Day 5- Right Thinking - Never Know -In between dreams (2005)

Good afternoon, dear one,


Once I read  that much of our thinking is unecessary, they waste our energy and time, can be quite limited and do not carry much undertanding in them.  
Do you agree with this? 

But in a society based on Descartes, thinking means to be who we think we are, "I think therefore I am"! Modern humans are praised by their ingenuity and their creative thinking,  with this imagery, with this representation of thoughful human beings is hard to break free...
without being so excentric or esoteric....
Imagine the intellectuals, they are identified and praised by creating their best metaphors and systems of thinking, representing, perceiving the world around us and its myriad of phenomena..., and them we recognize that some systems only trap us like butterflies caught by scientists nets...


As we have already mentioned in Day 2, mindfulness, being at the present moment, helps us to uncover teh nets and free butterflies, without being trapped by them anymore... are you sure?


Well, exactly for that, there are practices and meditations that helps us to set free our beings from a torrent of thoughts and we can bring back mindfulness, as when we were in our mom's belly. Being there the whole time, warm and secure, mindful presence is the most important thing...

But hard, my friend, I notice, as we need in our daily lives to deal with people, our past actions and with how our future will unfold in front of us.  I am in the middle of this crossroads, trying to be present as much as I can, but dealing with both..., and trying to rest...


As Confucius once said: "At thirty, I was able to stand on my feet. At forty, I had no more doubts. At fifity, I knew the mandate of Earth and Sky. At sixty, I could do what I wanted without going against the path". 
I need to have now right thinking to help me to act accordingly and have no more doubts...., as I am in my 40s...


So here comes again the healing path..

Resting is fundamental, after stopping and calming, resting is precondition for healing.
So here I am resting, thinking the non-thinking..., Right  thinking practice...
the path of dharma of practicing the non-practice... precondition for healing my mind and body.

The book "the Heart of Buddha's teaching" offers four practices to Right Thinking:
1. Asking Are you sure? we never know if our perception is correct, if what we see is the real thing, so more our perception is deviated from reality, more incorrect is our thinking.
So the first thing is to check if we are seeing with Right View - Day 4..., in order to think correctly about things and people.


2. What am I doing? we need to release our thinking about past and future and return to the present moment..., and realize we are here now not somewhere else...

3. Hello habit energy! hello workholism, hello other not so healthy habits that may cause us to suffer again and again..... The recipe is accepting impermanence,  (Day 1) and that we have these patterns of thinking and acting, and not to feel guilty about them, so we loose the power these habits have on us.


4. Bodichitta - cultivate in ourselves understanding and mind of care and love..., so to bring joy and happiness to our daily lives. Ah! What does have to do with Right Thinking...? It is the son-thinking part, I suppose!


Well,  dance with me this meditation on the practice of non-practice of Right thinking..., starting with Never Know....



"Never Know"

I heard this old story before 

Where the people keep on killing for their metaphors 

But don’t leave much up to the imagination 

So I want to give this imagery back 

But I know it just ain’t so easy like that 

So I turn the page and read the story again and again and again

It sure seems the same with a different name 


We’re breaking and rebuilding and we’re growing, always guessing 

  

Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing but confusing 

We’re trying, but where is this all leading? 

We’ll never know 


It all happened so much faster than you can say disaster 

Want to take a time-lapse and look at it backwards 

Find the last word and maybe that’s just the answer that we’re after 

But after all we’re just a bubble in a boiling pot 

Just one breath in a chain of thought 

We’re moments just combusting 

We feel certain but we’ll never, never know 

It sure seems the same, give it a different name 


We’re begging and we’re needing, and we’re trying, and we’re breathing 

  

Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing but confusing 

We’re helping, rebuilding and we’re growing 

Never know 


Knock, knock, coming door to door 

To tell you that their metaphor is better than yours 

And you can either sink or swim and things are looking pretty grim 

If you don’t believe in what they’re spoon-feeding 

It’s got no feeling so I read it again and again and again


It sure seems the same, so many different names 


Our hearts are strong, our heads are weak, we’ll always be competing 


Never knowing 

We’re shocking but we’re nothing 

We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless 

We’re just human, amusing, confusing 

But the truth is all we got are questions 

We’ll never know

Day 4 - Right View - Anything But the Truth (2010)

Good morning,
Today I woke up trying to understand the source of my sadness. I heard the song "Anything but the Truth" and it made me realize that the source of our view, our perception of events, things and people can lead us to suffering.

