Homework

Gratitude and Generosity

• Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Pāramī: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, “Crossing the Floods,” starting on page 11-29 and Generosity 31-40.

The Paramis

• Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in Gratitude and Generosity.
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (Something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply Gratitude and Generosity in the face of opposition.
• Ask yourself each day, “What is going to take me out of stress and discontent right now?” Listen to the answer.

Gratitude Parami Practices

• Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
• Thank someone every day

Generosity Parami Practices

• For half of each day, try offering respectful attention to everyone you meet or talk to. Take the other person’s point of view. Let the person on the bus, T, desk next to you, your neighbor, child, partner, be the most important person around.
• Give your full attention to them physically. Put your device(s) away. Look at the person. Listen carefully. Open your heart. Be there without pushing an agenda. Simply listening.
• Text or e-mail your buddy. Share what you learned.

HAVE FUN!

Virtue

• Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Gratitude practice. Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.

Recollect Parami Practice

• Initially one brings the topic to mind -t his is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in non-harming this month.
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply non-harming in the face of opposition.
• Virtue Parami – Guidelines that invite us to live a life of loving kindness through an exploration of our actions, speech, thoughts. Please read the precept handout every day.

Reflections: record in your journal.

Share with your buddy via e-mail, in person, on the phone.

• Our attitudes towards ethics or virtue are often conditioned by how ethics was viewed or practiced in the family and culture in which we grew up. Spend some time considering how you may have been influenced by this conditioning. What are the foundational influences that shaped your relationship to ethics? What ethical training and teachings did you receive growing up? If you can, talk with someone from your family of origin to help you understand how your family related to ethics. And/or you might talk to someone from a different cultural background to you and explore the similarities and differences in how ethics is viewed in your two cultures.
• When in your life do feel you were most ethical and when do you think you were least ethical? What personal and social conditions existed that encouraged you to be ethical or unethical? What important lessons did you learn from times you were most ethical or most unethical?
• Which ethical virtues are strongest in you? Which are weakest for you? To help, here is a list of some ethical virtues: caring, compassion, generosity, truthfulness, honesty, integrity, service, gratitude, unselfishness, justice, morality.
• Spend some time considering the ways you and others benefit when you are ethical.

Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Pāramī: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter, “Crossing the Floods,” starting on page 40-45 and 50-53.

Renunciation

• Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
• Gratitude practice. Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.

Recollect Parami Practice

• Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in letting go this month.
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply letting go in the face of opposition.
• Renunciation Parami – Is not getting rid of the things of the world, but accepting that they pass away. The only choice is to let go. The truth of impermanence teaches us that no matter how desperately we hold on to anything, it is already in the process of leaving us. Our choice is whether or not we suffer in the un-avoidable arrivals, departures, beginnings and endings in our lives.

Reflections: record in your journal.

Share with your buddy via e-mail, in person, on the phone.

• It is often said that people resist teachings on renunciation. What are your concerns or views about the value of renunciation? What fears do you have about renunciation? What is appealing to you about the practice of renunciation? In what ways do you understand renunciation differently than the practice of letting go?
• In what areas of your life could you benefit from practicing renunciation? What motivations or impulses would renunciation help in those areas? What motivations and understandings would make renunciation easier?
• Under what conditions is it difficult for you to let go of things you want to let go of? In what conditions is it easiest? What inner states support letting go? What inner states make it difficult?
• What would be the single most useful thing for you to let go of? Share with your buddy why this would be useful and what makes it difficult to do.

Practice: record in your journal.

Share with your buddy via e-mail, in person, on the phone.

• Choose one thing you do regularly to renounce for a whole day (Examples: social media, TV watching or streaming, drinking caffeine, texting, eating sweets, etc). Throughout that day, investigate and consider how this renunciation might benefit you. For example, does the act of renouncing help highlight things about yourself that you had not previously seen?

Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Pāramī: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods, will be our shared text. Please read the chapter “Letting Go” pages 55-67.

Wisdom

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day. Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude practice. Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day.

Recollect Parami Practice

• Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in wisdom this week
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply wisdom in the face of opposition.
• Wisdom Parami – Buddhism is known as a wisdom tradition. The practice of awakening is supported by and expressed in a deep understanding of life. Recollect: Wisdom arises from practice; without practice it is lost. Knowing these two ways of gain and loss, conduct yourself so that wisdom grows.

Reflections: Record in your journal.

