My Mindful Loving Presence is

     "Handle even a single leaf of green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha. This in turn allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf."           Dogen Zenji (1200 - 1253)

ianp5a   www.dpreview.com

Unconditional Love - Needing, Recognizing, Radiating

     It seems that our true core nature is unconditional love - we feel completely at home when we radiate unconditional love. We seem to need nothing more than being just that. 
     Most of us, most of the time, are not aware of who / what we are - so much so, that we crave that which we already are: unconditional love. We fervently search for "love in all the wrong places": money, sex, power, fame, prestige, respect, ritual, dogma, cults, drugs, gambling, gangs ... 
     Our heart-mind gradually awakens to reality, gradually lets go of childish - yet very sticky - things, and finds the joy of coming home (never really having left) to simply being unconditional love.

     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/04/321-fear-of-change-loss-of-security.html
     and: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/03/vow-to-keep-your-heart-open-no-matter.html

RP McMurphy   www.dpreview.com

Don't Know Mind, Have No Opinions, See Things as They Are

     “Thinking we know costs us all we don’t know – which is nearly everything. Knowing is a veneer our minds create and lay over the landscape like a painter’s drop cloth set upon a forest floor. Its uniformity protects us from the pine needles and beetles, but it also obscures them, as well as the soft moss, fragrant soil, and teeming complexity of nature’s bed. Our knowing is nearly always tinged by the filter of our conditioned outlook, and what we see as ‘true’ is determined by our expectations, preconceptions, hopes, and fears. In short, the things that define the self stand between our awareness and our environment as such. In moments, however, we catch glints and feel the breezes of something more direct, something outside that self system. It may just be a clearer view of a mountain range … or it may be something with a strong impact on our lives.
     We can meet this world immediately, but … we sacrifice security.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

     Our sense of "being certain": http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/03/crisis-of-faith-limits-of-intellect.html

Tim A2   www.dpreview.com

 

Patience Opens Doors

     “I knew I was not in control, and time and again I was called to surrender to that truth. I was able to model patience and nonattachment and thus encourage it in others. This was an unexpected gift of trusting emergence: patience opens doors that effort finds frozen shut.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

naturen-ar-fantastisk.blogspot.com

Accepting the Numinous Seething Sea of Change

     “Trust Emergence. With this instruction we are invited into the numinous but observable impermanence of all experience.
     To trust is to make the leap of faith required to enter this seething sea of change. Emergence refers to the process by which the complex things we experience arise spontaneously from underlying contributing factors.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

maxeythecat   www.dpreview.com

Acceptance, Stability, Resting in the Flow

     "Accepting is to the mind what relaxing is to the body. It is how the mind relaxes.

     The mind that can accept is more stable than a mind that grasps or pushes away; it can rest in the flow of ever-changing experience.”
 
       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

Usmcgriff   www.dpreview.com

 

We are NOT our Stories

     “the nature of the mind is to create and believe it’s own stories.”

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

JimPearce   www.dpreview.com

Approaching & Staying With vs Avoidance

     “Relaxing, we do not turn away from the tension and conditioning. When we stay with them, it becomes possible to apprehend the silence that underlies reactivity. 
     … when stillness meets reactivity, unbinding occurs. The karmic pattern that generated the reaction is interrupted, cut off from its source. Unfed, the energy drains out of the reaction. In the brain … the neural networks of stress defuse.”
 
       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

João Carlos Nascimento   www.dpreview.com

Trust Emergence, Basic Sanity and Goodness Is

     "I can fly higher than an eagle,
     'cause you are the wind beneath my wings."        Bette Midler

     Regular contact with people who understand and embody the concept of "basic goodness" is remarkably important. Their energy is truly uplifting. One's capacity to "trust in emergence" is nurtured and nurturing.

     One of Kabat-Zinn's 7 basic qualities or attitudes of Mindfulness is Trust: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2012/04/119-trust-quality-5.html

Big sky at Dorje Denma Ling April 21, 2013   http://dorjedenmaling.org/

Cultivating a Calm Mind for Times of Stress

     “Stress fosters reactivity and interferes with mindfulness. Conversely, the intentional cultivation of a calm mind and body will incline one toward careful responses to others and mindfulness of the present experience. We grow in our ability to recall the serenity suggested by the meditation guidelines at critical moments in our lives; as we do so, we become more able to stay present with anyone. When we are tranquil in our relationships, we will be happier, healthier, and more empathic. When the heart is calm, reactive habits soften and lose their power.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

KerryBE   www.dpreview.com

Middle Way to Concentration - Less Striving, More Wisdom

     “The eighth factor of the path, samadhi, is one of the Buddha’s most misunderstood teachings. Concentration is often taken to imply a volitional placement of the mind upon an object, a tightly focused state of mind. Many teachers and practices are influenced by this view. In fact, the Buddha taught that the mind is concentrated – naturally united and settled – when it is happy and calm. He said:

     For one who is joyful, there is no need for an act of will: ‘May my body be serene!’ It is a natural law that the body will be serene for one who is joyful.

