I watched a program on aging the other day. It was about beauty and how to look younger. I was a bit miffed by it. It didn’t really highlight anything but Botox and facelifts. They talked about unnatural ways to stay and look younger. Whatever happened to a more enlightened discussion about one’s inner beauty and the light that shines from within? I was hoping for a lively discussion of how aging gracefully is better than artificially changing one’s self. Isn’t what’s inside of us more important in the overall scheme of things? In our society, I think not. We look at the wrinkles on the aging faces and sagging body parts, not the beauty of the soul.
We usually do not fall in love with just a face or just a body. We fall in love with the whole person. The same goes for falling out of love as well. How many people have fallen out of love with someone because they were not the person that they thought they were? That doesn’t just refer to them getting wrinkles and loosing their looks. Of course there are those people who fall out of love because their partner is too fat or looks older. But aren’t those people somewhat narcissistic anyway?
Some of the prettiest people are ugly inside. They are so self absorbed that they ignore the rest of us and others in need. Some of these pretty people will spend their last dime for the latest designer wear, but never think once to give to charity. Charity begins where the heart is. Uplifting others is just as important as uplifting ourselves.
Doesn’t real beauty come first from the inside? Of course it does. It comes from what’s inside your heart and the good that you do. Would someone like Princess Diana have been so loved by millions, had she not been the caring person that she was? I wonder. The most beautiful people I can think of were Gandhi and Mother Theresa for their lives of loving, selfless acts. They lifted people’s lives.
A truly beautiful person is more beautiful on the inside than the outside. It doesn’t take a lot for it to be seen. Anyone of us can do it. Through simple acts of kindness and generosity, the beauty inside will radiate out of us. Your inner beauty enhances your outer beauty. I admire the people who use their wealth and celebrity to help others. Nothing says they have to. It is their soul’s direction to better our world.
Good health habits and a life helping to rid the world of poverty, strife and trying to make it cleaner and safer for future generations, are keys to inner beauty. Religious beliefs and spiritual pursuits practiced in a positive manner also uplift. One does not need to be religious however, to help others; one just has to do it with a generous heart. Healthy practices help to beautify us from within. Combine all of these things and we are the embodiment of what aging gracefully and beautifully truly is. Being the best person that we can be is more important, than being the most beautiful.
Smokey Mountain Memories
A Little Slice of Heaven
10.03.2010
10.02.2010
Cleaning Up and Simplifying
I am cleaning my home office right now. At least that’s what I’m supposed to be doing. I'm almost done, but I get spurts of energy and clean for a bit and then sit at my computer or read through the papers I find. I am a recovering chronic saver. I would rip pages from magazines, and save brochures. I have lot of books and other things that you never know when you just might need them. So it’s taking me a lot longer to clean.
This year I am going on a purging binge. It has a lot to do with my meditating and the act of wanting to simplify my life. Meditation clears the cobwebs of your mind. So I felt that it was about time for me to clear the cobwebs of my life too.
I cleaned out my office at work not long ago. It was way overdue for a scale back. I share a tall narrow closet of an office with someone else. Good thing we like each other. We practically sit in each other’s laps. She backs her chair up and I can’t open the drawer on the left side of my desk.
My office mate is something of a hoarder too, so we both had a lot of stuff. I got rid of so much. I was proud of myself. I had to show my closet friend at work, just so I could see her reaction. I had an empty drawer and cabinet ready for the things I had stacked on top of my file cabinet and under my desk. I had an empty desk top for the first time since I started at this company, 4 years ago!
We moved to this space 3 years ago. My office mate was on vacation, so I had to move both of our things. I never had time to find places for everything and get work done too. It didn’t help that I had brought a ton of resource materials with me, that I had collected at my last company. I left a lot of resources for the person taking over my old job too. I am guilty of keeping duplicates. So I gave myself the excuse that I had moved twice in one year.
I must admit I have only cleaned out my home office once or twice every year and then managed to quickly clutter it up again. When we moved here a decade ago, I packed up my old home and took most of the things with us. My husband was responsible for the basement, but never quite got it done. He always had an excuse. He was busy with work. He is the cleaner spouse, the Felix Unger of the relationship, so it wasn’t done because he didn’t have time. It takes him forever just to pack his luggage for a trip. So I tried to pack most of that stuff too.
Since I had very little time off of work to pack and move. I started to throw things in boxes and bring it all over. I started stashing the boxes in the closets and piling things on the floor in this room. We dubbed it my office, but it was really a spare “stuff room”. I can’t call it a junk room, because most of it wasn’t. Then with the chaos of the last year, I never got an opportunity to put things in some order again. So it just got messier.
We Americans tend to collect too much stuff. We are the ultimate consumers. I have become greener and recycle more things. I have adopted some of the yogic philosophy of scaling down possessions. So I am almost appalled at my accumulation of stuff. I was also embarrassed at the piles of things in the room. Thus I am doing the purging of said stuff.
