BLOG CLOSED

BLOG CLOSED

Mindful living is about keeping things simple.

As of December 30, 2014 we are closing this blog and redirecting you to 
the Red Maple Mindful Living blog at
http://redmaplecentre.blogspot.ca/

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne                   

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST - CYM 2014-3

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

This past week we concluded the most recent Change Your Mind group, the most comprehensive and popular mindfulness program in Renfrew County. This was the third group this year, and probably the 30th such group since we began back in 2003. That means 250-300 people who have embraced mindful living. It sounds trite, but remains true - every group is unique. Large and small, intimate and cautious, studious and flamboyant - we’ve seen them all. It only goes to prove that anyone can do these practices, there is no “type” who is most appropriate for mindful living.

Similarly, every group has had a co-facilitator, and each has brought their own style. This group’s co-facilitator, Joanne M., who herself finished a group this year, brought her own gentle and thoughtful presence each week. Like all her predecessors she provided a wonderful counterpoint to my own leadership.

It seems fitting to wrap up the group at year end, since this will be the last group to work within the CYM 2.0 framework which was introduced 3 years and almost 10 groups ago. That version was a major upgrade and brought in so much of what sets CYM aside as a unique mindful living program. It has been the one I have worked hardest on and the one I have presented at international conferences to great interest. Nevertheless, participants have advised that we scale it back and make it “leaner”. This will generate the next version, CYM 3.0 which will debut in two separate locations next April.

I thank all the CYMers from this group and Joanne for providing such a rich and valuable learning and growing experience for us all.

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne   

ENDINGS AND CHANGE

ENDINGS AND CHANGE

So often in the cultivation of our attention, we are encouraged to “let go” of whatever experience is arising in our awareness, so that we may stay focused on the flow of experiences. This may seem more or less difficult, given the allure of familiar, comforting or pleasant experiences and their opposite. We are reminded this week of two larger contexts for our letting go. The most obvious for most of us is the conclusion of 2014, and the conclusion of our training year, here at RMML. This has been one of our most change-intense years, one where conclusions and letting go has been more evident than any other.

On a smaller scale, and one which only a few of us experienced, was the conclusion of the third Change Your Mind program at the Community Health Center in Cobden. Like the other two groups this year, this group has dedicated many long hours of study and practice to complete the requirements of the program. The group held its all-day program this past weekend. Most of the program was in the familiar environment of the Marguerite Center, where we have held these day-long events for eight years. Approximately 20 groups and 200 people have experienced the program and this retreat experience. What it marks is the turning point in the program, a reorientation to continuing life through mindful living without the benefit of a formal weekly training. As with every other group, this one also experienced the bittersweet recognition of its accomplishment and its conclusion.

May all of the members of the Change Your Mind group, and may all of us involved with Red Maple grow in mindful living.

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne

APPROACHING THE THRESHOLD

APPROACHING THE THRESHOLD
When we use a labyrinth for a mindfulness exercise, we recall that, after we attain the centre and head back to the starting point, we will approach that same threshold we crossed when we set off. It is very apparent, in that moment, that the threshold, when experienced from this way is actually changed. Re-entry is not the same as setting off. Invariably we are changed by the labyrinth and return with a possible resolution to our setting off predicament or, at least, a resolution of patience to bear with it longer.

Our theme this month is “looking back”, especially re-visioning our experience of 2014 through the lenses of momentum, resources and intentions. As we approach the threshold which is New Year’s Eve, we are encouraged to reconsider what momentum brought us here and will continue to influence us in 2015. A new year is never a clean slate. Unlike the Chinese custom of paying off all debts before the new year to clear the books, as it were, we may tidy up select but hardly all loose ends. However, there is momentum that brought us here and that will not cease when we turn the calendar page. 

Approaching the threshold undoubtedly marks a transition in our journey. It is also crucial that we both look back and forward to locate ourselves in the trajectory of our lives - the momentum which brought us here and will carry us forward. With that knowledge we can create our intentions, the ones which will set a direction for us within that momentum. That, in turn, will suggest actions which will populate the days and months ahead.