Share with your buddy via in person, e-mail, phone, text. (In writing, not too long)

• Reflect on who are the wisest people you know. What makes them wise? What qualities of wisdom do you admire in them? How do they behave that expresses wisdom? Under what conditions, do you have access to wisdom? Under what conditions do you have access to some of the same qualities as the wise people you know?
• What is wisdom for you? How is it different from knowledge? How do you think a person acquires wisdom? What supports access to wisdom?
• Asking questions is an important foundation of wisdom. Please spend some time coming up with questions about formal practice or your daily life practice. Write down as many of these questions as possible. Then consider what might be your single most important question. Bring it to class.

Practices: Please share with your buddy what you learned.

Wisdom is sometimes called discriminating wisdom when it helps us see more clearly our experiences & the choices that we have.

• In your formal meditation, look carefully at your experience. Instead of following the breath look more carefully to notice the details of the breathing. Or notice a mood or mind state you are in and distinguish any physical, mental, emotional aspects of the mood. Or if something is uncomfortable, take an interest in looking at the distinct aspects of what is happening. As you make finer distinctions, notice how this might translate to a wiser understanding of what is happening.
• The intentions we have for our practice are supported by wisdom when our discernment shows us how to best follow through on those intentions. During meditation and in some daily life situations set your intention to become more calm and easeful. With that as a reference point, try to avoid doing the things that make you less calm and instead, do the things that help you become increasingly calm. Afterward reflect on how having this intention helped you to be more discerning and wise.

Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Pāramī: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods. Please read the chapter, “Crossing the Floods,” pages 73-87.

Energy – Part One for the entire month of May 10- June 14

Look for an e-mail on May 24 for part two of this month’s work.

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 20-30 minutes per day. Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude practice. Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day.

Recollect Parami Practice

• Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in energy.
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply energy in the face of opposition.

Viriya or Enthusiastic Energy Parami

Viriya is a Buddhist term translated as energy, effort, diligence, enthusiasm or perseverance.

Reflections: Record in your journal.

Share with your Buddy via in person, e-mail, phone, text. (In writing, not too long)

1. Reflect on: How you experience physical vitality? Mental vitality? What makes you feel more energetic? What drains your energy? Does spending time with other people bring you energy or drain your energy? Is spending time alone energizing or not? Is meditation energizing or not? What activities bring you a balanced sense of vitality?
2. What is the relationship between your interest and your level of energy? What motivations tend to energize you? What emotions tend to increase or decrease your vitality? How does desire, fear, aversion play in how energized you are? What role does compassion have?
3. Reflect on: How do you decide what to apply effort to? Of all the things a person could do, how do you choose where you apply your energy?

Practices: Please share with your Buddy what you learned.

1. In your formal meditation, spend time experimenting with applying more effort in formal meditation. This can be done physically by sitting up straighter or by doing brisk walking meditation before sitting. It can be done mentally by putting more effort into being alert and mindful of what is happening during the meditation. If applying more effort agitates you, try to match the increased effort with increased calm or inner stillness.
2. During the next several weeks, consciously do a couple of generous & compassionate activities, notice your energy level before, during, and after doing these things. What affects the amount of energy you have for these activities? How can you can you appropriately apply more energy in these activities?
3. Choose some ordinary household chores you often do. Give your full attention to wholeheartedly doing them. Engage in these activities with your whole body. Turn off technology phone, radio, TV, etc., and in same way you might let go of distracting thoughts to return to the breath in meditation, let go of distracting thoughts that take you away from being present for your chores. How does working in this way affect your energy level?

Ajahn Sucitto’s Pāramī book, Pāramī: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods. Please read pages 93-110. https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/parami-ways-to-cross-life-s-floods?language=English

This Homework is the only homework till next class on July 12

Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 20-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence.

Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.

Recollect Parami Practice

• Initially one brings the topic to mind-this is helpful and useful-it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in
• The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition. (Something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so) Do your best to apply PATIENCE in the face of opposition.

Khanti or Patience Parami

Khanti is a Buddhist term translated as forbearance, endurance, forgiveness, Theravada- gentleness, kindness, compassion, strength.

• Gentle forbearance: when impatience is triggered, can you tap into a deeper reservoir of intention/motivation to do no harm?
• Calm endurance: in a frustrating situation, it helps to ask the question, “What would being patient mean right now?
• Acceptance of the truth- accepting experience as it is—rather than how we want it to be. Remembering that everything is continually changing and acceptance of “things as they are” can take a long time to evolve. It is skillful to develop a long-enduring heart—

More Patience Practices

Be aware of impatience & patience in your sitting & daily life Begin patience practice by: Practice Patience and not hurrying (what’s the hurry?), Pausing (10 seconds-connect to whole body & float question, “what is happening right now?”) When impatient gently ask: Where is ease & freedom in this moment? What is important in my life? What do I truly value, right now?

