Midweek: How Do You Use Your 5 Senses?

Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche, my favorite Daily Dharma speaker, charms me with his infectious grin.  

I love how he says,"troubles" as in, "if you use any of your senses too much or if you use any of your senses too little, you will have troubles." I know what he means, don't you?

His primary message on September 28, 2015:  Practice the middle way. He tells us to:

"Go out in Nature. This will open the gate to see your own Nature. Senses tell us how to recognize one's own mind."

More advice - offered with a straight face: 

"You don't have to lose your mind."

I read that poems by Rilke always contain a pause. "It is within the pause that reflection is achieved, or what we now call mindfulness."*

October will be a time of exploring my senses and practicing mindfulness.

Next exploring the mystery post will be arriving in your inbox on November 4, 2015. Let me know what you are doing with your 5 senses and what happens when you incorporate a pause!

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall


*In the Company of Rilke (2011), Stephanie Dowrick.

Dag Hammarskold's Wisdom & Connection To Mystery

"Never, never, for the sake of peace, deny your own experience."*

I think I remember Hammarskold's book, Markings, on my bookshelves years ago, but I've given up the search. I Googled his name and found he was a Swedish diplomat, economist, and author.

According to Google, he died in a plane crash in 1953, "the most enduring mystery of the United Nations and African history."

I might omit a "never" - or even both "nevers" from Hammarskold's quote because there might be instances where peace would be more important than my experience. Let me know if you can think of one or more. Overall, I think denying experience to keep peace is a dangerous strategy but that may be a discussion for another post.

Another mystery to explore.

Let me know if you think both nevers are necessary! When is it difficult for you to claim your own truth?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall


*Quote by Dag Hammarskold. found on page xiii, The Making Of A Therapist by Louis Cozolino (2004).

Do You Have "Negative Capability"?

Negative Capability?

Do I have it?

Trying to develop more.

Why?

If I had more Negative Capability, I would be less uncomfortable when nose to nose with uncertainty.  

More Negative Capability would mean enjoying the mysteries I explore on this blog without irritable reaching after fact or reason.*

More Negative Capability would mean I could read and enjoy Harry Potter.  J. K. Rowling doesn't tell us where magic comes from.**

When I practice Negative Capability, the image above speaks to me even though I haven't a clue who or what made the dots on the sidewalk.

Do you understand what is meant by Negative Capability? 

I'm feeling my way into a deeper understanding - it is a work in progress. Do you think Negative Capability is important to have?  

Please share your thoughts with me/us by replying to this email or going to blog comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Thanks to Stephanie Dowrick who ponders these issues in her wonderful book, The Company of Rilke (2011)
**Liz Bureman found more enjoyment watching LOST when she practiced Negative Capability and admired J. K. Rowling's ability to use Negative Capability. Found her online.

Simple Words At End Of Week - #173

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. 

Just listen. 

Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.  

Taken from September 18 2015, Companioning the Dying by 

Rachel Naomi Remen

Why Are Path Pictures Popular?

This might be my 68th photograph of this path, a path I've been making friends with since moving to Urbandale in 2008. No, I haven't actually counted the number of path pictures I've received, but they are numerous. Each season needs to be chronicled.  I love the brilliantly colored red and gold leaves in the fall and the abundantly lush green of the summer and the bleak starkness of winter.

Yesterday I asked myself, as I was contemplating yet another photo of this path, (the one you see above), what is so tantalizing about path pictures?

Path pictures are iconic, they remind me that life is a journey. Looking at a path picture, I feel a sense of being in motion. I wonder if looking at a path picture would satisfy movement maven Katy Bowman? She says toss out your furniture and sit on the floor when you come home from walking the path. Move!

Do you like path pictures or photographs? What do they remind you of? Are you tempted to receive path photos on your camera or do you paint or draw paths?

Let me know by replying to this email or going to blog comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

What Is Fearlessness? - #172

Lodro Rinzler is not afraid of anything. At least he's not afraid to title his books provocatively: The Buddha Walks into a Bar & his latest, How To Love Yourself (and Sometimes Other People).

Lodro spoke for the Daily Dharma Gathering, 1-20-2015.

Yes, I know that could qualify as old news since it was ten months ago. Because the talks are initially seen live and the recording is available only for the next 24 hours, this is from my memory and my notes.   

According to my notes, the title of his talk: "Fear and Fearlessness."

It is his definition of Fearlessness that I want to share with you.

