Kind Awareness. “A Path Back Home to Your Heart.”
In this episode, Joe gently leads listeners through a mindfulness meditation, encouraging them to bring their awareness to the present moment and to cultivate kindness towards themselves and others. Drawing from personal experiences and insights, Joe shares wisdom on navigating the inner dialogue, finding peace amidst life's challenges, and uncovering the innate qualities of the heart.
"Kind Awareness: A Path Back Home to Your Heart" is a heartfelt invitation to reconnect with the essence of who we are and to tap into the boundless reservoir of kindness and compassion within. It is a reminder that healing begins from within and that with gentle awareness and loving presence, we can navigate life's challenges with grace and authenticity.
A transcript of this podcast can be found below.
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Kind Awareness.“A Path Back Home to Your Heart.”
[00:00:00] Welcome to the hella meditated podcast with Joe Clements.
Eyes open if you'd like,
whether your eyes are open or closed,
just noticing what's present. What are we coming into group with tonight?
The busyness of the day,
busyness of the mind, possibly matching the busyness, the energy of the body,
just noticing without judgment,
then shifting that awareness once again to this body resting. You made it. You've arrived.
What does that feel like in the body? Feet on the floor,
taking this moment to just notice. The sound, temperature, temperature on your skin,
and right here, in the middle of each moment, is this lifelong friend, the breath, just waiting, greeting you.
No need to change the way you're breathing, just noticing this breath.
You've arrived, you've made it. We'll
just end with a few breaths together, invite you
to bring your awareness to where you feel the breath coming in, maybe the tip of the nose. Top of the lip on a three, we'll breathe in through the nose and then just let a long, slow exhale out the swan. 3, 1, 2, 3 in
another one, slowly in really fill up the whole body.
And again, breathing in, holding it at the top just for a second, just for a moment. And on the out breath, make some sound. Uhhhhhh. Nice. And then just let the breath breathe all on its own. Checking in with the feet, the seat, the sounds.
Whenever you're ready.
Feeling into the body. If you need to move your awareness back into the room. Looking around.
Really good to see everybody.
So I think I told you last week that, uh, trying on this hybrid thing, zoom, not really live, but, uh, kind of live, I invited a couple of people. So there's one or two people maybe on here. So I just want to welcome them.
Right. I want to hear from you. What, what are you bringing in tonight? What's coming or what are you coming in here with? What's like the flavor of the mind,
home, hope, love it.
Yeah, for sure. It's the only thing we can count on. Yeah, okay. Yeah, meeting it. Accountability. Somebody said that? Yeah, okay, back there.
Busyness.
[00:05:00] Relief. Cool. May you greet all of it. You know, for myself, it's like, I don't know if it was the best idea. Uh, double dip in therapy today.
I have my own therapy, like on Thursdays every other week, which is fine. And then we're doing this family therapy. And it was just like, that was at five and it was like, Oh my God, what the fuck, whose feelings did I hurt? Did I hurt? It's all good though. It's beautiful.
You know, and, and the topic I've been thinking about and it's been on my mind is, you know, working with the inner dialogue and just ways to. What we've been talking about is, is ways to meet ourself back here to what is not changing our experience, but changing our relationship to experience. And that, for me, it has a lot to do with the internal dialogue and a lot, anybody else, would you hang out with the person that talked to you like your mind does sometimes?
Yeah, so
Sharon Salzberg, I just want to start with, you know, a couple of, a couple of things. One thing that inspired me is her book, Loving Kindness, she writes, this is the truth. This is the truth. We contact a sense of unity beyond suffering. It is always present, we merely need to be able to access it.
Knowing this truth through direct experience, we enjoy a profound change in our sense of ourselves, the world, and of life itself.
So what I hear in that is that, this uncovering process, right? It's a lot of deconstructing these ideas, these beliefs about ourselves. Simple practice of just bringing. What is real in the moment because my mind comes insane stories of what I think Was perceived by other people, you know, this proliferation of thoughts and then I feel it and it's just like I'm spiraling, you know, so I'm constantly checking and well, what is real?
What are the facts right now? Fact is I feel my feet on the floor, feel this breath, look around, hear the sounds. Okay. And there's an emotion here. I care. There's something deeper than just what I, that person thinks of me or whatever. That's what I deal with. Most of the time. So it's, you know, I'm on it from a different word as for orienting to what is.