Reflections, Formal 7 Daily Life Practices

Record in your journal. Share with your Buddy via in person, e-mail, phone, text. 2-3 times a week (In writing, not too long.)

Patience Reflections

• Reflect on what personal obstacles you might have that interfere with persevering with a challenging activity. What abilities and understanding do you have that help you to stick with doing something you have committed yourself to?
• Reflect on how you generally respond to anger and insults directed at you? Under what circumstances are you most reactive to anger toward yourself? What abilities, practices, understandings do you have that helps you to be patient or non- reactive to anger and insult? What benefits come from being patient while being insulted?
• Reflect on what attitudes you have toward forgiveness? Under what circumstances are you willing to forgive someone? When is forgiveness difficult for you? Are there areas in your life where it would be useful to forgive?
• Are there things that you are not willing to look at, to be honest about? Are there some things you believe are true that you resist? When can acceptance of the truth help you to be more at ease?

Patience in Formal Practice and Daily Life

• In sitting meditation, at a time of unpleasant or what seems like uninteresting experience, focus on bringing the quality of patience to it. Notice any resistance to the experience. Mindfully, bring the quality of patient kindness into the experience.
• Choose a task, that you regularly avoid doing or which you often procrastinate about. Engage in the task and stick with it until it is done. When you are done, reflect what that was like.
• If you become angry, do your best to not do or say anything out of anger. What happens inside of you when you hold your anger in check? What do you have to do in order to keep your anger in check? What are the benefits and disadvantages of this?
• Choose one person you are angry or irritated with, or who you feel hurt by. Reflect on what it would take for you to be able to forgive this person. (You don’t have to use your most difficult person)

Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Please read Bearing with Life pages 113-130.
https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/parami-ways-to-cross-life-s-floods?language=English

This Homework is the only homework till next class on Sept 13

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 20-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
3. Recollect Parami Practice
   • Initially one brings the topic to mind-this is helpful and useful-it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in truthfulness & patience.
   • The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition. (Something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so) Do your best to apply truthfulness & patience in the face of opposition.
   • Continue Patience Reflections & Practices listed after Truthfulness Parami homework.
4. Sacca or Truthfulness Parami- Sacca is a Pali word meaning truthfulness or straightforwardness and specifically keeping one’s promises. Sacca asks us to see things as they are – to understand truth. Therefore, this path is a promise, a pledge to the truth. Dharma means truth and Dharma practice means living a life of truth.

Reflections, Formal & Daily Life Practices

Record in your journal. Share with your Buddy via in person, e-mail, phone, text. 2-3 times a week (In writing, not too long)

Truthfulness Reflections

1. Reflect on: What has been your history with truth? What did you learn about being truthful growing up? What teachings have you received about truthfulness? What experiences have influenced your attitude toward being truthful? What is your attitude & beliefs about being truthful?
2. Reflect on: How would you assess the strength of your commitment to being truthful? What are the conditions that make it easier for you to be truthful? Under what circumstances is your commitment to truthfulness compromised? When do you believe it is okay to not be truthful?
3. Make a list of benefits that can come with being truthful. Make a list of the areas where you could improve your truthfulness.

Truthfulness Practices

Until September, you are invited to practice speaking truthfully, kindly and with awareness. You are invited to refrain from false and harmful speech. This is a great practice and you are encouraged you to try it!

The Buddha considered wise speech so important that it is one of the eightfold noble path factors. Wise speech has four qualities:

1. always truthful & honest,
2. uplifting, harmony producing – not malicious, unkind or dividing.
3. gentle, – not crude, rude or harsh.
4. moderate and useful – not idle, trivial or gossip.

A simple test is to ask ourselves…is it true? Is it kind, is it beneficial? Does it harm anyone? Is this the right time to say something? See if you feel happiness practicing harmlessness!

1. Watch carefully, for 2 weeks, over you speech and do your best to only speak what you are confident is truthful. Do your best to avoid 1) exaggeration, 2) repeating as if true things that you have heard or read but don’t actually know for yourself, 3) the common lies of everyday conversation (e.g. saying ‘fine’ when you are not when someone asks how you are).
2. For 2 weeks, spend 5 minutes a day after formal meditation considering if there is anything you have not really admitted to yourself. Are there any truths that you have been avoiding?
3. Spend another two weeks being as committed to truthfulness while not causing anyone any unnecessary hurt. Notice the effect this has on you, your conversations & on others.

Spend another two weeks noticing when the tone of your voiceis conveying a different message then your words. Find ways that you could be more truthful so that your tone & words match?