I am not as upset as yesterday, but I want to have the right view, a deep understanding of this suffering, the making of suffering, ways this suffering can be transformed and which path of transformation to take.

And according to Thich Nhat Hanh, Right view is the first step to knowing the truth behind our sufferings, towards a healing path. At the base of our views are our perceptions, which can fool us if we are not careful. We need to ask us "Am i sure?" And when we perceive something, this is not outside, but inside us, as not apart from our subjectifivity and interdependency.

So Right View means to understand the source of our perception, when we see a mountain what it can represent to us is related to our way of seeing things, that has roots in our store consciousness, where we came from and how we carry with them errors of subjectivity.  We can start making questions like these:

How to See the truth within and beyond our distorted perceptions and from others?

How can we point ourselves to the right direction? How to improve the quality of our view, from viewpoint of the ultimate reality, to the absence of all views?

But while is all conceptual, it is hard to follow with the Right View.

Buddhist teachings say that Right View has the power to free us from suffering, so as the right view blossoms, all the other steps along the way will turn into flowers also. 

My meditation today is on Right View, a journey to undertanding where we come from, where we are going and who we are,  Truth inside.

"Anything But The Truth"

If they tell me that the bees don’t make honey anymore
Then what am I supposed to tell you
And if they tell me that the ocean is tired of its shores
Then tell me what am I supposed to tell you

When I can’t tell you anything
But the truth

When I can’t tell you anything
But the truth
What happens to an eagle’s nest in a storm
How does the mama keep the baby warm
What if the wind is telling us that its time
And what if we’re not ready to fly

I can’t tell you anything
But the truth
Tree tops they touch the ground
In the morning walk with no sound
Hear no birds, hear no planes
Through the mud, feel the clay
Build it up, make it sing
Make it strong, give it wings

But I can’t tell you anything
But the truth

What is this place?
Who am I?
Why did we come here?

What is this place?
Who am I?
Why did we come here?
I don’t know I don’t know
But I don’t know that we’re meant to know
I don’t know I don’t know
But I don’t know that we’re meant to know

Day 3 - Stopping, Calming - The upsetter (2010)

Who has not encountered at least once (and sometimes more than once) situations that make us very upset. So many upsetters we wish we have avoided meeting along the way, suddenly are rolled upon us like a wave of lanslides after a thunderstorm.

So I chose to meditate on the upset feeling and the upsetters, in order to heal my own wounds...
The buddhist path of healing is four fold: stopping, calming, resting and healing. And I need to heal my wounds in order to focus in my life to give it a new fresh start, new insights, to take the right decision and not act under the rage and revolting feelings.

Let's talk about the first two paths, stopping and calming. Inspired on the book "the heart of the Buddha's teaching" by Thich Natch Hanh (1998), and the  song "the Upsetter" by Jack Johnson (2010),
my meditation today is to stop and calm the upsetters.

Stopping our thinking, our habit energies, our strong emotions. How can we stop the state of despair, fear, anger and revolt? According to these inspirations, is through mindful breathing, mindful walking, mindful smiling, and deep looking in order to undertsand. And I had a chance today, after my upsetting meeting with my boss, my husband and I drove to the place where he had to work, and then I sit at a cafe, and stopped for few hours and calmed my thoughts. While I was there, writing notes for today's meditation, a street vendor approached me selling a dust pan made of recycled large paint tins, and I mindfully smiled at him, and talked to him about his recycling work, and he showed me his material and convinced me kindly to buy it, so it would be the first he had sold in the day. I was already breathing very mindfully, and stopping made me realize that our situation are hard, but even though we were there smiling to and at each other because we were engaged in promoting happiness and relieving our suffering in the present moment.
"When we are mindful, touching deeply the present moment, the fruits are always understanding, acceptance, love and desire to relieve suffering and bring joy."