You know, and that's why in the beginning here, we come in to this group with a lot of like busyness of the day. Okay. And now we're at a meditation group. We're going to meditate. You know? And it's like, the mind's like, no, you're not. You've got a lot of things to plan. Think about, remember. It's like, uh, and the more we try, the louder it gets.
So when I invite us to arrive and just look around, feel our feet on the ground, take a few breaths, anybody know a shift just for a moment? Anybody notice that? Okay. Yeah. Telling it. It's this. So this focus, awareness, mindfulness is just awareness, shifting our focus, awareness of what's real right now.
What's happening right now. There's thoughts, there's emotions. Sure. But we're stuck there. So we bring our focus to what else is here. Our awareness. Follows and sends information. It's okay. Look around. Okay. Okay. You know, so the awareness, the mind and the brain, you know, and we can start that nervous system will relax a little bit.
It's a really simple fucking practice, but it's so hard, you know, that's why we call it a practice. It's a retraining the mind and not to get better at something or to get something, right? It's just like what Sharon's talking about. It's right here. It's all right here. It's waiting for us.
And I love when, when, um, friends share
[00:10:00] stuff with me, community. Do you mind if I shared a little bit of what we spoke to a little bit? Yeah. Is that okay? No. Right in front of you. Yeah. I forget your name. Yeah. Yeah. Alicia. Yeah. Yeah. Is okay. You know, and I can relate to much where it's like, you know, we have a practice and we get to get this flow and all of a sudden we, life happens and we're not in that flow anymore.
We're not practicing anymore. Wondering why. And then all of a sudden, you know, something inspires me checking into the practice and then you come back home. And it's like, Oh yeah. So it never goes away. It's doesn't go away. Even when you fall off the path a little bit, it's always here, you know? So in a sense, there's no turning back.
It's always right here. And that's the beautiful thing about it. But it takes nurturing, it takes time, it takes patience, it takes a little bit of effort.
You know, and coming back to that inner dialogue kind of thing and, you know, part of, um, and you find it in these spiritual practices a lot of, uh, gratitude practices. In, uh, Buddhist tradition it's, uh, metta, or there's love and kindness practices. Compassion practices, which I used to be really adverse to.
I thought it was like a bypass or like, tell me to be grateful. I'm not grateful. Why do we always got to talk about being grateful?
So you don't feel it, right, but even that practice, it doesn't, we don't need to feel it in the beginning. It's okay not to feel it, but it's also okay just to shift the awareness is shifting the awareness to something that brings you joy, maybe, and just notice what that feels like just for a moment. Just so you remember, remember that we do experience joy too.
Because we get really stuck in the suck of experience, you know. So this,
this kind awareness, we call it loving kindness, loving kindness, meta practice. I don't need to share too much of why I was averse to it. I don't know, I just had this image of who I was and what I thought of, gooey stuff like that. But I was, I was desperate enough to try anything because I was waking up with some really horrible thoughts in the beginning of my practice, you know?
So the kind awareness, I like saying kind awareness, you know? Because love is a big word, right? I don't feel like we need to love our experience. Eventually, if you can, cool. Is that one locked? If you, uh, just open that door a little bit. We
don't need to love our experience, but we can learn not to hate it, right? And just by shifting the awareness just for a moment. You know, so I would say these metaphrases, love and kindness, may I be at ease. May I be at peace, may I be happy, over and
at first I thought I was too pretty or it was too like, you know, I wasn't really into that, like what am I talking to, you know, or another thought was, uh, you know, these affirmations, well I don't feel any of these things, but what I think is important is it's not a demand, so, but, yeah, for me it was a request, even if I don't feel that, may I, And may I continue to do what needs to be done to cultivate more ease in my life.
So I started with these phrases and I kind of made my own adaptation of them. And you can too.
It's
with all these practices,
it's not like it's a formula, right? It's just a part of us that just will kick in when we're feeling that. Cause it's like we said, it's always
[00:15:00] here. And the more we do it, the more it becomes an intuitive knowing it's here.