Ajahn Sucitto’s book: please read The Fullness of Truth pp133-151. https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/parami-ways-to-cross-life-s-floods?language=English

Patience Reflections (from last month)

• Reflect on what personal obstacles you might have that interfere with persevering with a challenging activity. What understanding & abilities do you have that help you to stick with doing something you have committed yourself to?
• Reflect on how you generally respond to anger & insults directed at you? Under what circumstances are you most reactive to anger toward yourself? What abilities, practices, understandings do you have that help you to be patient or non- reactive to anger & insult? What benefits come from being patient while being insulted?
• Reflect on what attitudes you have toward forgiveness? Under what circumstances are you willing to forgive someone? When is forgiveness difficult for you? Are there areas in your life where it would be useful to forgive?
• Are there things that you are not willing to look at, to be honest about? Are there some things you believe are true that you resist? When can acceptance of the truth help you to be more at ease?

Patience in Formal Practice and Daily Life (from last month)

• In sitting meditation, at a time of unpleasant or what seems like uninteresting experience, focus on bringing the quality of patience to it. Notice any resistance to the experience. Mindfully, bring the quality of patient kindness into the experience.
• Choose a task, that you regularly avoid doing or which you often procrastinate about. Engage in the task and stick with it until it is done. When you are done, reflect what that was like.
• If you become angry, do your best to not do or say anything out of anger. What happens inside of you when you hold your anger in check? What do you have to do in order to keep your anger in check? What are the benefits and disadvantages of this?
• Choose one person, you are angry or irritated with, or who you feel hurt by. Reflect on what it would take for you to be able to forgive this person (You don’t have to use your most difficult person).
• Lastly, explore with mindfulness, the opposite of impatience. Maybe it is not patience, but presence, trust or contentment — to be able to begin to trust where you are. Rumi says, “Don’t be an impatient bystander in this life, be present for it.”

Have Fun…Enjoy summer…See you in September!

This is the only homework. Next class on October 11

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 20-30 minutes per day. (more if you are able) Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude Practice. Text or e-mail a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
3. Recollect Parami Practice
   • Initially one brings the topic to mind-this is helpful and useful-it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in resolve or determination.
   • The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition. (Something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so) Do your best to apply resolve or determination in the face of opposition.
4. Adhitthana or Resolve Parami- Adhitthana is a Pali word meaning resolve, determination, dedication, commitment, or sustaining power.

Reflections, Formal & Daily Life Practices

Record in your journal. Share with your Buddy via in person, e-mail, phone, text. 2 times a week (In writing, not too long )

Resolve Reflections

1. Reflect on: What have been the strongest resolves that you have acted on? What was required of you to act on the resolves? Were you able to follow through on these resolves? Did you benefit from having resolve?
2. Reflect on: What resolves or determined motivations do you currently have? How might it be useful for you to be more resolved? Do you have any resolves in relationship to practice or mindfulness? What resolves would support your practice?
3. Reflect on: What hinders you from being resolved, committed, or strongly motivated? How might you be resolved in a counter-productive manner? Do you have any beliefs, attitudes, or feelings that make you reluctant to be resolved? Or which undermine your determined effort?

Resolve Practices

1. When you sit down to meditate: take the time to get into a grounded & resolved posture. Make a clear determination to be as present as possible without straining. During meditation, if your mind wanders off in thought, don’t just come back to the present and to your breath, but also come back to your resolve, your determination to stay focused. Try to notice how being resolved and determined affects your meditation.
2. For two weeks, resolve to be at ease. Figure out as many ways as are practical to remember this resolve throughout the day. Look for opportunities to be at ease & try your best to do it even when being tense or stressed seems important. At the end of the day consider how you maintained the resolve & how you benefited from it.
3. For the next two weeks, consider what you know about practice to see if there is any practice, virtue, or understanding that would be good for you to further develop. Set a resolve to do so & notice what happens as you follow through on the resolve.

Ajahn Sucitto’s book: Please read Resolve pp153-169. https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/parami-ways-to-cross-life-s-floods?language=English

This is the only homework. Next class on November 8th.

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum on 20-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude practice. Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate 3 things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Please thank someone every day!
3. Recollect Parami Practice
   • Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in Kindness
   • The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply Kindness in the face of opposition.
4. Metta or Holistic Kindness Parami – Metta is a Pali word meaning an all-inclusive befriending, a fearless kindness, an openheartedness, love as care, benevolence, empathy. It is a radical shift in our way of being present and rests upon a dedicated intentional practice. A heart-mind abiding in kindness. The Buddha described this way of being in the world as an attitudinal commitment we can bring to all moments, situations, relationships in our lives.