Yours, on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne

PRISON MINDFULNESS

PRISON MINDFULNESS

We recently watched the Dhamma Brothers video again as part of the Change Your Mind program (probably my 15th time). The film always seems fresh to me and I do find something new in it each viewing. What struck me this time was the many examples of incredible courage demonstrated by so many involved in the project.
•    The psychologist who dared to bring something he heard about in a prison in India to a backwater prison in Georgia.
•    The warden who struggled with his doubts and gave the idea a chance
•    The New England vipassana team who dared come into the hostile environment of the prison
•    The guards who gave it a chance
•    And, of course, the collection of murderers and general misfit-outcasts who dared bare themselves in a 10-day meditation retreat.
Any of these could have scuttled the whole adventure, but didn’t. They saw something there and wanted something else for prisoners than “doing the time”. As someone put it in the film they saw the difference between punishment and rehabilitation.
I wonder if anyone in our own Canadian Department of Corrections has ever looked at this.

Some people are taking it seriously. Check out:
http://www.prisonmindfulness.org/
                           
If you’re curious about the movie or the story, here’s their website:
http://www.dhammabrothers.com/

 


On Another Topic,
If you are interested in learning the 10 Form Tai Chi set we have begun on Saturday mornings, here is a beautiful performance by the spectacular Chinese tai chi practitioner, Gao Jiamin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4Z4sQNQtJM

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne                   

       
                   
   

           

GIVING THANKS

GIVING THANKS
In our classes we dedicate some of the class-time to practices of metta (compassion) and gratitude. This can feel abstract, like something nice to do but with no sense of real-life application, so its good to see the benefits in practical terms. I just finished two wonderful books over the past week. One was Matt Algeo’s delightful Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport; the other was Tony Horsfall’s Mentoring for Spiritual Growth: Sharing the Journey of Faith, a book that rescued me from some real doldrums in my own situation.
I don’t often do this but was inspired by my wife’s example, and I decided to write the two authors and express my appreciation. As an author, I know how it feels to put your work out there and not be sure whether anyone gives a damn. I wanted these two writers to know they touched me.
Not too surprisingly both of them wrote back within a few days and acknowledged the remarks. These weren’t form letters as in “Dear Reader” either but were very personal replies that left me feeling exactly that personal connection we strive for in mentoring that Horsfall describes.
It would have been easy to think these were two writers off somewhere doing what they get paid to do and they don’t need to hear from me. That may be true (although for these two I doubt that). As we learn in our classes the expression of gratitude or compassion is more than a gift to another. It requires a solid state of awareness in us, an understanding of our interdependence with others in our lives, even those distant and unknown. Whether it’s the silent acknowledgment of completing a naikan reflection or sending a thank-you note, acts of kindness or compassion begin with our willingness to accept being contributed to without a feeling of pay-back.

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne   

WHEN SHOULD WE PRACTICE?

       WHEN SHOULD WE PRACTICE?
The standard definition of mindfulness is that it is paying attention in a deliberate and disciplined way. It is presented as the opposite of what is referred to as squirrel mind or monkey mind, where attention is apparently random, undirected and impulsive. This is a fine image and captures the chaos we often experience in our mind’s activity.
 
We should, however, be careful that we don’t promote the practices of mindfulness as something outside of ordinary life. We humans are not only capable of attention but we pay attention to an unending collection of objects, thoughts, emotions and assorted experiences all through our daily lives. Just because we are not seated or engaged in some formal practice environment does not mean we are not being mindful.
 
Mindful living means bringing that purposeful, intention-driven condition of body and mind to whatever we are doing. Formal practice, such as we do at RMML, is not the exclusive location of mindfulness. The only reason we should bother with a formal practice is to further deepen and cultivate our capacities. Its common to see meditators associated with mountain-top monks or people in a monastic retreat environment. It is true that these situations promote a more formal practice, very few of us will expect to operate in such settings. We live where we are and it is here that we must be mindful.

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne               

PARA-WHAT

PARA-WHAT
At the AIM group session last night we were exploring some new ideas I have been working with. I began by proposing we need to move beyond an exclusively skill-based approach in learning and practicing mindfulness. I proposed that what we have called the PARA skills (purpose, attention, resilience and activity), while potent and crucial, are incomplete in the cultivation of mindful living. We need to include two other elements. The first is compassion, which includes loving kindness, what we have called the Four Immeasurables (compassion, loving kindness, equanimity and sympathetic joy). The second has to do with expressing one’s mindfulness practice in purposeful action, especially in a context bigger than oneself, such as one’s community.
We were playing with creating a catchphrase which would represent that, something based on letters, beginning with p-a-r-a.
I have been using “parachutes” as that phrase. I proposed this represents Purpose, Attention, Resilence, Activity, Compassionate Heart, and “used-to-end-suffering”. It also has some wonderful imagery about floating to ground. Some other variations for the last letters were CH could be “community” and “heart of compassion”. For the UTES, we came up with “undertaking the empowerment of self/society” or “using to enable self and society”.
We also wondered if some other word, beginning with PARA might work better. Although we liked the similar imagery of “para-sol” , we laughed at being stuck with what “s-o-l” usually represents.
Here are some other possible candidates. Any comments?