We enjoy a profound change, sense of ourselves, the world and life itself. I've experienced that through experience. That's the only way we can, you know, learn this, no matter what I say. I'm saying these words to hopefully inspire. You know, that's it. I wish I had the formula for y'all, the solution, but there is some intuitive solutions here to meet the suffering, the suffering caused by pain.
The pain is inevitable. If we're going to experience pain, the suffering around pain is optional. But again, with all these practices, another thing that was the gratitude and the love and kindness or Brahma Viharas is the heart practices. Is this not a bypass the way we feel either? It's a way that we can hold the way we feel with a little bit more kindness, you know, cause we deserve it.
I know I deserve it. There's a part of me that really knows I deserve to meet this part of me with some kindness, some compassion. But there's a part of me too that's like, oh, no, dude, figure it out. You blew it. Fix it. Or this is too much. Hide. Escape. So it's this internal battle a lot of times. Right? So which part of this dialogue are we really buying into?
What are we believing?
So these, this metta practice or gratitude practice, not a bypass. We don't live there, you know, I, for me, I feel like this whole practice of mindfulness in general is, again, being with our experience as it is, and giving tools to have buoyancy when we feel like we're sinking, or an anchor, stability when we're floating away, and just to be with, and be with with some kindness and compassion.
Some joy and balance. These are the chambers of the heart, right? These heart, like even think of it, of like there's four chambers in the heart and there's these four Brahma Biharas is these heart practice of kind, passion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. So just kindness, compassion, joy, balance. And the cool thing, I think, you know, with, I think most spiritual practices are pointing to this Implicitly or explicitly or some, some, I think trying too much to create an experience, my own opinion.
But what I like about the Buddhism is that just by showing up, just by bringing your awareness to your direct experience is a radical act of kindness. And you're instantly just by coming here or just the thought, um, come to, or I'm going to get on the cushion. I'm just going to check in with myself.
That's a radical shift. Yeah. That's an act of kindness. It's a radical act of kindness, giving yourself awareness. So if nothing else, you're already doing it.
Same with compassion by sitting in your experience, sitting in these chairs or the cushion. Just sitting. This could be uncomfortable. We're sitting with it though. Sitting with the pain. What's our relationship to it? Not dismissing it. And not bearing down either, noticing when to move, it's okay. That's compassion, not fixing or figuring anything out, listening, holding, being with.
Like a compassionate friend, listening to your woes without giving you a bunch of like, you know what you should do?
Yeah. Anyway, and then we can start seeing, we can start shifting our awareness to that. There is joy. There is happiness that is here. There's gratitude that naturally arises. We can then start, Oh yeah, kind of just blossoms up. And you know, the, I think these last two, a little bit, there's a little bit of shifting our awareness to, and I think this is where the, even the [00:20:00] saying, these phrases, Yeah.
Meta phrases or any kind of phrases kind of can shift us that way a little bit.
You know? 'cause the balance and the joy is fleeting. So we keep, we keep using the word too. Good enough word for now
to the kindness that is here. The compassion is here, the joy and the balance that is right here.
So just by showing up, you get it, you know. But
the practice is, tonight is what we're, the practice is the, the meta love and kindness kind of awareness. of noticing where, you know, that we experience kindness, like a loved one or someone, you know, that, that, uh, truly cares for your wellbeing. Maybe you're thinking of someone right now,
even if they're like, I always think, I always think of, you know, my kid or my wife.
But just like in therapy, we're in therapy, so it's challenging, right? It's not perfect,
but we think of that and we can send kind of well, we're capable of love, capable of sending someone kindness,
rippling it out and thinking of people that support us in our practice, if you're in recovery, people support us in our recovery. Self discovery, you know, and
the mind keeps coming up with distractions, but using these words as a place to come home to, to return to, just like when we come home to the breath or the feet, the seat, this is a way that we can just start changing that dialogue, you know, now offer these phrases. May I be at ease? May I be at peace? May I be happy?
Remember, request a request, not a demand, trying it on,
you know, and I say, may I, because this important, like we can send all this. We, I like to start with others because it was really hard to send myself kindness. So I start with others like, okay, I'm capable of this. I can even sense it. I can feel it. And then shift it. Cause we deserve a seat at the table of our kindness.