Reflections, Formal & Daily Life Practices

Record in your journal. Share with your buddy in person, email, phone, 2 times a week (in writing, not too long)

Metta Daily Reflections

1. Reflect on: Some of the significant acts of goodwill or kindness, of loving kindness that you received from others today. What made these significant for you? How did they make you feel? Did they motivate you in any way? What did you learn from experiencing these acts of goodwill?
2. Reflect on: Some of the more significant acts of good will or kindness or loving kindness that you have offered to others today. What made these significant to you? How did you feel doing them? What did you learn from doing them?
3. Consider: What points of view you could draw on that would help you have greater good will or kindness or caring for others. What aspect of another person can you consider that would incline you to feel friendlier toward them?

Metta Daily Practices

1. Begin your meditation with 10 minutes of loving-kindness. Please start by sending it to yourself, then all beings. Notice how starting with loving kindness affects the rest of your meditation. Use your own phrases or felt sense of kindness or from class: May I/all beings be safe and protected, be peaceful, live in love and compassion.
2. When you are in public situations: Privately practice generating intentions of good will, well wishing, kindness, friendliness, caring, to the people around you. How does doing this affect you?
3. Choose a person you are not getting along with (doesn’t have to be the most difficult person). For several days focus your kindness practice on generating whatever good will or kindness or friendliness toward this person that you can. Notice if or how your attitude toward this person changes over those days. Repeat this exercise several times during this month.
4. Choose to practice any of the actions or meditation practices on pg. 187-188 in the reading below that spark your interest. Practice them as you wish.
5. Reading: Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Parami: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods. Please read Holistic Kindness, pg. 171-188.

This is the only homework. Last class is on December 13th.

1. Sit every day. Try sitting for a minimum of 20-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your mediation in silence.
2. Gratitude practice. Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything. Please thank someone every day!
3. Recollect Parami Practice
   • Initially one brings the topic to mind – this is helpful and useful – it means that the parami gets built-in as a frame of reference. Do your best to build in Equanimity or Evenness of Mind.
   • The gathering stage is when you apply the parami in the face of its opposition (something in you doesn’t want to bother, other people don’t see the point, not convenient to do so). Do your best to apply Equanimity, Evenness of Mind in the face of opposition.
4. Upekkha or Equanimity Parami – Upekkha, a Pali word meaning “to look over.” It refers to equanimity that arises from observation, the ability to see without being caught by what we see. Upekkha also refers to the ease that comes from seeing a bigger picture. Colloquially, in India, the word was used to mean “to see with patience.” We can understand this as “seeing with understanding.”
   • Equanimity: Buoyance, agility, flexibility, lightness, resilience – not rigid, steadiness of heart/mind, unwavering
5. Reflections, Formal & Daily Life Practices: Record in your journal. Share with your buddy either in person, email, phone, text. Two times a week (in writing, not too long)

Upekkha Daily Reflections

1. Reflect on: A time in your life when you felt present, poised, even-minded, balanced while in the midst of some exciting or difficult activity. Remember a time in your life when you felt very present for what was happening and also able to see the bigger picture of what was occurring. How did it feel to not be caught up and/or lost in the activity and still experience it? How did it feel in your body?
2. Reflect on: If you are put off by ideas of equanimity, fearing that it asks you to have a cool aloofness, an indifference to your experience and the world around you. What are your ideas about equanimity? How do you distinguish it from indifference or neutrality?
3. Consider: What are some of the factors that help you to be equanimous? How does meditation help? What understandings help? How can you make these supportive factors be a more regular part of your life?

Upekkha Daily Practices

1. In sitting meditation, notice any feelings of poise, balance, even-mindedness. If you don’t experience a sense of balance, then explore what prevents you from being present and feeling even-minded with what has arisen.
2. Reflect: At the end of the day, if there were times when you felt indifferent or disconnected from your experience. How does that feeling compare to the feeling of equanimity that you had been exploring? What prevents you from feeling connected and equanimous to your experience?
3. Notice: When you feel calm and settled, then notice how balanced, poised, even-minded you feel when you’re calm. Notice the relationship between feeling agitated and your ability to hold experiences with equanimity.

Reading: Ajahn Sucitto’s book, Parami: Ways to Cross Life’s Floods. Please read Evenness of Mind pp. 191-202 and 209-210.

Explore: Equanimity process from the book

Pay Attention,

Meet What Arises (widen, soften)

Include It All

Read the first chapter of the book “The Magnanimous Heart” by Narayan Helen Liebenson. Chapter 1 is called “A Constant Squeeze.”

