The Good Earth

dahliaThinking that I was going to improve my giant Dahlias that grow in my front yard, last fall I dug them up so I could divide then and replant in better locations this spring. But last week when I inspected the box in the shed I had put them it, they were soft and rotting. Was I a bad gardener? Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 23, 2009

Service for the Joy of Service

From Swami Satchidananda: Words of Wisdom

“If your action is motivated by doing something for others, for bringing benefit to others and not expecting any result or reward for you, such an action is called Karma Yoga.  But if you expect a result, if you do something to get something, then it is karma. Karma Yoga is service, service for the joy of serving; you don’t even wait for thanks. That way, you can keep your mind calm; there is no reason to be disturbed. Whether people appreciate your action or not, even if they criticize you after having done it, that is their business. You have done your job; you are satisfied with what you have done; you did it to your capacity; and you don’t expect anything in return, so your mind is always calm. That is Yoga: calmness of mind.

If you want to accord with the Tao,

just do your job, then let go. Tao Te Ching

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This post was written by ed on February 19, 2009

Taking out the trash

trashThis week, and in fact for almost two months, my attention has been on taking out the trash. As you’ve seen from previous posts, I’ve been helping my nephew-in-law deconstruct his past as he painstakingly went through the belongings of his parents, and decided what goes to the dump, Good Will, or family. And now we are done, but like landfills taking out the trash has many levels, and we usually just scratch around on the surface. Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 18, 2009

The Sweet Spot

fishingWe’re all looking for our sweet spot. My best metaphor for that miraculous place is when my wife’s brother Edward was shore fishing many years ago and suddenly began pulling fish in as fast as he could caste his line out. He didn’t even need bait! And no one up and down the beach was catching anything. You can’t look for your sweet spot. Your sweet spot has to find you. Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 17, 2009

UNDERSTANDING WHO YOU ARE

From Chogyam Trungpa; Ocean of Dharma
Propagating prajna, or your intellect, fully and thoroughly is a characteristic of a dharmic person. That is to say, you should find out and understand who you are and what you are made of. You should find out what your mind is made out of, what your mind’s projections are made out of, and what your relationship with your world is made of….The myth of original sin can be wiped out by realizing and studying how your mind can be unwound by undoing what you are. There are positive and good qualities, or basic goodness, in everybody.

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This post was written by ed on February 17, 2009

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Moving on

glenn-moving-onPassages come to us unexpectedly, often with a death in the family or a parent going to a retirement home, and when this door opens up we have to go through—often with tears flowing  and emotions boiling over—to the new possibilities passages always bring to us. But whether we go through this door into a new world or see it as a revolving door to our old world is entirely up to us. That is our freedom. Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 16, 2009

The field of possibility

fieldA friend of mine recently was describing how easy it is to make money on the internet, and his evidence was some guy who wrote an application for the ipod that makes fart sounds. He has sold thousands of toots. Since I don’t have an ipod I can’t check this out, but I do know that it’s a apt description of the internet. Here is our new field of possibility where turds turn into compost. Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 16, 2009

Our story

storyThis morning I’m thinking about our stories and how we tell our stories constantly to others, writing it out word by word, action by action in a living pen we call life. Our story is our history and we are constantly studying it, our collective history and out individual history, so we can hopefully figure out who we are and avoid, guess what, our history. So we look into the mirror of our history in order to see who we are. But is it working? Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 15, 2009

AWARENESS IS THE BASIS OF GOOD CONDUCT

From Chogyam Trunpa: Ocean of Dharma

For a dharmic person, good conduct is a sense of mindfulness and awareness: whatever you are doing, you should try to see it as an extension of your sitting practice, your general sense of awareness and refraining from too much, unnecessary activity….You could look at yourself and smile. You could be awake and aware and, at the same time, on the spot. Constant sunrise happens. You reflect that yourself, and you always look awake and aware of what you are doing. That is good conduct. You respect yourself and you respect the sacredness of your whole being, your whole existence. When you have that kind of self-respect, you don’t spill your tea or put your shoes on the wrong feet. You appreciate the weather, your coffee, your tea, your clothes, your shower. There is a tremendous sense that for the first time you have become a real human being and you can actually appreciate the world around you. That appreciation comes from being aware.

Posted under meditation help

This post was written by ed on February 13, 2009

Awakening blink by blink

wavesWe Are Awakening! That is the URL of my updated blog that will be coming soon. We are all awakening but we need to share the dawning of consciousness because the unreal and the darkness is so very powerful. We can only awaken individually, and the collective mind like a house without windows want to be the only reality. “Don’t leave us,” it cries like a child missing its mother whose attention has turned away for a moment. Read More…

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This post was written by ed on February 13, 2009