Don’t think something in particular is supposed to happen

Mind and breath. Connected both physically and metaphorically. Without one, the other disappears. Mind supports breath and breath supports mind. We are all on a spectrum here. Sometimes they work together and support each other, sometimes not so much. Often the mind wanders off and the breath is forgotten.

Find some quiet and gather the mind and breath. Notice the chest rise and fall. Allow the mind space to roam but just watch it as you focus on the sensations of the chest as the breath transpires. Do this repeatedly, 3 minutes a day or one or two breaths, once or twice a day. 

Then smile. 

Congratulations, you have dropped your ego clinging for a moment. Now the project is to string those moments of dropping ego clinging together closer and closer. 

I hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong by Norman Fischer

Credits — The 59 Lojong Slogans - Atisha's mind-training techniques. Commentary by Judy Lief Tricycle Magazine 2010

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

I make my own mistakes and if I knew better I'd choose better

I’m starting my annual reflections. Creating a 2019 Manifesto. In the past, I have not considered my mistakes specifically as an area of review but I’m slowly seeing the value. Especially considering the quotes - “Success comes from good judgment. Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.”  and “Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it”.

This is a reminder that mistakes in judgement are an investment in the future if remembered and acted on to remedy. 

The real tragedy to avoid is forgetting and repeating. Otherwise mistakes in judgement lead to experience which leads to good judgement which then leads to success. 

Merry Christmas

Credits —Mistakes and good judgement

I hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

Just Breath

The universe doesn’t need or even want your supervision. You are like a hyperactive puppy thinking that you must be on the lookout for something, anything that will come into and disrupt your world. You don’t even know what your next thought will be yet you attend to it as if it was handed down from somewhere on high. Swept away in a thought stream, caught with your head bobbing up and down, sometimes coming for air sometimes drowning. Yet where do these thoughts come from? 

Instead breath and relax into movement of the air in your breath. The breath wants to sustain you, support you. 

Credits — Let Everything Breath

I hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

It may not be what we want but it is what we got

Image by Will Simpson

Today’s slogan is ‘Whatever you meet unexpectedly, join with meditation.’ Similar to the Stoics practice of ‘The obstacle is the way.’ This is the leaning in needed to be a full participant in your life. 

This “join with meditation” sounds so formal. But instead it is our whole practice, to be human, or as the Stoics would say, our path. Our journey. Mediation here refers to our path, our journey and not some formal thing we only do on the mat. Our whole life is a meditation and sometimes we are buffeted by the unexpected. The course we thought we were on turns out not to be so. This slogan tells us that the way forward is to apply the unexpected as our path, to absorb the unexpected into our path, to except changes both welcome and unwelcome.. 

This is best viewed as an opportunity. We get to now practice with what something new. We get to see what metal, what practice stability we have developed when things were going sweetly. 

Suddenly I’m reminded not to coast when things are easy. Instead use the time to prepare and practice for the coming unexpected.

I hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — The 59 Lojong Slogans - Atisha's mind-training techniques. Commentary by Judy Lief Tricycle Magazine 2010

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

Change

“When the winds of change rage, some build shelters while others build windmills.”

Sometimes we are exposed to information that goes against what we have been taught in the past. Social constructs conspire to hold us to ‘the way things have always been’. Of course the people who determined the way things were in that scenario did have the advantage of science, math, statistics, medicine, modern behaviorism, economics, and the list goes on and on. 

You can either be forward looking or backward looking. Either open minded or locked to ‘the way things have always been’. Either positive or negative about the state of the world. Either have a growth mind set or a closed mind set. Either be open to change or locked in the past. 

This is up to you. Choose to be inspired, to grow your knowledge of the world. Try not let your biases color your world. This is hard work.

Image by Will Simpson

I hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

A hug, a smile

When in an interaction, a conversation, a meeting on the street, I’m ‘on stage’. I can step up and deliver or I can shy away. By deliver, I mean be there with love, information, entertainment, validation, collaboration, a smile, a hug.

I hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

Are we showing up with our best self

or are we showing up with something less, something automatic or distracted. This is something that is not usually at the front of our minds when we interact, but can be. Bringing gratitude into the space can help focus our better selves to whatever we encounter. 

Today’s slogan is about not only being grateful for the positive things in life but also to be grateful for the troubles, stress, and problem relationships. Being grateful in these situations can put the brakes our usual modes and allow us to show up with our best self. Our better selves. 

And make a contribution.

"Don't know, keep a mind that is clear like space, try, try, try for ten thousand years nonstop.” Zen Master Seung Sahn 1978

Image by Will Simpson

Credits — https://thestoryoftelling.com/selling-two-ways/

Credits — The 59 Lojong Slogans - Atisha's mind-training techniques. Commentary by Judy Lief Tricycle Magazine 2010

I hope you have an awesome day!

This is a journal entry meant as a reminder to my future self. A reminder to him how to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control.  Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.