Be aware throughout the day of dukkha – a constant sense of squeeze, especially as related to experiences of loss. Be aware of big losses as well as smaller more subtle and nuanced losses as you go throughout your day. As you recognize this sense of being squeezed – mentally, physically, and emotionally – try to incline towards relating to it as natural and not as something that should not be happening. Contextualize these moments as “dukkha is happening,” or “this is dukkha,” not adding or subtracting from the experience itself but instead, opening your heart to its existence.

Practice gently turning towards the squeeze (ache, discomfort, unpleasantness, pain, etc). Ask: What qualities help you to do so? In this way turn towards the experience.

One can do the homework anywhere. Please do your best to remember to do it everyday. It can be helpful to print the assignment out and leave it  on your meditation cushion, or in a prominent place where you will see it and read it every day – even on the refrigerator! Then be prepared to come to class and report back on how you worked with this assignment.

Read the first chapter of the book “The Magnanimous Heart” by Narayan Helen Liebenson. Chapter 1 is called “A Constant Squeeze.”

Be aware throughout the day of dukkha – a constant sense of squeeze, especially as related to experiences of loss. Be aware of big losses as well as smaller, more subtle and nuanced losses as you go throughout your day. As you recognize this sense of being squeezed – mentally, physically, and emotionally – try to incline towards relating to it as natural and not as something that should not be happening. Contextualize these moments as “dukkha is happening,” or “this is dukkha,” not adding or subtracting from the experience itself but instead, opening your heart to its existence.

Practice gently turning towards the squeeze (ache, discomfort, unpleasantness, pain, etc). Ask: What qualities help you to do so? In this way turn towards the experience.

If you find a particular phrase or question from the first chapter of the book that resonates, keep that alive in your mind and practice throughout the week as well.

One can do the homework anywhere. Please do your best to remember to do it every day. It can be helpful to print the assignment out and leave it on your meditation cushion, or in a prominent place where you will see it and read it every day – even on the refrigerator! Then be prepared to come to class and report back on how you worked with this assignment.

Please read chapter two, “The Five Recollections.”

The Buddha’s Five Recollections

I am of the nature to age. There is no way to escape aging.

I am of the nature to get ill. There is no way to escape illness.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

 

From the Magnanimous Heart: “This moment matters. This moment is the ground on which we stand. We recognize the preciousness of this moment. What is the quality of my heart right now? This moment conditions the next moment and the next moment. It is always possible to care for the heart. Caring for the heart means learning and practicing the teachings of the Buddha.”

After each recollection, pause and listen to the reverberations as if you were listening to what happens after a stone is dropped into a still pond on water. These reverberations may come in the form of resistance, outrage, sadness, numbness, peacefulness, balance, anger, etc. (this is the short list of possible reactions). They may appear as images, emotions, ideas, feelings, thoughts. Listen to the body. You may feel these reactions in the body. Try to be aware of what arises without proliferating and adding trains of thought about each reaction. Listen deeply and make room for all that arises in response to each recollection. Each recollection may effect you differently, according to your specific conditioning and life experiences. Back off into the anchor of the breath etc. as need be. Do not force or strive. Let your listening be compassionate.

There are many translations and versions of the five recollections. Find or make a version that speaks most clearly to you. Use what ever language allows this practice to imprint most deeply on your heart and makes them the most natural for you to use in your daily practice. You may bring your version to share with the class next week.

Please read chapter two, “The Five Recollections.”

The Buddha’s Five Recollections

I am of the nature to age. There is no way to escape aging.

I am of the nature to get ill. There is no way to escape illness.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

From the Magnanimous Heart: “This moment matters. This moment is the ground on which we stand. We recognize the preciousness of this moment. What is the quality of my heart right now? This moment conditions the next moment and the next moment. It is always possible to care for the heart. Caring for the heart means learning and practicing the teachings of the Buddha.”

After each recollection, pause and listen to the reverberations as if you were listening to what happens after a stone is dropped into a still pond on water. These reverberations may come in the form of resistance, outrage, sadness, numbness, peacefulness, balance, anger, etc. (this is the short list of possible reactions). They may appear as images, emotions, ideas, feelings, thoughts. Listen to the body. You may feel these reactions in the body. Try to be aware of what arises without proliferating and adding trains of thought about each reaction. Listen deeply and make room for all that arises in response to each recollection. Each recollection may affect you differently, according to your specific conditioning and life experiences. Back off into the anchor of the breath etc. as need be. Do not force or strive. Let your listening be compassionate.

This week we are adding the following. 

After each recollection add “therefore…” or “and so…” making real for you, in your own way, the implications, teaching, and intentions that arise in deepening your understanding of that particular recollection.

