The attachment game viewed closely: Question #3 from Byron Katie

Ah, life, ah, habit:

this happens doesn't it?
something doesn't "go our way"
we tell ourselves that it
"should have"

we feel bad

and then,
weirdly, we tell ourselves that again,
and we still feel bad

and then we tell ourselves that
again
and
low and behold (whatever that means)
we feel bad as before

And here's a game,
when we feel bad,
Ask the first two questions
of the thought behind our feeling bad
(#1: Is it true,
#2, Can I absolutely know that this is true?)

And then ask ourselves:
#3: How do I react when I attach to that thought?
I.e. how do I feel, as emotion,
how do I feel, in my body as sensation,
how do I live: what do I avoid, what do I do/do/do
whom do I treat not so well

the consequences
as they are
line them up
write them down

take clarity in seeing:

Thought in/
attachment applied/
results


Another word for attaching to the thought
could be believing it

this is the start of freedom,
perhaps

and to goose up things a little,
and get a jump on Question #4 tomorrow

after lining up the misery ducks
from attaching to the thought

take the 5 second
NO THOUGHT IN THE BEANO
VACATION
that Adyashanti mentions
as the quick and easy way
to discover
who you really are

Good.

Day 18: Earth, air , sky: three brains, all awake at once????

                              

Rain in Northern California. 

Not so humid. 

Colder. 

Equally wonderful as rain in Texas. 

The sky blessing the Earth with water.

If we want to sense our blood, 

we can add water to today's mindful package.

We stand on the Earth, if you are lucky enough to start the day with
bare foot tai chi,
or just happy enough in your body,
and living somewhere where you can sneak
off
those shoes and socks
or sandals and
wiggle your toes on grass, or in sand, or ????

And we stand sit lie on the Earth
or in the gravity field
full time
until we
die
or go into outer
space

So, like yesterday, awaring
gravity
is a good way to "ground" ourselves.



And mid level, our lungs need feeding constantly
air
in,
and we need to let the gunk out
breathe out
whatever our bodies
need to let go of in that air realm.
CO2, and what else?

Sometimes an extra long outbreath
feels so good for us

And awaring our breath
especially in the "frame"
of arms and legs and spine,
makes it pretty clear
about this minor detail:
we are
alive

right

NOW


And then, up high, our heads have eyes, and
the light comes down through the sky,
and we can look up,
if in a room to the ceiling,
if near a window or outside,
how high can we look

And this, earth, air, sky,
gives a nice fullness to
Life on Earth

A nice project for today
perhaps,
staying aware of air
aware of gravity
aware of light and the sky

I feel lengthened just thinking about
and sensing and awaring all three at once

how about you?

mindful day two: a "box" around the breathing in, breathing out delight

 

Breathing in and breathing out is

"close to"

Who we are as living beings

And it is also close to the “Feeling” area of our life
the chest
the ribs
the heart inside the lungs where the breathing takes place
the diaphragm below the lungs, where
lots of emotions hang out

so, a good next step in our mindfulness,
as even now,
we notice our in and out breathing

is to add a “box”
a container
to this middle of ourselves breathing in and breathing out

The box is this:
2 arms
2 legs
our spine

We can at any moment we are awake
“sense” the arms and legs and spine

And let’s start now:
(now always being just the right
time to become more present)

Let’s start with the right leg:
all five toes up to the hip joint
sense all of the leg you can
enjoy how big a part of us this is
enjoy how this foot and toe awareness begins
very much
to “ground” us

Now sense all the fingers of your right hand
now
as you read this
all the fingers of your right hand and then the rest of  your right
arm
all the way to the shoulder

all along
sense the breathing in and breathing out

(“hard?” , oh well, it’s just
our life we are paying more attention to,
with great advantages down the road
when we can cease and desist demands for
attention/ ATTENTION/ attention
from others)

breathing in

breathing out

right toes and leg

right fingers and arm

and add on

left upper arm at the shoulder

all the way down to the five left fingers

And the left leg
from hip joint all the way to the five toes

actually,
that’s enough
let’s leave the spine until tomorrow

try this game today:
ten fingers
ten toes
two arms
two legs
breathing in
breathing out

This is “a lot”

YES!

Life is a lot.

(You can do this when happy, and when sad,

doing nothing

taking a walk, swimming, driving

reading on your computer

even,

and we’ll work on this later:

while talking to someone else,

it’s an open eyed mindfulness
rooting us in the reality of these arms and legs
that reach and touch and move us around
and shake hands and write and hug and open a door
and this

breathing thing
breathing in
breathing out

we are alive

isn’t that a good feeling to be sensing

the aliveness of our bones and fingers and toes and
are breathing?)