• PARAdox
• PARAgon
• PARAkeet
• PARAdigm
• PARAsite
• PARAlyze
• PARAnoia
• PARAllel
• PARAlegal
• PARAbola
• PARAgraph
• PARAplegic

Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne

REMEMBERING I

REMEMBERING I

Our theme for this month of November is remembrance. Everyone knows that on the 11th we remember all those who have perished in various military events over the past century. This is but one kind of remembering. Our reflections will open up that topic. We will, of course, honour that national remembrance of the 11th and not diminish in any way. But we will use the rest of the month to consider other lights who have dimmed and extinguished.
The autumn is a good time to do this because we are observing the passing of another year, the fading of growth in the changing colours, the cooling air, the shortening daylight. We are, in a sense, fortunate to have such a vivid example of theses changes. I recall commenting to friends in an equatorial country I visited that they missed the drama of our passing seasons. They explained that they too marked changes, only in a subtler way with certain flowers and certain fruits.
Remembrance resonates for us in two distinct ways as mindful living practitioners. On the one hand we can use this time to recall those who have contributed to our lives in past months or years. To pause and acknowledge how we have been changed by our association with them, by their presence in our lives.  This may be a parent or sibling, an uncle or grandparent, a colleague or a beloved animal companion. It is appropriate that we take some time to remember these beings and express our gratitude in some way.
Much more broadly, we remember as a practice in itself. The essence of mindfulness as a practice is observing ourselves and remembering the patterns and habits which we have experienced. We do this to provide a foundation for new understanding or to establish a reference point for some new action.
                   
Yours , on purpose,                           
Ray
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
                                   Robert Byrne                   
       
                   
   

           

SIMPLICITY AND PURPOSE

SIMPLICITY AND PURPOSE
I was cleaning out a bookshelf last week and found a photocopied article from a book titled Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism (Hill and Badiner, 2002). The article is by Duane Elgin and called Voluntary Simplicity. As I read the article, which I hadn’t looked at for probably a decade, I was struck by how it articulated many of the understandings I have been coming to in this past year. As we begin our association with the Red Maple Mindful Living Centre partners, It seemed a good place to set off from.

Elgin writes:
At the heart of the simple life is an emphasis on harmonious and purposeful living ... (which ) ... integrates both inner and outer aspects of life into an organic and purposeful whole

For Elgin, simplicity is not voluntary poverty. He is not suggesting we all become monks or nuns. Poverty, he distinguishes from simplicity as involuntary, and a condition which robs us of both material security but also psychological or emotional stability. Current research tells us that people who live in persistent poverty experience a sub-standard physical and emotional health as well as a stunted intellectual development. Simplicity, in contrast is a choice we make to organize our lives around other priorities than material acquisition, fame, social influence or other external standards. When we live simply, we establish a place of balance between our inner and outer lives, where purpose is similarly grounded in emotional, social and spiritual awareness.
                           

Yours, on purpose,                           
Ray                               
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
Robert Byrne

BMINDFUL AND THE RED MAPLE CENTRE

This is an exciting time for mindful living in the Valley!
Starting October 1, 2014, this blog will keep you in touch with BMINDFUL Mindful Living at the new Red Maple Mindful Living Centre in Pembroke. 
We are now associated with the Centre's other 2 partners, Padakun Whole Person Walking and the Red Maple Buddhist Sangha, and are delighted to be beginning a new era of mindful living in our region.
Have a look at our blogs and be sure to check out our new practice Calendar. Join us soon for one of our weekly or monthly events.

mindfully,
Ray

MINDFUL DOCTORING

Great article on the use of mindfulness by an MD in Ottawa.

View here: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Physicians+healing+themselves+through+meditation/6482206/story.html

CYCLING THOUGHTS CARTOON

This is borrowed from an article called Your Dog as Teacher