     For one of serene body, there is no need for an act of will: ‘May I feel happiness!’ It is a natural law that one who is serene will feel happiness.

     For one who is happy, there is no need for an act of will: ‘May my mind be concentrated!’ It is a natural law for one who is happy that the mind be concentrated.

     For one who is concentrated, there is no need for an act of will: ‘May I know and see things as they really are!’ It is a natural law for one with a concentrated [calm and unified] mind to know and see things as they really are.

     This teaching points toward the ease and calm inherent in samadhi.”

 
        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

 

Ronen Golan   www.dpreview.com

Trust Emergence - Don't allow Fear to interfere with Riding the Moment

     “The key to change … is to let go of fear.”            Rosanne Cash

      “It took years of development and a whole new cosmology for people to accept the insights of Galileo, Newton, and others – to really take in the idea that the Earth is not the center of the universe. Similarly, the idea that ‘I’ am not the center of the universe demands an equally challenging – even troubling – paradigm shift. 
     These are not easy shifts to make. A shift in meaning scheme transforms how we see the world and therefore affects everything we do.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

João Carlos Nascimento   www.dpreview.com

Direct Apprehension of Stress & Freedom

     “No intellectual experience can replace the direct apprehension of stress and freedom. Grounded in this insight, practice is oriented toward releasing rather than feeding hungers.”

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/04/313-being-stressed-out-is-optional.html

RemcoR   www.dpreview.com

Insight Dialogue - Guidelines for Kinder, more Mindful way of Relating

Pause

Relax

Open

Trust Emergence

Listen Deeply

Speak the Truth

     "These 6 instructions provide the scaffolding for Insight Dialogue. … essential support for awakening amid the rich challenges of interpersonal encounter. Each guideline calls forth different qualities, and all of them are complementary. In brief,  

Pause calls forth mindfulness; 

Relax, tranquility and acceptance; 

Open, relational availability and spaciousness; 

Trust Emergence, flexibility and letting go; 

Listen Deeply, receptivity and attunement; and 

Speak the Truth, integrity and care."

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

Insight Dialogue retreats: http://metta.org/insight-dialogue-3/

Sarah Nich   www.dpreview.com

 

Interdependent Universe - One Body - One Love - Group Meditation

     “Quakers and others use the word corporate to refer to the mutual dimension of interpersonal practice – invoking an image of an interdependent whole almost like an organism or body. Independent experience is acknowledged and valued, but the challenges and benefits of mutual practice are paramount. In addition to myriad forms of mutual support, interpersonal practice offers the opportunity to tap the widely recognized, if difficult to explain, power inherent in group meditation. Interpersonal spiritual practices include interactive group meditation, collective contemplative practices, and moral action with and in relationship to others.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

     See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/2012/12/health-harmony-meaning-navajo-wisdom.html
     and: http://www.johnlovas.com/2012/02/wisdom-everywhere.html

 

Relationships as Reality Checks, Projections, Transferances

     “ ‘I’ve come to see my relations with others as an indicator of whether or not I am at peace within. When I am with others, I can’t hide so easily behind my own distractions; they are mirrored back to me in a feeling of distance. When I am at peace inside, I naturally feel close to others.’
     … sharing or creating a joint present moment, (allows us to) glimpse a reality beyond the me-you, subject-object split.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007. 

     “We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”      Anais Nin 

Rolf_S   www.dpreview.com

 

Loving Awareness our Core Nature

     “Love is the spontaneous response of the nonaversive heart … awareness is inherently loving.”

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

Car629   www.dpreview.com

Only Keep the Heart Open Continuously

     When the heart is open, it's not closed. A powerful object of meditation is steadily monitoring the feel of the heart area: is it open, relaxed, warm? If not, it has closed due to self-centered fear. Let go - each microsecond - a fresh opportunity to exercise the heart-re-opening muscles - endlessly tirelessly gently keep returning to open-heartedly embrace whatever the present moment holds.

