Psst! Hey you. Yeah, the good-lookin’ one with that Spiritual Glow about ’em.
Ever seek a second opinion on how to get into heaven? No, I’m not talking about waiting until you’re dead. I mean, right “now.”
Tag Archives: meditate
Warmth flows to where heart’s needed
My heart opens more with a warm cup of coffee in my left hand than my right.
You got that?
Mindfulness practice trashed outside home
It’s early morning. I hear trash trucks outside, up the street in my hometown of Conshohocken, PA, here in the United States. I “like” the sound. It reminds me that we are a civilized people. And, that I got all my trash out the night before, thus joining my neighbors in a semi-weekly ritual to make our lives cleaner, and hopefully better.
Dalai Lama Fulfills My Holiday Wish List
Please See original Story My Xmas Wish List to the Dalai Lama
My three wishes have come true.
Each manifested differently; I didn’t realize all were granted until the end of the day, the time in which I asked for them to come true.
Police nab attention whenever One roams
Saw a police force van and immediately slowed down while driving.
I do it all the time, even if I’m well within the speed limit. Habit, I guess. Always feel that I’ve done something wrong. Guilt seems to rise to the surface whenever I see police.
Home visit will provide internal answers
So many choices. So many books to read, words to digest. How do you know where to begin?
Each claim to have the answer, the “truth.” Each offers an inviting path to follow, a way of life that will lead to where we all want to go home.
Be Humble; Let Love Grow Inside Your Self
“Whenever I interact with someone,
May I view myself as the lowest amongst all,
And, from the very depths of my heart,
Respectfully hold others as superior.”
Snow & Zen Usher in Winter of 2009-2010
A white cap of snow covers the head of the Buddha statue in the side yard of my Conshohocken home. Snow blankets his shoulders, his lap and that part of his robe that crosses his chest from the top left shoulder to the mid-section of the belly on the right. His arms, partial chest and kneecaps remain bare and uncovered by the snow — as if to dramatically challenge the white fluffy stuff to hide the bold charcoal black statue parts beneath.
“Do good, do no harm, still your mind”
A Flower Blooms then Rests in the Buddha
Can I give a flower to a Buddhist?
To show the impermanence of beauty.
My Xmas Wish List to the Dalai Llama
Revised Xmas list:
Your Holiness:
Please grant me three wishes the next time I visit a Buddhist Center:
Think Buddha ever signed new members?
(Part IV, Continued from Life’s Journey)
QUES: What did Buddhist want on ordering a hot dog? ANS: “One with everything.”
QUES: What did he say when asked for any change? ANS: “Change must come from within.”
Life’s Journey leads me to a Tea Ceremony
(Part III, Continued from Meditation lets my energy flow from within)
Never been to a “Tea Ceremony” before. On hearing about it Sunday, I envisioned something out of “Alice in Wonderland,” with the Mad Hatter sipping a cup at a long white table, and the March Hare constantly glancing at his watch — just a bunch of silliness, per an animated movie.
Meditation lets my energy flow from within
Part II, Continued from On road to Peace, I found some “Bhuddies”
How Do I Meditate? Continue reading
On road to Peace, I found some “Bhuddies”
For the first time in my life, I attended a Buddhist gathering knowing that I wanted to learn more about meditation and the teachings about compassion and loving kindness.
Who’s Calling Me This Time? Oh, it’s YOU!
Off to a Tibetan Buddhist Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Did not know there were so many. Buddhist Centers, that is. In the USA.
Light shines from a trunk labeled ‘patience’
I sometimes feel that Patience waits for no man.
Why We Want No More War Anniversaries
War is good for no one.
No one is good for war.
Falcon Reveals World of Mystery & Hope
A falcon flew in to visit me. Four times, he soared from afar, twice through graceful flights of precision flying, and twice as an attack bird zeroing in on its prey.
Listen: “Beloved” Calls to You and Me
The writing below invokes something that pulls me to a Higher Self, perhaps the Highest. And I thirst for more.
The ‘Call and the Echo‘ Calls Out to Me and You
I am calling to you from afar:
Calling to you since the very beginning of days.
Feeling God’s Presence in this Moment
I never saw God in a Santa Claus.