The Buddha was quoted as saying that you could travel this whole world and not meet anyone more worthy of your kindness, of your love than you. I like that, but I feel so unworthy of my own love. And it's not even like an intentional thing. It's just like. So counterintuitive, but it's not. It's counterintuitive because causes outside stuff.
So it's just another practice of return, coming back, shifting focus, not escaping, not trying to hide there, but just when we're drifting off into some story, we can just come back, maybe just come these words and play with it. Be playful with it. See what happens. See what comes up. Be kind to the aversion.
Be kind to the, the party is like, this is some bullshit. I had to do that. Because my experience was in the beginning when I was taught these phrases and this love and kindness and gratitude and stuff. It was like, it was sarcastic voice in my mind. May I be at ease. May I be happy.
But I just wanted to feel, I just, I just didn't want to believe that chatter anymore, man, because I didn't believe it, but it's so loud, you know, and the chatter is still there, but it's not as loud, not as loud. And, you know, the, the, the, these metaphrases, they don't come up a lot, you know, but I know it softened my heart a little bit so I can be more with what is.
You know, sometimes, you know, I'm like, oh shit, maybe at ease right now, maybe happy, not all the time. So it's just tenderizing, softening, again, this uncovering, uncovering all the other stuff that we come in here with, you know,
[00:25:00]
because there's something deeper here, I feel. And I think some of you, maybe some, maybe not, feel that too, otherwise you wouldn't be here. There's something more than what they're telling us,
some truth. And I feel like it begins with this truth of these are our heart qualities. These are our innate heart qualities. Kindness, compassion, joy, and balance. This is our birthright.
Before we get
into that cornfield, but uh, we don't have to improve ourselves. I just fucking, just okay.
Right? Okay. But it feels like I do.
We just need to let go of what blocks our heart.
People that know how to use words. Because it is, it's just blocking our heart, right? And part of this too, like, you know, um, I always felt like it doesn't mean we need to be these spiritual doormats, right? It's like, I'm just living in compassion and kindness for all beings. It's like, no, let's have compassion for ourselves.
Sometimes compassion means a fucking boundary, a boundary. Sometimes the compassion, the most compassionate word you could use is,
but that's hard because there's a risk, there's a risk, you might not like me. You might not hear it as just a boundary here. Not that, you know, I don't know, it's a whole different, another topic that my friend Jess will definitely discuss. But tonight we're going to meet our experience with some, some kind of kindness if we can, you know, and if you can't, that's okay too.
You know, I'm just going to offer some, some words, some guidance, and honestly, you get to do you in this group. These are just my words. This is just what I want to offer. You know, you're here already, so you can just practice, take this time to just let yourself be. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to be or become.
We don't need to improve ourselves. Uh, I remember talking to Jack Kornfield one time and he told me, like, I, like, what, what do I do to, like, I wanted to be the spiritual, like, what's the formula. I always was asking these teachers, what's the formula. Do you mix Metta with like the first foundation? Like where's the perfect awareness and he's like, you know, who, who you want to become already are.
I was like, damn, that doesn't help,
but I, I get what he means. Get what he means everything all this that we want to be and become we already are we just need to slow down and listen So that's what we're doing. Give yourself some time. Anybody have any questions or anything before we get into a meditation Jesse, please
Can you wait a sec, do you have a pass let me write you a pass
Anybody else have any questions? We will take a little stretch break. Yeah,
we'll say that one more time
It comes from pain. I feel, I feel like we all experience pain. That's inevitable, right? We're all experiencing some kind of pain. So then we don't meet the pain with kindness, compassion. Personally, we're going to be suffering or wisdom, even just wisdom that this is pain. This is ouch. You know, it could be physical pain.
It could be emotional pain. And a lot of times, and you see it a lot in this world, our suffering builds out onto others. Constantly. We break, I, that's what got me into meditation, was I would break out my blame thrower. It was like, everybody else's fault I felt this way. And I would let them know. And some of it was valid, but most of it wasn't.
It's just self stuff, you know, so I think you're
[00:30:00] speaking to maybe your experience or someone else's. Yeah. So you're, so it's just meeting your own pain, right? Meeting your own suffering. That's it. And being kind here. Cause then when we're kind here, it'll ripple out. And again, not to be a spiritual doormat when people are causing harm.