     “each moment of interpersonal contact is infused with both selfish and altruistic desire – with hunger and with love. … whenever my hungers diminished, love and compassion appeared. … love and hunger are intermingled … Since both are usually present, whenever one is attenuated, the other becomes more prominent. Imagine a jar of muddy water – if you let it settle and then remove the silt, what remains is clear. It is that simple: when hungers diminish, love remains.”     Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

     One word to remember - "OPEN"

     See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/10/choose-now-fresh-or-stale.html 

"We are so lightly here" - Leonard Cohen

Stillness, Freedom & Goodness of the Unseeking Heart

     “the Buddha spoke only of fading, relinquishment, and cessation; he did not say there is anything to get. There is no mention of attainment, accomplishment, or self-improvement. In these most basic teachings, there is no mention of nirvana there is only the cessation of hunger. The only attainment is that of letting go, of the stillness of the unseeking heart. While each hunger has a different manifestation and feeling tone, the happiness and compassion of freedom have one taste. And whether or not one believes freedom is possible, each step in the direction of less hunger brings goodness in the very moment that step is taken.”

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

blosshappeter   www.dpreview.com

Freedom, Self-clinging, Self-cherishing, Self-centeredness

“freedom visits us each time the mind relaxes out of self-sustaining tensions.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

LutzM   www.dpreview.com

Open Mind-Heart, Openness Everywhere ...

     “The open mind, just knowing, is not caught. It is receptive and non-clinging. Our self-concerns are not so total and compelling. As self-concern quietly drifts away, opening becomes more complete. Complete internal opening unfastens the portal within to the unconscious, the ground of being, silence, and love. Complete external opening is universal extension and what some may call contact with the divine. In full completion there is no boundary between these two. The mind is wide like the sea. The particulars of experience are empty of substance; they are known as change itself. When the subject-object split disappears, looking outward and looking inward are the same. All phenomena share the quality of openness – the heart has opened fully outward and encompassed the inner; the heart has opened fully inward and encompassed the universe. The only boundary was the sense of self, which we find is an illusion, a by-product of stress. Eliminate the illusion and there is only being, ‘experiencing experience’ … All that remains is the purring engine of presence, which is awareness itself.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

Pause, Relax, Momentum, Life Narrative, Habit of Tensions

     “When we Pause, we step out of reaction and into the moment; when we Relax, we meet thoughts and feelings with acceptance. Accepting is to the mind what relaxing is to the body. It is how the mind relaxes. Having awakened to this moment’s experience, we rest in a quality of awareness that is accepting, yielding, nonresistive, and available. 
     Such acceptance is an inherent quality of mindfulness; it has only been obscured by the habit of tensions. Awareness that is relaxed and stable can know the present moment intimately, neither grasping nor backing away.”

       Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.

Rewards, Congruence, Energy, Choosing Meditative Equipoise

     The energy associated with ordinary striving ("doing") to obtain transient (mainly external) rewards has an addictive pull, yet at the same time, an unsatisfying, shallow, cheap (fast-food-like) quality to it. By default, we fall forward into this energetically, in our heads so to speak.
     Congruence has a qualitatively different energy. There's no addictiveness, no pull (stillness), it's entirely satisfying, and has a deep, precious, timeless, at-home "being" quality. By choice, we can always lean back into this energetically (in our head-space) - 'the backward step' - as if we were in sitting meditation, yet this fully includes active life, with mind-heart kept open, radiating warmth, in meditative equipoise.
    

Photo Sonia   www.dpreview.com

Trust Emergence, Wisdom of Not Knowing, Curiosity

“As you let go of plans,
you are perched on the edge of possibility.
Let the reminder to Trust Emergence arouse curiosity.
What is happening now?
Feel the truth of contingency
and let it pull you out of any comfortable certainty.
Attune to the unfolding moment
and let your mind become nonresistive and pliable;
let it move with experience.
You can’t predict what someone will say,
what will happen tomorrow.
So you are waiting, relaxed with expectancy.
Dwell in the moment lightly, with patience.
If the mind wants to run ahead, to figure things out,
Remind yourself of the unpredictability of things.
Let all plans fall away.
Ride the moment.
Locate the wisdom in not knowing.
This leaves you open to anything, and not fearing change.
Trust Emergence.”

        Kramer G. “Insight dialogue. The interpersonal path to freedom.” Shambhala, Boston, 2007.