The right brain activates love & awareness
If you view no other video the rest of your meditative life, please see this one about Jill Bolte Taylor.
If you view no other video the rest of your meditative life, please see this one about Jill Bolte Taylor.
Pranic Healing Begets Mighty Meta Care
I hear a young voice behind me. At first, I think it was a boy. Turns out, it’s Mary Kate, a 7-year-old girl. She’s crying. Not loudly, but softly, as if she’s hurting somewhere no one can comfort her.
Meditation prevents brush with the law
Meditation paid off in an unusual dividend today.
It helped me obey traffic signs, thereby avoiding a ticket I would surely have gotten on another day.  Continue reading
Child wins game, plays Sounds from within
I played in doors today.
Needn’t kill your Self to be like Buddha
Wisdom sometimes arises in the middle of a conversation.
Continue reading
Opening Your Self Can Free Most Kids
Opening up oneself can be hazardous to your health.
In the end, “being child-like” curbs aging
I finally did something I thought I would never do:
Look at the end of a book to see the conclusion.
Quantum Physics offered for Christ’s Sake
Quantum Physics is something I can hardly spell, let alone learn more about.
November 22, a day like no other USA day
My 10th-grade mathematics teacher whispers the horrible news: “Somebody shot the president.”
“But, I didn’t ‘intend’ for that to happen!”
Unconditional Love = Warmth, Peace, Joy
The following comments were exchanged with another WordPress Blog Writer about the subject of Attachment which can be seen below by clicking on the blue link.
The Choice is Yours; Inner Peace Awaits
Hate to Choose Things.
So much pressure is self-imposed, you can’t get away from making choices sometimes. Yet I want to decide which of the following has more bearing on my Soul.
Want to choose for me?
Continue reading
Life Lessons Seen In Window Watching
Window gazing often answers some of Life’s Questions.
I look outside, see nature moving, and learn lessons about how to enjoy living in a matter of a few seconds. Let me show you what I digested just now:
Continue reading
Back Repairs Sought to Bolster Life of Back
I “intend” to repair my back. Not “cure” it. Not “fix” it.
Just get it back into working order. No more pains while getting out of bed or putting one leg after another into a pair of pants. That’s all. Make the back serviceable again.
Finally, Light Shines on My Mutiny Quash
I lied to my platoon to prevent a Mutiny from bursting to a head some 40 years ago.
Today, I granted myself forgiveness. I cleansed a wound that never seemed to heal until now.
Finally, Light Shines on My Mutiny Quash
I lied to my platoon to prevent a mutiny from bursting to a head some 40 years ago.
Healing Technique Sparks Family Fall Out
“Unclean spirits!” The words hit me like a ton of bricks. Across my face.
Besides being rejected, I felt lightning had just stuck the ground beneath me. I detected fear and the raising of a drawbridge that would block out all light, no matter where the Source originated.
Thanks for a Path that Preserved my Life
Ever wonder what life would have been like if you made different choices years earlier?
Choosing a Different Path May Have Hurt You
I was 19 when I felt “separated” from most of the people I hung out with and called friends. I wanted to be so much like them; not to care about such things as “love,” “compassion,” other people’s “feelings.” That was “sissy” stuff; stuff that only a “wuss” would think about. I saw these aspects of myself as a “weakness.“
Meditation opens a new path way home
Driving Should Always Be This Much Fun!
I’m talking about my ride home from an “introduction to meditation” class I took at Montgomery County Community College the other night (Southeast Pennsylvania, about 20 miles outside of Philadelphia). Our instructors talked us into a place where I asked two simple questions: “Who Are You?” and “Who Were You?” We took part in an exercise to find our other “Self,” and I met what I have come to describe as a friendly “pathfinder.”
Letting Go to “Let God” for under $19.95
Got inspired by a glimpse of another’s soul the other day and it cost me Nothing.
Nada. Zippo.
Not a Penny.
Acupuncture calms stress, a veteran’s woes
Needles punctured my ears for the first time in my life this week.
Veterans’ Day Offers Acupuncture at WON Institute
Acupuncture was being offered for one free session to veterans on Veterans’ Day, and I appeared at the WON Institute in Glenside, PA, to take advantage of the procedure. The practitioner, Ed Cunningham, was kind, offering me some cheese and crackers as we made small talk and I got ready for the event.
