Hari Om

Today’s sit really honed in on the simple practice of three breaths as a way to begin to bring peace and quietude into our daily activities and relationships. The implications of taking a pause can be huge and long-lasting, helping to guide us into a place of solace within ourselves. I am not going to spend a lot of words on describing this right now, except to say that I have found, for myself, a key to unlock doors I thought were closed, or ones that were closed for so long and hidden so well, I thought they were walls, with the simplest of practices. You can go in for whatever methods you would like, and will no doubt find some really helpful and life-changing results; and still you will be breathing in and out all day, and night, for the rest of your life. So, why not incorporate that into your practice?

It is through the steadfastness of breath that we can become in sync with the movement and cycles of our body. And it is through the body that we open the pathways into emotions, thoughts, fears, loves, joys, sorrows, and everything that a material existence has to offer and teach us! Amazing, really! When we get in touch with our body, we can feel the magic of connection to everything we have ever known, and know that it is all at the center of who we are. We are not the center of the universe, yes, and it is at the center of who we truly are.

At Blackwater Pond Mary Oliver At Blackwater Pond the tossed waters have settled after a night of rain. I dip my cupped hands. I drink a long time. It tastes like stone, leaves, fire. It falls cold into my body, waking the bones. I hear them deep inside me, whispering oh what is that beautiful thing that just happened?

Life is that beautiful thing, again and again and again and again.

All In Love,

Michael

Generate Generosity Here

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Hari Om

Today I made a mistake. It happens (often). It was a simple mistake, easily remedied, and I was SO HAPPY about it. Because I knew I was okay. This is a big deal for me. I developed a touch of perfectionism, which is a nice word for the ways we rationalize feeling like a failure all the time. It is easy to justify self-criticism if you have a standard for your actions and results that is unattainable. So we do. And we even laud this behavior as one who works with a high work ethic, or other such nonsense. Truthfully, though, we are usually making excuses to judge most of our lives as subpar. So I was very happy to make a mistake and feel good about myself and move on.

I work through a lot of this in the first part of the sit today, and incorporate some more wonderful work of Andrea Gibson. We come to a crescendo today with a wonderful poem by Angela Franklin. I absolutely love this poem. The layers are as deep as you would care to go, and also work very much as a collection of beautiful sounds and an ode to grief. I personally prefer to dive deep into the work, and it takes me on a journey with each reading. I encourage you to try out digging in a bit as well.

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video Mon-Fri 8:30 AM PST in the app.

All In Love,

Michael

Generate Generosity Here

Hari Om

Coming in a bit later this morning, I am reminded what it is to feel rushed, and to function from a place of ‘not enough’. So, as I said to kitchen staff for years at my restaurants: “if you are in a hurry; slow down!”.

This counterintuitive guideline has saved me from fumbling through more days (and omelettes) than I could count. The notion of slowing down seems antithetical to the operation of a fast-paced kitchen or a fast-paced mind. I promise you, though, it is precisely what is needed. Coutnerintuitive ideas are sometimes the most helpful because our intuition has been taken for such a ride on the trauma train that it is sometimes patterned to keep doing what we have done that got us where we are. We have survived so whatever it is I am doing must be working, right? Sure, could do. And what is also true is there is a way to see that you want to grow out of old patterns and to stop receiving old results. You have to try it different. Here is Andrea Gibson to help us out a bit.

And then Wendell Berry comes in for the can opening poem Breaking.

Breaking Wendell Berry Did I believe I had a clear mind? It was like the water of a river flowing shallow over the ice. And now that the rising water has broken the ice, I see that what I thought was the light is part of the dark.

Did I believe I had a clear mind? What a question. To even begin to believe may already be the muck and mud of a clouded mind! Brilliant. Muck and mud are not so bad, though. Lots of things sprout in the dark.

Thanks for being here today. Please engage with the posts by commenting and sharing with us a bit of your practice. Three uninterrupted breaths.

All In Love,

Michael

Generate Generosity Here

Thank you to everyone who tuned into my live video! Join me for my next live video in the app.