» Metta http://www.brendamiller.org/blog Wed, 18 May 2011 20:09:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 en hourly 1 Meditation Class: Week 5 http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/2010/02/meditation-class-week-five/ http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/2010/02/meditation-class-week-five/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:00:27 +0000 Brenda http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/?p=126 This week I was more astonished than ever before by the power and determination of my mind to keep me from showing up in the present moment –moment by moment.   Part of me has deep respect for this determination, and wishes that I could exhibit similar conscientiousness to other activities in my life –like exercising, or writing.  Another part of me wants to know when I’m going to get my mind under control so we can get some real mindfulness going.  And still another part of me interjects with the conversation to remember not to judge myself about how my thoughts can easily whisk me away from my focus of attention, and that’s normal, natural, and to be expected.

I’m still waiting for the practice to become more appealing.  I’m being diligent, and hopeful. 

 Tonight will be the last class in this series.  I’m leaving for Mexico tomorrow, and will be gone for eleven days.  I probably won’t post again until I return. That’s okay, though.  I’ll tell you then how the last night of class was, how I made out with practicing while on vacation, and what’s next for me regarding meditation.

]]> http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/2010/02/meditation-class-week-five/feed/ 0 Meditation Class: Week 4 http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/2010/02/meditation-class-week-4/ http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/2010/02/meditation-class-week-4/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:00:53 +0000 Brenda http://www.brendamiller.org/blog/?p=92 Metta, or Loving-kindness meditation was introduced into our practice last Monday. It’s about developing compassion, which is meant to bring balance to being mindful (aware). During my half hour of practice each day there’s no doubt that the time I spend with the Metta is my favorite.  I like it because my mind gets to focus on words that have meaning instead of me just focusing on the rise and fall of my belly. Also, there’s the fact that compassion is a quality of life that brings me more in touch with my humanity and the humanness of others; I have room for more of that, for sure.

The best thing I can say about the rest of my practice time is that I’m able to relax, observe, and allow; these are the three parts of the intention I set each day before I begin.  The allow part is my greatest accomplishment to date.  I no longer beat myself up for not meditating right, or yap about how ineffective I think I‘m being.

As of now, I don’t look forward to meditating for any reason other than it’s on my checklist as something I’ve committed to, and it must be done. The good news is I have less doubt than before that a time will come when I look forward to meditation for the insight and peace it brings me.

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