Touching this moment Inside the stove purrs Outside the birds sing Open the window? Close the window? Sister Jina, Moments of Joy Dear Friends, Last week we practiced our awareness of the roots of our Home. Focus on our connection with our ancestors and how their we are their continuation. Inspired by the practice of the first ‘touching the earth’. A man has worked hard to become a doctor, because he sees that has his vocation, his contribution to the world. By doing that, he feels that this is a good continuation of the talents his parents shared with him and he fulfils the expectation of the society. Then something happens. He is touched by something. There is this moment. Doubt rises in him. After a period he decides to give up his job in the hospital and commit himself to a group of people who work for a larger and more active climate consciousness. He is arrested twice. His parents, his friends don’t understand him, but he feels a strong inner conviction that this is part of his way of arriving Home. What touched him? There was this moment. A conversation, a newsitem, a book, a walk through the forest. He recognizes his roots but he takes another exit, another direction. A moment can be a strong teacher. Wake up an insight. Open our eyes. As a light beam on one of our strong habit patterns. This seemingly self-explanatory walks into your Home and wakes you up. Allowing that, with awareness, freshness, to open up is: Arriving in the here and now, Home. The presence of this moment. There were two of this moments this week. I was working on my computer and made a mistake. I couldn’t undo this mistake. The strongest annoyance was that someone else was bothered by it. After a few hours I suddenly could see that it was possible to release this guilt and that was a relieve. I can trust there will be a solution. That one moment of insight made it possible for me to react with more compassion to the other mistakes that followed during this week. A strong mind-habit pattern lost is strength.
The second awakening moment was the reading of the poem above. I felt deeply touched, this encounter between outside, the world of acting, beauty and inside, the world of thoughts, feelings, insights, wandering away and returning home. An immediate connecting with breathing in, breathing out. The source is the collection of poems ‘Moments of Joy’ written by Sister Jina, one of the Dharma teachers of plum Village. Of course, for you there are other moments. De next practice ‘touching the earth’ is directed to your spiritual family, your teachers. I invite you to join me to practice touching and honoring a great spiritual teacher: this moment. Practicing to be present in the here and now. To encounter whatever is there. A way to do this is take a few minutes time before you go to sleep, looking back on the day: can you connect with the moments that were teachers on your path this day? A practice in awareness: touching the moment. I wish you a relaxing weekend with wonderfull moments Joost Vriens |
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