For example you might say, “I am of the nature to age. There is no way to avoid aging…therefore I will endeavor to treat older people in my life with greater compassion and patience.”

If you find it helpful to write down your additions to the five recollections, please do so. In any case, please be prepared to come to our next class on Tuesday, November 12, ready to share how you worked with this homework, and how it worked on you.

There are many translations and versions of the five recollections. Find or make a version that speaks most clearly to you. Use whatever language allows this practice to imprint most deeply on your heart and makes them the most natural for you to use in your daily practice. You may bring your version to share with the class next week.

 

We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world, for it is not against us. If it has terrors, they are our terrors; if it has abysses, these abysses belong to us; if there are dangers, we must try to love them. And if only we arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, then what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience. How could we forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races, the myths about dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses? Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.

So you mustn’t be frightened, if a sadness rises in front of you, larger than any you have ever seen; if an anxiety, like light and cloud-shadows, moves over your hands and over everything you do. You must realize that something is happening to you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why do you want to shut out of your life any uneasiness, any misery, any depression, since after all you don’t know what work these conditions are doing inside you?

– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

The Buddha’s Five Recollections

I am of the nature to age. There is no way to escape aging.

I am of the nature to get ill. There is no way to escape illness.

I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.

After each recollection, pause and listen to the reverberations as if you were listening to what happens after a stone is dropped into a still pond on water. These reverberations may come in the form of resistance, outrage, sadness, numbness, peacefulness, balance, anger, etc. (this is the short list of possible reactions). They may appear as images, emotions, ideas, feelings, thoughts. Listen to the body. You may feel these reactions in the body. Try to be aware of what arises without proliferating and adding trains of thought about each reaction. Listen deeply and make room for all that arises in response to each recollection. Make whatever arises into your object of meditation. Each recollection may affect you differently, according to your specific conditioning and life experiences. Back off into the anchor of the breath etc. as need be. Do not force or strive. Let your listening be compassionate.

After each recollection add “therefore…” or “and so…” making real for you, in your own way, the implications, teaching, and intentions that arise in deepening your understanding of that particular recollection.

For example you might say, “I am of the nature to age. There is no way to avoid aging…therefore I will endeavor to treat older people in my life with greater compassion and patience.”

If you find it helpful to write down your additions to the five recollections, please do so. Use whatever language allows this practice to imprint most deeply on your heart and makes them the most natural for you to use in your daily practice. You may bring your version to share with the class next week on Tuesday, November 19.

From the Magnanimous Heart: “This moment matters. This moment is the ground on which we stand. We recognize the preciousness of this moment. What is the quality of my heart right now? It is always possible to care for the heart. Caring for the heart means learning and practicing the teachings of the Buddha.”

Read the through the end of Emptiness, The Wonder of Interbeing from The Art of Living in Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now. Use the readings to explore the wonder of breathing, listening to the rain, and the fullness of emptiness. Below are some practice suggestions but be creative and develop practices that work for you and allow you to be more free and at peace in the here and now.

Practice Suggestions:

1. Sit at least 15 to 20 minutes per day.
2. In formal sitting form the intention to be a peace and ease and to enjoy the miracle of the breathing process. When you have difficulty widen and soften the body and mind. Notice how the mind contracts around a sensation or idea. Widening the mind refers to having a broader perspective. A phrase from Joseph Goldstein “And the sky is blue might be helpful”. Find parts of the body that feel pleasant or neutral. Then ask “How can I be at peace with what is happening now? When you are at peace (not pushing away or holding on to experiences) there is a stillness of the mind and you can see clearly.
3. If you are inclined you might practice with Joseph Goldstein’s Big Mind Meditation. Perhaps you find it as useful means to develop an embodied sense of emptiness. See https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/96/?search=big+mind
4. As you go through the day make being at peace your priority.
5. Emptiness is one of the most profound and subtle teachings of the Buddhist tradition. One way to describe it is there are only interdependent conditions unfolding. In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn there is inter-being or Emptiness means to be full of everything but empty of a separate existence. When you do not identify with this limited self you are something vast and ineffable. What would it be like to live with the perception that you are full of everything? When you are eating, reflect on how the body and mind are dependent on the food and all of the conditions that have to come together to have to make the food available. When you are having a conversation with someone realize everything that happens in the relationship is interdependent. What you say, how you listen and the other person’s actions come together to co-create an apparent reality. You are interrelated.

Over the next two weeks read Chapter 4, Impermanence: Now is the Time from The Art of Living in Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now. The teachings on no(t)-self and emptiness can be very challenging to understand and embody end but they can be very freeing. Below are some references. If you have the time and interest, please explore them. I particularly recommend the talk on Liberating Insights.