It's not that, you know, is that helpful? Yeah. You know, I was speaking to a friend about this because I always said, you know, it's like always, it was, I don't know if I think Oprah coined it or someone hurt people, hurt people, you know, in, you know, I don't think that's necessary. I haven't more conversation around.
I don't think it's really true, but I think there's some truth. You know, they're suffering and it's not to dismiss other people suffering when it's spilling out onto you, but it's great information of how we want to be in relationship.
Right. Misery loves company kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It can be true. Good to hear that. Anybody else?
So when we take a little stretch, you need to use a restroom or get some tea. I don't know if there's still water left in that thing, but, uh, and then I'll ring a bell in about a minute or so. It gives you enough time. Say hi to a neighbor if you want, give a high five, give a head nod.
This isn't, this isn't working. Well, I can't get it to just, oh, there we go. No, I don't want to do that. I want it to just be on my view and I don't know how to do that. I can't pin myself because I'm recording it.
[00:35:00]
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let'sa go. Let'sa go. Oh. Oh, Oh, All right.
So with the intention of
interesting This intention of kindness, I want to invite you to find a kind posture. You want to lay down, want more pillows, there's more pillows next door, you want blankets right around the corner.
What do you find hard sitting on, laying down? Trying to find comfort. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dealing with body pain? Yeah, yeah. So can we even be kind to that?
That's the hard part. And I think this kindness piece, it's like, sometimes it's just allowing and softening and finding maybe a place that doesn't feel that pain. And it might be hard, you know, but we get really focused on the pain. Cause we want to figure it out or, or say question it or like, why, you know, it's like, Oh man, I'd be at ease and just shift my awareness to maybe the big toe, you know, for a minute, for a moment.
Or get more blankets.
So also this
invitation tonight to, to,
to have a sense of curiosity, an open mind, a
beginner's mind, as they say, let go of any preconceived ideas of what this may or may not be.
And you can leave your eyes open or close your eyes.
And as we shift this awareness
inward,
maybe notice,
Notice the dialogue. Is there judgment? Is there critique?
Can we even be kind to that?
Just like the acknowledgement that, oh, you're here, okay.
And then just shifting, just gently shifting our awareness. To a place in your direct experience that
maybe brings a sense of coming back, of coming home, returning, of rest. Maybe the breath,
maybe the
[00:40:00] sounds,
maybe the way the hands feel resting on the lap or the feet on the floor.
Just this spacious awareness. As we maybe rest our awareness for a moment on the breath, or the feet, the seat, the sound,
notice there's these waves of emotions that can arise and pass, or thought clouds passing by,
the aches and pains of the body and the mind. Notice when you're getting stuck there, and see if you can just shift to something that feels just okay, good enough. Maybe even soothing, nurturing.
You don't need to use force to try to make anything happen. You can just shift gently.
Breathe into the discomfort, expand, allow it to be here.
And then release, soften,
let go, let be.
Shifting here to this kind awareness.
Maybe bringing to mind
a loved one,
someone that cares for your well being
and hold them in your heart, in your mind. Let them come rest here with you
and just send them some kind of words in your mind. Using
the words, may you be at ease,
may you be at peace,
may you be happy.
Notice how this feels to send a loved one. It could even be a pet,
friend, family
[00:45:00] member,
even if it's complicated at times.
May you be at ease, may you be at peace. May you be happy,
using the words as a place to return to, when the mind is drifting, some opinion, critique, judgment. May
you be at ease,
may you be at peace, may you be happy,
picturing your loved ones.
person that cares for your well being,
imagining seeing your own reflection in their eyes, knowing that they want these same wishes for you.
Lots of compassion for people suffering outside these rooms.
Bring your awareness back here right now. Feed, see, sound,
breath,
picturing yourself and offering
Same words to yourself right now.
May I be at ease.
May I be at peace.
May I be happy.
May I be at ease. May
I be at peace. May I be happy.
Even if you don't feel any of these things, remembering that it's a request, not a demand.
Not using any other words. Appropriate. Kind. Resonate more with you.
May I be at ease.
May I continue to do what needs to be done to cultivate more ease in my life.
May I be at peace.
May I be at peace with who I am, right where I am, with room to grow.
[00:50:00]
May I continue to do what needs to be done to cultivate more happiness in my life.
