michael. Much thanks to you and your readers!
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