 then after we stop, we shall calm our emotions. The art of breathing in and out, as the repeating line in "the upsetter" song said, can make us solid as a oak tree and flexible like a bamboo tree during stormy conditions. There are five stages of calming our body, heart and mind according to Buddhist's teachings:
1. recognitions. I know that upset feelings are in me.
2. acceptance: do not deny it, accept the presence of upsetters.
3. embrancing: we hold mindfully our upsetters in our two arms, and can calm our anger and revolting feelings and thoughts by breathing in and out.
4. Looking deeply: when we are calm we can understand in a deep level what has brought this supsetting feeling to be.
5. Insight: undertanding the causes and conditions that have brought about our upset feelings, we can have clear insights into the causes of our suffering, and with insight, we know best what to do and what not to do to change the situation.

 I am in the path of beauty... thank you upsetters...
namaste
mahalo



The Upsetter"

Some will say
This place is wrong
These hands are fast
This face is long

Stop upsetting yourself
Upsetting your thoughts
Upsetting this world
That you’re standing on

These plans are torn
These feet are cold
This shield is worn
This peace was stolen

Stop upsetting yourself
Upsetting your thoughts
Upsetting this world
That you’re standing on

These problems they breathe
Their fire is real
The coins that they keep
You cannot steal
Even when you’re asleep
They’ll be here still
Breathing out or in

Some will say this place is gone
These roads are steep and much too long
These plans are cheap my feet are cold
Cut the knot these coins are golden
Some will say this place is gone
These roads are steep and much too long
These plans are cheap my feet are cold
Cut the knot these coins are golden

Stop upsetting yourself
Upsetting your thoughts
Upsetting this world
That you’re standing on

These problems they breathe
Their fire is real
The coins that they keep
You cannot steal
Even when you’re asleep
They’ll be here still
Breathing out or in

Day 2 - Mindfulness - No Other Way - In Between Dreams (2005) video

Here's my meditative interpretation of "no Other way", in Hawaiian dance style. Sorry as we a re trying different cameras! This one was made with iphone.

Day 2 - Mindfulness - No Other Way - In Between Dreams (2005)

Dear reader and supporter, 

have this ever happened to you?  feel like it is difficult to fall asleep when so many thoughts and stimulli fill your mind, making you tense, agitated, tighten muscles and close your jaw. Thinking too much or too hard on things that happened  during the day, sometimes something we saw on TV, a nice thought, something about work, or about house renovation, or parts of a converstion with someone you love,  talking too much to your roommates or companion, or when  trying to have a way out of a inner or outter conflict. This feeling is not relaxing and might take too long to get calm, nor even aware to breath in and out. 
Yes, it does happen frequently when I have loads of stressful demands at work, or a discussion, or a frustration I need to deal with, and also when am planning hard what is going to be next, and feeling electric with new oportunities. Exactly that happend to me last night,  because I was so excited with this new project, I had a hard time falling asleep! My own meditation and enjoyment project is not making me relaxed...., the old trap!


when our minds are back in forth between past and future, new projects turn us on, we fall in the vicious cycle of discussing in some superficial level our life, and sometimes thinking so hard which path to take, which decision to make to be happy.


This agitated inner state can at some point hurts us too, and can bring us even more suffering. So for this reason, or for no other reason, I chose to dance and meditate on "no other way". To keep me in check! mind clear, need to relax, stop grasping, stop inner talking,  stop thinking too hard and understand the source of suffering. Very often and without intention, we start blaming others for our sufferings, our lack of self determination and of midfulness. by relating to past and future we cannot enjoy the present moment we live on. Then, we need someone to hear our complaints, what we want, our desires and wishes, so our mind need to have a sounding board, and our mind plays tricks all the time as we are thrown into inner talking and talking. 