As the body breathes, the body rests.
Noticing. Even noticing those. Other thoughts. They're telling you otherwise. You can respond. May I be at ease.
May I be at peace. May I be happy.
Send kind awareness to every part of your being. The angry parts. The sad parts.
The uncomfortable parts.
No part of you is weak. not welcome here.
No part of you is undeserving of your kind awareness.
Let this kindness continue to ripple out,
sending this kindness to those that support you on this path of self discovery, recovery,
may you be at ease.
May you be at peace, may you be happy, let it
continue, ripple out, connect with neutral people, share to smile with, serves you coffee,
peace, may you be at peace, may you be happy,
let it connect with all those suffering,
may you be at ease,
may you be at peace, may you be happy,
even connecting with those that
[00:55:00] they're suffering, maybe spilling out onto you,
knowing that they're suffering, Doesn't dismiss their actions.
Be at peace, be at ease, be happy,
and cover this whole world, the trees, the land, sky, water,
relationship with all of it, symbiotic relationship, trees,
land, water, skies. May you be at ease. May you be at peace. May you be happy. As
the body breathes, the body rests, all on its own,
letting the awareness circle all the way back
to you, right here, right now,
this part of you that showed up tonight,
that continues to be curious and open, explore
this internal experience. It just wants to be at peace, wants to know ease. wants to be happy.
Just sending yourself those kind words. May I be at ease.
May I be at peace.
May I be happy.
May I truly love and be loved.
Invite you to just let go of any practice. Go over the instructions.
Just notice if you can just greet any thought or feeling, emotion, Anything distracting, cooling, [01:00:00] just a little bit of softening, kindness,
response, words of your feelings, emotions, just a hand resting. We feel it at the top of the belly, at the heart, the chest. Let yourself know that you're right here.
Part of you know that you're right here.
It's been longing for this awareness, this attention, this kindness,
this love. In the
last few minutes of our practice, see if you can just lean into any goodness
that's been cultivated. This goodness, May
you be at ease,
may you be at peace,
may you know happiness,
freedom, love, and joy.
[01:05:00]
May you learn to appreciate yourself as I appreciate you.
Okay,
yeah. Greet yourself with a stretch, a movement, pat on the back. Good work, did good stuff.
So where'd you go? Are you able to be kind to yourself? Is it a stretch? Are you stretching? Yeah. Yeah. He wants to speak to it. I love it. All right. Let's hear you. Let's hear you now, please.
Nice. Yes. That's beautiful.
No shit. I gotcha.
Yeah.
Yeah, totally. Yeah, I love that switch from I got this to I got you,
man.
Love that.
Love it. Thank you.
Got you.
Yeah. Cool. Yep.
Yeah. Right.
Beautiful. And that's where you went tonight. A little bit. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. And that's, I like reflecting on that. Like you brought it into the practice a little bit. It's like, what an act of kindness that the, the waves, the ocean, the wind, it's just not asking for anything back. It's just like, it was a service, an act of service.
Like beautiful. Yeah. So it's like. I don't
[01:10:00] know. I love that. And in our practice, like, you know, yeah, going down to the ocean, going down to the beach or being in nature can really bring a sense of ease. But in our practice, we could reflect on that right here. Right. That's cool. That's what I heard is you got to tap into that.
And I think that as the practice is like, okay, you know, yeah, if we can get to the ocean and cool, but sometimes I can't get to the ocean. So can I just like Oceans right here. There's waves, waves of emotions, windy stormy clouds.
Anybody else? Yeah. Just stretching?
Yeah. Beautiful. That's paying attention. That's just bringing awareness and there's a part of us. That's what I found is there's a part, there was a part of me that was waiting for that. After I let go of all the judgment, there was a part of me was like, and it took a while to trust. Right. To be like, okay, you really got me.
It's like mean you're not alone. Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. Thank you.
Please. Yeah.
First I was laughing like
in the state of, and then on downtown, of course. Yeah. The laughter became my recognition. That is the exact tone and volume of
the voices in my head. Wow. Worthy of your fame and
state of disappearance. So, I laughed. Yes, beautiful. Wow. So, it was like a, yeah, like, what
a switch, right? Like, just a reframe. That's so cool, you know. Yeah, it's silly, really, if we think about it. It's like, wow, man, beautiful. Beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I like practicing here. You know, there's a lot of distractions. There's tons. But I mean, what a perfect place to practice because there's a lot of distractions, you know, in life.