Today I was pulling things out of the other side. I found clothes I haven’t worn in, well I don’t know how long. They will go to goodwill or the Salvation Army for someone who will use them. It feels good to be able to give them to someone who needs them more than me. It’s taking me a long time to go through a lot of it because I am discovering things I haven’t seen in years. Its almost like revisiting the past. I am of course keeping treasured memories, but this time I am able to throw away things I never could before. You know the things you think you might need someday. Often that someday never comes, or you forgot you had it.
I have never cleaned everything out of the closets here before. I have removed some things and vacuumed and dusted around things, but kept putting stuff wherever I could stick it. I had no real system or order. There is a double closet in the room, and it took 2 days to pull everything out, get rid of things and make it more efficient. I put in books, VHS tapes, DVDs and crafty stuff. It’s no longer in plies here and there waiting for something to be done with it. It looks so neat and tidy. I am keeping the door open just to admire it. I know, that’s a little strange, but you should have seen it before. It is so neat now; I just want to be able to look at it. Organization is my new project, and so far I am right on target. I really have grown up.
This year I am going on a purging binge. It has a lot to do with my meditating and the act of wanting to simplify my life. Meditation clears the cobwebs of your mind. So I felt that it was about time for me to clear the cobwebs of my life too.
I cleaned out my office at work not long ago. It was way overdue for a scale back. I share a tall narrow closet of an office with someone else. Good thing we like each other. We practically sit in each other’s laps. She backs her chair up and I can’t open the drawer on the left side of my desk.
My office mate is something of a hoarder too, so we both had a lot of stuff. I got rid of so much. I was proud of myself. I had to show my closet friend at work, just so I could see her reaction. I had an empty drawer and cabinet ready for the things I had stacked on top of my file cabinet and under my desk. I had an empty desk top for the first time since I started at this company, 4 years ago!
We moved to this space 3 years ago. My office mate was on vacation, so I had to move both of our things. I never had time to find places for everything and get work done too. It didn’t help that I had brought a ton of resource materials with me, that I had collected at my last company. I left a lot of resources for the person taking over my old job too. I am guilty of keeping duplicates. So I gave myself the excuse that I had moved twice in one year.
I must admit I have only cleaned out my home office once or twice every year and then managed to quickly clutter it up again. When we moved here a decade ago, I packed up my old home and took most of the things with us. My husband was responsible for the basement, but never quite got it done. He always had an excuse. He was busy with work. He is the cleaner spouse, the Felix Unger of the relationship, so it wasn’t done because he didn’t have time. It takes him forever just to pack his luggage for a trip. So I tried to pack most of that stuff too.
Since I had very little time off of work to pack and move. I started to throw things in boxes and bring it all over. I started stashing the boxes in the closets and piling things on the floor in this room. We dubbed it my office, but it was really a spare “stuff room”. I can’t call it a junk room, because most of it wasn’t. Then with the chaos of the last year, I never got an opportunity to put things in some order again. So it just got messier.
We Americans tend to collect too much stuff. We are the ultimate consumers. I have become greener and recycle more things. I have adopted some of the yogic philosophy of scaling down possessions. So I am almost appalled at my accumulation of stuff. I was also embarrassed at the piles of things in the room. Thus I am doing the purging of said stuff.
Today I was pulling things out of the other side. I found clothes I haven’t worn in, well I don’t know how long. They will go to goodwill or the Salvation Army for someone who will use them. It feels good to be able to give them to someone who needs them more than me. It’s taking me a long time to go through a lot of it because I am discovering things I haven’t seen in years. Its almost like revisiting the past. I am of course keeping treasured memories, but this time I am able to throw away things I never could before. You know the things you think you might need someday. Often that someday never comes, or you forgot you had it.
I have never cleaned everything out of the closets here before. I have removed some things and vacuumed and dusted around things, but kept putting stuff wherever I could stick it. I had no real system or order. There is a double closet in the room, and it took 2 days to pull everything out, get rid of things and make it more efficient. I put in books, VHS tapes, DVDs and crafty stuff. It’s no longer in plies here and there waiting for something to be done with it. It looks so neat and tidy. I am keeping the door open just to admire it. I know, that’s a little strange, but you should have seen it before. It is so neat now; I just want to be able to look at it. Organization is my new project, and so far I am right on target. I really have grown up.
10.01.2010
Sitting in Meditation Practice
As a beginning meditation student you learn how to meditate best for you. Practice it every day. Find a comfortable posture either sitting on the floor or a chair. Do this every time. This will help you to get into a meditative state more quickly and deeply. It will also help your body to recognize that you are about to meditate and help you get into the habit whenever you use the asan (posture) and mudra (hand postures).
Try not to change your asan and mudra. Once you choose what is comfortable to you, stick with it. Otherwise, it may be a little harder to go into your mediation as quickly or as deeply. It may take longer, because your mind will think that you are not in the correct posture.
Practice at the same time every day and in the same place. The best times to mediate are at the break of dawn and at dusk. But any time you are able to is fine.
Make your sitting space a sacred space, which you use only for mediation and nothing else. In other words, no one else should use it; it should be used only for meditation. People should not walk through it or use the space. It only needs to be the size of a large cushion to sit on.
I have a zabuton and zafu (a high foam cushion and a large flat generously stuffed cushion) that I sit on. I keep them in the corner of my living room. They are on a wool rug on the floor and I keep a wool blanket or warm shawl nearby to wrap around myself if needed. The area has some of my favorite pictures in frames on a piece of furniture to make the space my own.