Fearlessness is when we look and examine fear.  

This strikes me as profound! When I'm afraid of something, and for the record I'm not afraid of spiders, I do not want to look and examine it. I want to get away from it!

Looking and analyzing and staying with fear seems the only way to know it and then get over it.

Do you agree with this definition of fearlessness? Do you think it would work for you? I will continue to ponder this wisdom.

Email me or go to blog comment section to leave your wisdom.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Image discovered by the very observant person I live with, who told me about it, and when I was too much in a hurry to go out, took the picture for me. By the time I had time, the creation was gone. Moral of story, always make time. 

Mid Week: Is Your Mind Luminous?

The more unified, stable, luminous, and attentive the mind is at this moment, the more profound the experience.*

When entertaining, the more present I was to what was going on, not worrying about what was next or how things looked, or what I'd just offered or what someone else just offered, the more luminous I became.

Are you feeling luminous as the sun disappears sooner every day? What would it take to make you feel luminous? What would you look like if you were luminous? 

I had to look up luminous and was surprised at all the different meanings offered. Look it up and see which meaning makes most sense to you and then let me know!

What do you want to accomplish before you build the first fire of the season?

Let me know by responding to this message or go to the blog comment section.

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Daily Dharma, September 3, 2015,- Andrew Olendzki, "Busy Signal"*

Remember To Accept - # 171

Kate Lila Wheeler* impressed me with her Daily Dharma Talk yesterday using the eponymous title of my blog post. (Note: I'm not sure I'm using eponymous correctly, please advise me if I am not and tell me how to phrase it to indicate that I'm using the same words for my title. I keep seeing eponymous in my reading and wanted to take a stab at using it. We haven't had a new word for awhile. Thank you in advance!)

As you know from previous posts, at my house we have been entertaining out of town guests.  I noticed during these few weeks, when I asked if someone would want, for example, eggs for breakfast, the answer was "sure". Would you like another slice of Life Changing Bread? Would you want to visit the Des Moines Art Center? Almost anything I offered engendered the same answer - "sure".

It felt so good when they accepted my gifts. They trusted what I offered. There was no questioning if it was too much trouble for me. They didn't try and control my offer by suggesting it would be too much work or that they would be happy to do it for themselves.  
They just said "sure"! When they didn't say "sure", they said no. No excuses or apologies. Just no. I was good with that too.

Kate presented a multilayered wisdom filled explanation of what remember to accept meant to her. I wish you could all hear it! I may be referring to it in future posts.

Is it easy for you to "remember to accept"? What makes it hard for you? Do you need to remember to accept? Can you remember to accept the difficult happenings?

Let me know in the comments section or send me an email by replying to this message.

Thank you for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

*Kate Lila Wheeler went to her first Buddhist retreat in 1977, was briefly ordained as a nun in Burma and is supported to teach by Theravadan and Vajrayana mentors. She’s interested in helping others find their own way via a balance of clear method and joyous relaxation. Kate Lila also writes fiction and has edited two books published in English by her Burmese preceptor, Sayadawgyi U Pandita (who is still teaching at 93!). She lives in the Boston area with her husband, anthropologist and fellow writer David Guss. You can find out more about her teaching at her website.

For more of Kate’s work click here: http://katewheeler.com/

Flowers are from our wedding, 2009. The picture just turned up on a flash drive!

Midweek Strange Bedfellows: Anger & Patience

"Patience is an ever present alternative to the mind’s endemic restlessness and impatience. Scratch the surface of impatience and what you will find lying beneath it, subtly or not so subtly, is anger. 

"It’s the strong energy of not wanting things to be the way they are and blaming someone (often yourself) or some thing for it."*

Was I angry when the blueberry stain didn't dissolve from my shirt? Probably, though anger is not something I recognize.  

Kabat-Zinn's statement, that anger lurks below impatience, somehow surprised me even though it seems so obvious once stated.

If I had known that anger was lurking behind my drive to get that darn spot out, I wonder if it would have changed the end result?

I'd like to explore this more but it's late so I will stop for now. There is a feature on the blog that I can update the post.  Maybe I will.

Tell me how you feel about Kabat-Zinn's statement by email or comment section. Do you think anger always is underneath impatience? To be angry that things are not what I expected happens more often than I like to admit. Do you recognize your own anger?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall




*Jon Kabat-Zinn
Source: Wherever You Go There You Are, inward/outward via mail96.atl11.rsgsv.net