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    “Compassion Course” (NVC)

    ByElizabeth

    Those of you who talk to me more regularly have heard me mention that I’ve been taking a modest on-line course in non-violent communication.  The course basically offers mindfulness and communication skills for more compassionate communication with oneself and others.  Though much I’d heard before, I found the course well constructed and accessible.  I found the weekly emails, even when I did not feel moved to complete the suggested exercises in writing for myself, served as a regular call for mindful speaking and reacting at a time in my work life (and in my life as an engaged citizen) when I can use all the reminders I can get.

    I’m repeating the course, which starts in June 2015. For those of you who may be interested, here’s the link:  http://compassioncourse.org/

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    Where There Used to Be a Tree, Now There’s a Puddle

    ByElizabeth

    There used to be more trees at the plaza in front of Eastern Market. When a couple died in the drought, instead of replanting, they removed the old tree and bricked in the space. Now there’s a puddle that evaporates instead of going into the ground and nourishing a tree in the city. Sure is a pretty puddle though.

    Do you have any paved spaces under your control that could be transformed from a place of run-off into a space for plant life?

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    The Exquisiteness of Order (Winter Theme)

    ByElizabeth

    By order, I mean how things are arranged in space or time.  Even chaos theory presumes order in that sense.  On and off the mat, there is a certain order to things that is optimal.  We do not plant seeds and then till the soil.  Or think of the difference between peeling and chopping vegetables and then cooking them or cooking them and then peeling and chopping them.  One or the other is not necessarily wrong if you do not have a specific dish in mind, but which you choose will dictate the results. Once you have gotten started in the sequence, though, the path shifts and is partly set.  To reach an exquisite rather than a disgusting result, the next steps are ordered by the initial choice.

    If only one musician is playing a single note, then there is no possibility of discordance.  Add more musicians and more notes and who plays what notes when can mean cacophony, a catchy tune, or an extraordinary and ecstatic work of art.  None of us are alone and none of us are playing just a single note, so in the great fabric of our being, it is best to understand how to make music.

    Sequencing on the mat is more subtle than what poses should be done in what order in a particular practice to emphasize backbends v. forward bends and twists to be able to do the strongest poses with the least possibility of injury, as important as that is.  The order in which we apply the Anusara principles not only aligns the physical body, but brings symmetry to the physical and energetic bodies, helping us to feel more in harmony in everything we do on and off the mat.  I am, in this, a decent musician and not Bach, but the more I pay attention to the optimal sequence of things (keeping in mind that over most things we have no control as to when, whether, and how they happen) and the more I learn and appreciate the exquisiteness of order, the more I feel, understand, and experience the subtleties and joys of harmony.

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    Krishnamurti’s Daily Thought

    ByElizabeth

    Three or four weeks ago, I came out of my morning meditation thinking about the teachings of Krishnamurti.  (I read a lot of Krishnamurti when I was in high school, so his teachings have influenced me with varying degrees of subtlety).  Two or three days later, I was “spammed” with Krishnamurti’s Daily Thought.  Someone, apparently somewhere in Europe, somehow got access to an email list to which I subscribe.  As I had just been thinking about Krishnamurti, though, instead of hitting “unsubscribe,” I read the thought for the day.  I’ve been reading it since, and I am exploring how much my readings in high school have been part of my foundational thinking.

    When I was volunteering at the Lantern yesterday, one of the other volunteers called and reminded me that there were books put aside for me.  It is not my habit to put books aside, and I had no recollection of so doing, so I was curious to discover the books were there.  One of the two books was a slightly water damaged paperback of Krishnamurti On Right Livelihood.  The universal energies are obviously suggesting I examine this early influence.  I am contemplating what the following question means for me in today’s current context of multiple wars, a deep recession, and burgeoning environmental degradation:

    Is it not necessary for each one to know for himself what is the right means of livelihood?  If we are avaricious, envious, seeking power, then our means of livelihood will correspond to our inward demands and so produce a world of competition, ruthlessness, oppression, ultimately ending in war. Krishnamurti, Ojai, July 1944

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