PTSD Raises a Monster Head from a Toilet
Put a straitjacket on me.
Hide me in a padded room.
Get me away from people.
All those I can harm by PTSD.
A new You: there at the ‘Stroke of a Key’
Am I in trouble?
Do I need to hire a lawyer?
Why do crazy things always seem to happen to me?
Continue reading‘Sliding Door’ let’s roads merge right now
Only the Now Exists Right Now!
Was it Gertrude Stein, the early 20th-century poet and writer, who said, ” There was no ‘there’ there?“
Could we not be on a path, but in a circle?
No beginning? No end? Only now!
Continue readingMeditation caps TBI conference in Philly
‘Nothing’s’ Gonna Change My World’
Meditation rewarded me with what Buddhists call “Nothing” at the end of a traumatic day Saturday.
I was at a conference involving brain injuries when I noticed on the day-long schedule that mindfulness meditation would be “discussed” for survivors and their caregivers at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. Unable to talk my loved one into “taking” a “seat,” I went alone, and was surprised to see so many of the newly acquired friends I had just made while attending previous workshops earlier in the day
Continue readingContoveros’ Nysiros photographs well
First photos from Greece appeared on my Blog today. They were photographed from the Aegean Sea port off the tiny volcano island of Nysiros, which boasts all of four small fishing villages.
Birds play in ‘carefree flight’ above me!
A scene from a Hitchcock movie rushed before my eyes as I saw a half dozen birds fly toward me while stuck in traffic this afternoon.
Sparrows Open Themselves for a Wonderful Air Flight
Continue readingTorn between ‘Writing’ and ‘Meditating’
Having more than an hour before getting breakfast, I wondered whether I should write something or seek refuge in a “sitting meditation.”
Continue readingDespite Road Rage, Light Shines on PTSD
Unable to curb my road rage today, I finally grasped a thread of my PTSD and traced it back to its source.
I Wish I Could Use This Action Whenever PTSD Arises
Continue readingWalking Meditation Nearly Takes a Dive
Bumping into the wall and walking to the edge of a swimming pool with eyes firmly shut is not the best way to do a Walking Meditation.
Continue readingHope Floats On Bubbling Spa Waters
Close your eyes, and you might see.
See the weightlessness that your body becomes as you float on the waters of a nearby spa.
Floating can Elevate Peace and Calm
‘One Step Back’ leads to ‘Two Forward’
Advising Another Can be a Learning for You
Ever learn about yourself while giving heartfelt advice to someone else?
My kid served as a mirror this morning, as I discussed why he should not quit on his “tech” teacher at school.
It ain’t easy admitting that you, the parent, may need the same sage advice as the child. Worse yet, is trying to reason with a 17-year-old. They are so smart, they know practically everything to know in this world.
Eating could be my next great challenge
Here’s a Little Food for Thought:
Why is text messaging confined only to a hand-held devise?
Continue reading
Trying to Make Amends for Vietnam War
How do you say you’re sorry to a people whose country you bombed in the name of peace and democracy?
What words can you use after saying that you are personally sorry for the Vietnam War and the mistakes our government made some 40 years ago?
Continue readingEating right can be such sweet sorrow
Life’s Ultimate Prize Goes to Those Aware
I admit it. I cheated.
I rushed to a finish line and cheated myself. I thought I could complete the course as quickly as possible to move on to the next life event. But it took me but a moment to realize my mistake.
I had cheated myself of real improvement, real growth and I now know that the true challenge in life lies in the smallest detail. Continue reading
Safe Place Still No Guard Against PTSD
My Correspondence with a Woman with PTSD
You got it Sweetheart!
PTSD is what this Vietnam War veteran is talking about.
PTSD alert: don’t squander away your life
A Teutonic Plate shifted inside of me.
I felt someone had thrown water at my face, had “hit me upside my head” and looked me dead in the eye demanding my fullest attention. Have I been squandering away my life?
‘Infinite Mercy’ May Set my Teacher Free
My son’s favorite teacher killed herself.
She was depressed, they said, when she took the life of her three-year-old son. Then . . . she committed suicide, leaving a note for her husband and the child’s father.