So the meditation today is in mindfulness,  being honest with ourselves that we can not control life and we do not know everything. We have no certain knowledge about the past nor the future to which we are proceeding. Midfulness (smriti) in Buddhist means remember to come back to the present moment, here and now, and feel all that surround us is alive and present. If we are not fully present in ourselves and in our relation to the other, everything will be like a dream. Mindfulnes is also nourishing these people and things with our love, then relieving the other's suffering and looking deeply into the other's eyes and spirit. Soon we are in the mindful state we can shine the light of mindfulness on the object of our attention, at the same time shine the light of mindfulness on ourselves.
There is no other way!!!!
Aloha e.
 



"No Other Way"

When your mind is a mess so is mine I can’t sleep 

Because it hurts when I think when my thoughts aren’t at peace 

With the plans that we make and the chances we take 

They’re not yours they’re not mine 

There are waves that can break 

All the words that we said and the words that we mean 

And the words can fall short, can’t see the unseen 

Because the world is awake so for somebody’s sake 

Now please close your eyes 

Woman, please get some sleep 


Sleep and know that if I knew all of the answers 

I would not hold them from you 

Know all of the things that I know 

Because we told each other there is no other way 


Too much silence can be misleading 

You’re drifting I can hear it in the way that you’re breathing 

We don’t really need to find reason 

Because out the same door that it came well it’s leaving 

It’s leaving 

Leaving like a day that’s done and part of a season 

Resolve is just a concept that’s as dead as the leaves 

But at least we could sleep, it’s all that we need 

When we wake we would find, our minds would be free 

To go to sleep 


Sleep and know that if I knew all of the answers 

I would not hold them from you 

Know all of the things that I know 

Because we told each other there is no other way

Day 1 - Impermance - Times like these - On and On (2003) video

Day 1 - Impermanence - Times like these - On and On (2003)

This song is especially important to me. I used to live in California, doing my PhD, married with my first husband, when Jack Johnson’s "On and On" album were playing on the radios, and I had no idea that Jack Johnson's songs existed yet.  This song is about the dark years during the war in the Middle East, and even though in 2001, I was flying from Miami to San Francisco and set to stay for three days in Oaklahoma during the September eleven  tragic morning, after that day, I tried to continue my life, was too busy doing my research, to pay attention to my surroundings or even buying new American music... but I was back to traditional Hawaiian dance, performing in San Francisco to keep me sane....

Then later in 2007, I was already back in Brazil, and alone after my wedding separation, without my best friends who stayed in the Bay Area or around the world, no kids, and no family around, oh poor me. Then a good friend gave me a copy of Times like These song, I could take some of the North Pacific coast songs with me, and I loved it, it all made sense to me. "Times like these and times like those... what will be will be so it goes..." 

Meditation and teachings today are about accepting impermanence and changes, and what we live in the present moment. 

Accepting that nothing will stay the same, and that we shall stop fighting against those waves of changes,

The combination of gestures of balance we shall have in this choreography of life is about not to be attached to the feelings and emotions, to the events, to people we love or hate, 

Not grasping the desire of keeping things as if they would not change because they will, and we shall try to choose the best way to react to those changes so when we encounter fear, doubt and anger we are calm inside of us. Finding that point of balanced energies, of inner peace, this is the first step. 

We are pulled and pushed by our flow of thoughts, the daily events, and the raise and fall of waves of emotions, although inside we shall remain calm and able to understand that all is samsara, illusion, but real and connected in some level, in some instance to the infinity of life.

The first meditation dance is about impermanence, add acceptance

I will prepare a short video or a set of photographs of this practice,  my gesture of balance for this blog later today.

"Times Like These"

in times like these
in times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes
and it always goes on and on…
and on and on it goes
and there’s always been laughing, crying, birth, and dying
boys and girls with hearts that take and give and break
and heal and grow and recreate and raise and nurture
but then hurt from time to times like these
and times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes
and there will always be stop and go and fast and slow
action, reaction, sticks and stones and broken bones
those for peace and those for war
and god bless these ones not those ones
but these ones made times like these
and times like those
what will be will be
and so it goes
and it always goes on and on…
and on and on it goes
but somehow i know it won’t be the same
somehow i know it’ll never be the same