So it's like, okay, so it's like, what's our relationship with the distractions?
Yeah, is that how it is? Yeah, it's pretty much just all of them. It's just downtown, you know, it's just like, it's just on a day to day basis. It's chaos, whether it's financial or emotional. I agree. Like I said, there's kind of that. We were going to that at one point. You know, whatever it is that we were going to be serious about.
You know, if I point out at night, there's no one to look for. It's sort of like a system that kind of plays these things.
That is, they're all kind of in a similar place. They can only get it so fast from the intersection, and then they have to stop. So like, Constant, yeah.
Bigger than others. So fucking cool. I like the way your mind works, for sure. And that's it. It's just a perception. It's all perception. Like, what if we didn't, like, there was like, what if we didn't know that that was a car, just be a sound, right? It's like, it's just sound, but we have this, when people are yelling, it's a little different because our whole nervous is everything.
Okay. You know? So it's like, I think there was, uh, somebody, some people
[01:15:00] playing bongo as soon as we started the meditation last week, there's people playing bongos. It's like, okay. And brought it into the practice, you know, It's just sound, right? But it can bring up like, what is that? You know? And if you get in, and as soon as I named it bongos, somebody expressed that their nervous system just was able to, okay.
It's just bongos, , you know? So is it, yeah. It's, how are we perceiving? Is it safe? Is it not safe? Yeah, please.
Yeah.
Um, so listening to everybody. Mm-Hmm?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, and it sounds like it was a pleasant feeling around it. That's great.
Yeah. Yeah. That's super cool. There's part of the, part of this work, this, this practice too, is like getting to those places that are just lodged back there, you know, it's like, there's, I think that some healing in that when we can go back to those places, you know.
Please.
Yes.
Yeah.
That's so cool. It's beautiful. Yeah. That's the work.
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. Cause I mean, that's, that's the, yeah, that's the part I think that is, is, asking for our attention really is.
You know, and there's, it's like, can we meet this practice with that child, like curiosity, you know, and just openness, playfulness.
And it's hard because we're in these adult bodies and we got a lot of information that kept, took us away from these places, you know, but it's, it's all still here. Just take some time to build trust, you know, trust within ourself for that part to really be like, okay, I'm ready. I believe you when you say I got you, you know, because I don't know if you're anything like me, I was untrustworthy to that part.
I abandoned that part of me for a long time, not on purpose. So it's like, can we come back home? I appreciate y'all for showing up people in tonight. So a couple of announcements, I have to wrap it up. Um, the group is a 10 and there's a bowl for, um, cash or there's Venmo, PayPal, and no, one's turned away for lack of funds.
So. And what you can, when you can, if you can, um, also some t shirts for sale back there and some stickers for free. And we also have, um,
[01:20:00] a book exchange thing going on. So there's some books up there. If there's a book that looks inspiring to you, grab it. Um, if you have any books at home that you've read, it would be helpful for someone inspiring bring them in book change.
And then, uh, our friends over at insight Santa Cruz have a, um, a book panel teaching thing. Um, on the 30th, I put a flyer up there for, um, it's a book panel with the authors of healing our way home. There's a book, and it's Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation. And that's March 30th, 10 a.
m. to 11, 58, 11, 15 a. m. So I went to Tim.
Valerie Brown, um, Melissa Gomez, and Cara Julingo, those are the three authors. And there's, uh, I'll put this, there's a flyer up there. I
think that's it. Did I get everything? Appreciate y'all being here. Um, yeah. Take a moment to just a little offering of merit, a little look in this, a little reflection on our practice tonight. Bring your attention. Tension, your awareness, your focus inward one more time, feeling the feet, feeling the seat,
just reflecting on your practice this evening,
just showing up, connecting,
noticing if anything has been cultivated within you, any positivity, any insight, let that sink in, sink into the marrow of your being, it's
well deserved, but then also let it ripple out,
goodness not only benefit us, but for the benefit of all beings. May all beings be at ease. May
all beings know true liberation, inward and outward.
May you appreciate yourself like I appreciate you.
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