I sit in easy pose, legs crossed on a cushion because I have very tight hip and thigh muscles. Yoga has helped to loosen them up, so I can sit on the floor much easier. But I need the extra height and padding so I can sit for longer period of time. I use the Aum mudra, hands resting on my legs, palms up index finger and thumb touching, the other fingers held open. I cannot bring my feet up onto my legs, but you may be able to. This is the asan and mudra that are most comfortable to me to help me to mediate. Experiment with how you sit and your use of mudra, such as the cup mudra, hands simply laid one on top of the other, palms up in your lap. Settle into the asan that you would like to try and begin your breathing.
When to Meditate
Use a set time or ritual to practice. Meditate daily. Meditate in a particular place, preferably in the same (quiet) place everyday. Meditate at a particular time. Mornings at sunrise or at sunset are best. But anytime is fine, if you aren’t able to practice at these times. Just practice.
Meditate in a particular asan (position). It takes about 2 months before you will notice the positive effect on your mind and it has become a habit.
Where to Meditate
Your small space must become sacred to meditation only. It should be a space with the least amount of foot traffic and be special to you. Make it comfortable. Avoid heavy emotions when in the space.
Bless your space. Imagine a solar sphere radiating a golden white light into the spot and another radiating out into the whole house. Think positive and good thoughts to attract higher vibrations to your meditation space. Make the area beautiful. Place favorite pictures in the area. Use incense if you wish. (Be careful not to burn anything.) Think positive thoughts and send them to your space even when you are at work. Never bring your problems or anger into your space.
Start by breathing slowly and deeply through your nose (if you can). Fill your lungs with air. Pause and slowly exhale all of the air out through your nose or your mouth. Close your eyes and focus on the root of your nose. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Focus on your breathing. Sit for a few minutes at first. You don’t need to meditate for a long time. You need to meditate everyday or almost everyday to benefit from meditation. Try building up to 20 minutes if you can. You will begin to find inner calm and see subtle changes in yourself. Then you will start seeing more clearly and softening your karma. Even 2 minutes of meditation is beneficial.
Try not to change your asan and mudra. Once you choose what is comfortable to you, stick with it. Otherwise, it may be a little harder to go into your mediation as quickly or as deeply. It may take longer, because your mind will think that you are not in the correct posture.
Practice at the same time every day and in the same place. The best times to mediate are at the break of dawn and at dusk. But any time you are able to is fine.
Make your sitting space a sacred space, which you use only for mediation and nothing else. In other words, no one else should use it; it should be used only for meditation. People should not walk through it or use the space. It only needs to be the size of a large cushion to sit on.
I have a zabuton and zafu (a high foam cushion and a large flat generously stuffed cushion) that I sit on. I keep them in the corner of my living room. They are on a wool rug on the floor and I keep a wool blanket or warm shawl nearby to wrap around myself if needed. The area has some of my favorite pictures in frames on a piece of furniture to make the space my own.
I sit in easy pose, legs crossed on a cushion because I have very tight hip and thigh muscles. Yoga has helped to loosen them up, so I can sit on the floor much easier. But I need the extra height and padding so I can sit for longer period of time. I use the Aum mudra, hands resting on my legs, palms up index finger and thumb touching, the other fingers held open. I cannot bring my feet up onto my legs, but you may be able to. This is the asan and mudra that are most comfortable to me to help me to mediate. Experiment with how you sit and your use of mudra, such as the cup mudra, hands simply laid one on top of the other, palms up in your lap. Settle into the asan that you would like to try and begin your breathing.
When to Meditate
Use a set time or ritual to practice. Meditate daily. Meditate in a particular place, preferably in the same (quiet) place everyday. Meditate at a particular time. Mornings at sunrise or at sunset are best. But anytime is fine, if you aren’t able to practice at these times. Just practice.
Meditate in a particular asan (position). It takes about 2 months before you will notice the positive effect on your mind and it has become a habit.
Where to Meditate
Your small space must become sacred to meditation only. It should be a space with the least amount of foot traffic and be special to you. Make it comfortable. Avoid heavy emotions when in the space.
Bless your space. Imagine a solar sphere radiating a golden white light into the spot and another radiating out into the whole house. Think positive and good thoughts to attract higher vibrations to your meditation space. Make the area beautiful. Place favorite pictures in the area. Use incense if you wish. (Be careful not to burn anything.) Think positive thoughts and send them to your space even when you are at work. Never bring your problems or anger into your space.
Start by breathing slowly and deeply through your nose (if you can). Fill your lungs with air. Pause and slowly exhale all of the air out through your nose or your mouth. Close your eyes and focus on the root of your nose. Clear your mind of all thoughts. Focus on your breathing. Sit for a few minutes at first. You don’t need to meditate for a long time. You need to meditate everyday or almost everyday to benefit from meditation. Try building up to 20 minutes if you can. You will begin to find inner calm and see subtle changes in yourself. Then you will start seeing more clearly and softening your karma. Even 2 minutes of meditation is beneficial.
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