This is our 32nd week of On-Line Meditation. To begin a quote from a great meditation teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh….
“As long as mindfulness is present, you will not drown in your fear. In fact, you begin transforming it the very moment you give birth to awareness in yourself.”
Take a look at the zoom offerings available from the Carmelite Centre, i.e. thecarmelitecentremelbourne.org as there may very well be something of interest for you there.
Tonight’s Reflection…
In this year when many of our dreams have been blown apart how do we keep walking forward, what sustains us, how do we hold on to our sense of what is whole and true?
All of us have experienced losses in 2020, travel, work opportunities, income, and connections with those we love. Some are large losses; some relatively small and then there is the collective loss, the loss shared by everyone irrespective of our age, gender and status in life, a loss that adds to the general landscape of all those many other losses in our life.
We know we have certain resources that sustain us; finding one another, being in community with others and not feeling so alone and of course meditation and/ or contemplative living.
We practice meditation in order to cultivate a sense of agency, to have space in the midst of our losses, to gain strength from our values and what we really care about, and to find support in our inner strength and in one another.
In times of loss meditation is hard. It’s during these moments that we learn to let go so that each time we meditate we start over always with some compassion for ourselves, never judging. And if we have fallen down each time we start over we do a little course direction by picking ourselves up and starting again.
Accepting our losses, even in meditation, is a gift.
And now let us meditate in the fashion that we are accustomed to.
You might like to dedicate your meditation to those that are affected by Covid-19 virus either through illness, bereavement or unemployment or some special intention of your own.
(Meditate for up to 20 minutes.)
As we go about our daily activities I hope that by being in the present, by remaining mindful we will find joy in the midst of the losses brought about during this pandemic. Peter