Meditation Aimed at All PTSD Veterans
Tibetan Book Winds its Way Thru My Life
I got a chill when I saw the word “Tibet” today because it took me back to the late 1960s when I was a newly minted second lieutenant trying to make his way in the US Army. The words that impressed me then, however, had nothing to do with the military. It had everything to do with life. Nearly 40 years later, I see that the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” called out to me, though I may not have known it then. Continue reading
When Is Using God’s Name Blasphemy?
God damn it. I forgot the lead I wanted to write here.
It was on the tip of my tongue (pen, key board key, etc.), and Christ, I lost it.
Continue readingWhen Your Helping Just Isn’t Enough
I offered to help some people today whose car had broken down.
Also learned that offering a helping hand sometimes is not enough.
Music (mantra) melts the mind madness
When I want to (need to?) quiet the chatter inside of me, I play a little music in my head — sort of like a mantra — that becomes a lullaby for the Mind.
Release Me; I Swear I’ll Never Sin Again
Hey. Please get me out of here.
How the hell did I end up here, this empty place where no one can see me, touch me, or, more importantly, hear me?
Why am I locked up, away from the world outside this jar-like existence. Who did I piss off? What was my grievous sin?
Goodbye Love; I’m Off to Find the Wizard
I must go.
And so, I simply say Goodbye.
Can aspiring to be “God-like” be heresy?
I felt so inspired by Robert Terrell’s guest column for Confessions of a Mystic that I penned a response that asks if we can ever become “God like” in our daily lives:
* * * * * * * * *
* On reading Robert’s excellent article, I was reminded of a philosophy espoused by a fellow named Sartre, in a play called “No Exit.” It dealt with life after death and how a man living with two women in one room viewed existence. “Hell. . . ,” the man said. ” . . .is . . . other . . . people . . .“
Continue reading
— Who’s to Blame For War After War? —
I Blame God for War.
I blame the Most Powerful Force in the Universe for not using its Almighty Abilities to stop war dead in its tracks.
“I may be a descendant of someone’s slave”
Discussing the History of Nat Turner
“Ever Hear of Nat Turner?” Sheriff Joe Wilkens asked me.
“Sure,” I said. “He’s a famous black man who led a slave uprising before the Civil War.”
— Why Must This Path Purt So Much? —
Pain: What Good Is It?
Sometimes, it works. But sometimes it tears into my psyche, bringing with it a fear that this discomfort, this thorn will continue to haunt me, raising its head more and more as I feel the aging process more keenly and with it, an unwanted sense of my mortality, my deterioration and the inevitable end that I will someday meet. When the pain increases and I can’t steer my mind away from it, I know deep inside that the end is not so very far away!
“Thank you” for letting me serve, somehow
- Ever get more out of doing something nice for someone than that person ever expected you could possibly get?
Potluck heads bucket list of things to do
Lighting Up With Something New in Life
My favorite store greeter told me she wanted to smoke grass before turning 60.
Why not study art, writing, or some other esoteric topic? I asked.
No, she said, “I have never smoked marijuana before.”
Banner bird brightens boy’s breakfast
A little bird brightened my day today.
The bird recognized me out of more than a hundred people sitting at tables eating breakfast.
I had not noticed until after I had gotten my free breakfast, sat down, and began munching half of a piece of bacon. I chewed and chewed and methodically relished the taste with my eyes closed and my mind “forced“ to stay “in the moment.”
I felt calm and “in tune” as I glanced up, feeling that I had just been watched, was still being observed, being singled out.
Veterans find joy in their own backyards
You can’t know how much pleasure there is in feeding a squirrel until you open yourself to the wonders of nature . . . and of course . . . feed a squirrel . . . daily.
Meditative dining offers food for thought
Mindfullness Practice Helps While Eating
Eating sausage in the morning helps me “Be in the Moment.”
I dine at an IKEA store in Conshohocken, PA, the North American headquarters for the Swedish furniture company. It offers a restaurant serving good food for prices that beat the costs of diners and even fast-food places. (99 cents for scrambled eggs, home fries, and a choice of bacon or sausage. Coffee is free from 9:30 to 10 a.m. with refills.
Contoveros 