How to Meditate vs. Medicate…

In this Issue:

*I Have An Issue

*Go Fund Me Cause I’m Stupid

*If You Can’t Say Something Nice

*Stop The Commercials

*How To Meditate vs. Medicate

I Have an Issue

So I have an issue with people who have issues. Speaking in generalities, we just can’t talk to anyone anymore about anything. “Oh, I have an issue with that”, they say. Okay, so what? Keep it to yourself. It’s your problem. Own it. No need to share. Well what do you stand for? “Oh, I stand for this or that”. Okay, who cares? You get the idea. I’m confident you have some of those people in your circle do you not? Tiptoe through the Topics with Me. It used to be Tulips – if you’re old enough to make the connection.

Go Fund Me Cause I’m Stupid

I did something stupid, now I can’t pay for it. Will you help me pay for me being stupid? That whole concept is stupid. There is just no taking responsibility for your thoughts, words or actions. Period. Like overpacking for a vacation. You pack it, you schlep it. “Oh, I packed too much, will you carry it for me”? No. This comes from the person that crossed the border with a handgun in her purse and is now sitting in a prison cell with others in the same cell…(yes all the private suites were booked). And now, because “I forgot it was in my purse and I crossed the border”, help me because “I’m Stupid”. Wrong. You packed it, you schlep it.

If You Can’t Say Something Nice

Silence…there are enough words going off in your head that don’t need to come out of your mouth. Is what I’m about to think, say or do positive, encouraging or even necessary? If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Negativity breeds negativity. Positivity breeds positivity. We all want to be around positive supportive encouraging people. Are we putting that out there ourselves? Restraint of pen, tongue, emails, texts and chats added to that list.

Stop The Commercials

My hair is thinning and so is my patience. In the “old” days we read a newspaper. Yes there were ads. Thats how the paper made its money. Today its infomercials conveniently placed in the middle of any article you’re trying to read online. Give me a break. I just want to read the article. And now find myself skipping the entire article if one “pops up”. So ponder me this Bat Man. The advertisers pay money to be in the medium to increase their business, the medium makes the money for providing that service, now the consumer end user has to pay the medium to eliminate the advertiser. I just don’t get the whole deal. Many hoops to jump through. This nightmare is appearing more frequently just trying to listen to 60 minutes or the news. I don’t want to hear about rectal screening while I’m engaged with an article. More thoughts…coffee in bed for 35 years. Which is half my life. Just celebrated 35 years with my wife and shes wondering why she didn’t kill me a long time ago.

How To Meditate vs. Medicate…the 10 Day Silent Meditation Retreat

Listen up now…have you ever kept your mouth shut for 10 days? If you haven’t – you don’t know what you’re missing. Those close to you might enjoy what they’d be missing. Silence is golden and my eyes still see. And my ears still hear. But if everyone shuts up then you can get to know yourself. I’m sure we’ve all been around someone and we wished they would just “shut up”.

Okay so how to meditate? We all seem to know how to medicate, just go to your nearest practitioner with a script pad and tell them how bad everything is going in your life and your body. Like magic, take this pill and don’t call me, unless its for a renewal. Instead of masking the cries of our minds and bodies through pain, why don’t we get to know ourselves, since we’re in for a penny, a pound or a lifetime.

The mind is like a puppy off its leash, left outside on the doorstep and off it goes. Sniffing, smelling, tasting, looking, eating, eliminating, barking, biting. Our minds are those puppies. Might as well face it, its active and going places and doing things. Its taking us with it whether we like it or not. Therein lies the secret. We don’t have to follow it around the neighborhood or down the street. All we have to do is observe, and see our puppy going down the street…oh and here it comes back again and there it goes. So it is.

I’m not going to badmouth practitioners of meditation, but it appears to me that you have to be careful what you practice, you may get good at the wrong thing. And your results will reflect that. All too often we hear, just take a few moments, or minutes to meditate. Okay, like, how do I do that? They say, “just follow the breath”. And I say follow it where? I’m leading you into the snare of signing up for my meditation classes, but don’t get excited just yet, so put your credit card away for now. I’ll let you know when it goes live.

So instead of sitting, standing or walking (which are the meditation positions you will learn), and trying to clear your mind, (which will never happen – its a room full of monkeys swinging from limb to limb), put your focus on this. Just observe your thoughts as they swing from limb to limb, don’t chase them, don’t follow them, just observe them. Like oh, here comes my puppy, its peeing, oh there goes my puppy chasing the car. Just observe your thoughts. When you catch yourself going into the past or future with your puppy, just come back to your “technique”.

The “Technique”. Try this, let me know how you do. Place one hand on your abdomen, the other on your chest. Feel the chest or abdomen rise upon inhalation and fall on exhalation. You can be laying, sitting, walking, standing, doesn’t matter. In this example, we will be sitting. Just insert standing, walking, etc., into your technique as appropriate. Focus your mind on the breath, rising, falling, sitting, hearing. When “sitting”, feel the placement of your body making contact with the floor, pillow, etc. This is the body sense. We add “hearing” to the mix, as sounds will come through the ear door. Don’t be distracted by sound, its just the puppy making noise. Rising, falling, sitting, hearing. Over and over. If the puppy runs away with your mind, once realized, just return the mind to rising, falling, sitting, hearing. Rising, falling, sitting, hearing, over and over. Try this technique for a minute or an hour or a day. See how you do.

The 10 Day Silent Meditation Retreat. Sign up, show up, check in, get your mosquito netting, your straw mat and select your nearest concrete bed platform complete with 4×4 wood block with a notch cut out for your neck and settle in. Welcome home for 10 nights. No phone, no books, no music, no snacks, no talking, no nudity, no jewelry, no makeup, no flashy clothes. Wash your clothes in the horse trough. The gong goes off at 0430, you’ll be in the meditation hall on your meditation mat for instruction at 0500. You will hear a dharma talk, do some yoga exercise and have a vegetarian breakfast at 0730. At 0830 you will do your daily assigned or selected chore. Mine was to clean the toilets. No one else really wanted that job. I did. Think about it. Everyone wants a clean toilet, but no one wants to clean a toilet. I figured it was the best gift I could give everyone. After attending several of these retreats, its always fun to watch people look over the chore sign up list and toilets are always the last to be taken.

Free till 1030 for resting, personal hygiene etc. Back to the meditation hall where we will continue practicing sitting, standing or walking meditation. Laying down is not allowed anywhere except in your sleeping space. 45 minutes sitting meditation, 45 minutes walking meditation. At 1230 its lunch time. Another vegetarian meal. No talking, just eating. If you’ve never heard 100+ people eating at the same time out of a metal bowl, it closely resembles dog sounds at dinner time magnified x100. Enjoy lunch as its your last meal till breakfast. Intermittent fasting is the key to reduced inflammation and fatigue, so your next meal will be in 18 hours. You will get a hot tea or cocoa and maybe a banana after chanting around 1630. At 1800 you’ll find yourself back on your mat in the meditation hall for another dharma talk, and sitting/walking meditation till 2030. At this point you will quietly slip away to your concrete bunker and find your comfort until you once again hear the 0430 gong. And this continues for 10 days. No note passing, no hidden candy bars, no books, no communication. Just watching the puppy in your head.

Be gentle with yourself, you’re all you’ve got. You are the only one who is truly with you all the way in your life journey. Be your best friend. Have fun with your puppy.

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