There is an excellent talk entitled “Liberating Insights” by Olivia Hoblizelle on no(t) self and emptiness at https://cambridgeinsight.org/what-we-offer/wednesday-evening-programs/dharma-talks-archive-2018/ If you would  like to download the talk go to  https://tinyurl.com/y4c6u8fq . I strongly recommend you listen to the talk, especially the part between five and ten minutes from the beginning.

Other references are https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/notself2.html and https://app.box.com/s/cyx4y74s3xv5sgj8l06qfex4lhr8ryqx (by the Dalai Lama). There was some discussion of should and good and evil the first week. If you are curious see https://app.box.com/s/6zd9dayyk033lwe4tpdgzjgngjifxk40

1. Continue practices from the previous week that you find helpful.
2. Sit at least 15 to 20 minutes per day. In your formal practice and as you go through the day form the intention to connect to your body. Scan through the body in a caring way. Soften areas that have tension – eyes, lips, hands, belly, let the shoulders drop and relax, the arms hang long, the hands be relaxed and the belly drop in the on the out breath and allow the in breath begin on its own. See the section from Thich Nhat Hanh Practice the Art of Breathing. The natural way of breathing is diaphragmatic. There are many articles so search on the web. An example is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaphragmatic_breathing If you are inclined, explore rolling your head around in a circle very slowly during the day and/or yawning five or ten times.
3. When you have settled into some steadiness of awareness notice the changing nature of your bodily sensations, pleasant and unpleasant experiences, emotions and thoughts. Notice that when “you” let them flow and do what they need to do (arise and pass away) there is a sense of peace but when “you” try to hold on to them there is less peace. What is it that is aware of these sensations? Is it at peace? Do this in both formal and informal practice. The purpose of this practice is to develop some dispassion and disenchantment from these ephemeral experiences. These terms might seem negative but disenchantment refers to seeing things with greater clarity and dispassion is a quality of openness and equanimity. As Olvia says in your talk when you know impermanence in your bones you surrender to something greater than. What is that?
4. Both in formal practice and daily life bring a quality of holistic awareness (body, heart, mind) to your practice. A key to keeping the mind from spinning is to being in the body, sensing the breathing, the energy level, the pressure of the buttocks on the seat and feet on the floor. When the body is relaxed the mind tends to relax. When body, heart, and mind are balanced there is a sense of ease.
5. Each day open to nature (this could be in formal sitting or simply as you go through the day). Notice how the sense perceptions (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, and smelling and the mind) come together with what appears to be the external world to create what you perceive as reality. Notice how lighting, temperature, wind, etc. come together to create an apparent external world and how it constantly is changing. Reflect on what we perceive ourselves to be is also a set of conditions coming together.

Finish reading Chapter 4, Impermanence: Now is the Time from The Art of Living in Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now.

1. Continue practices from the previous weeks that you find helpful.
2. Sit at least 15 to 20 minutes per day. In sitting and in daily life continue to notice the chaning nature of your bodily sensations, pleasant and unpleasant experiences, emotions and thoughts. Notice that when “you” let them flow and do what they need to do (arise and pass away) there is a sense of peace but when “you” try to hold on to them there is less peace. What is it that is aware of these sensations? Is it at peace? Do this in both formal and informal practice. The purpose of this practice is to develop some dispassion and disenchantment from these ephemeral experiences. These terms might seem negative but disenchantment refers to seeing things with greater clarity and dispassion is a quality of openness and equanimity. As Olivia says in her talk, when you know impermanence in your bones you surrender to something greater than yourself. What is that?
3. When you have difficulty, rather than trying to figure things out or fix things, can you hold the difficulty in open compassionate awareness and let the difficulty arise and pass away.

1. Continue practices from the previous weeks that you find helpful. In particular, pay attention to the practice suggestion from last week, “When you have difficulty, rather than trying to figure things out or fix things, hold the difficulty in open compassionate awareness and let the experience arise and pass away.” In the discussion this week, there was a lot of trying to figure things out. Rather than one part of the mind struggling with the other or trying to rearrange the world to fit your desires, come into the body and as best you can, open to how things are. Then bring a quality of care and interest to what is happening. One could summarize this practice as care, interest, and allowing (CIA).
2. Sit at least 15 to 20 minutes per day. In sitting and in daily life. In your formal practice and daily life, form the intention to meet each moment as if it were the last moment you have. While all conditioned things are impermanent, each moment is precious. It is all we have. This is what the fifth remembrance is pointing to (see practice 4). How would you treat someone if you knew it was the last time you were going to see them? How does this reflection affect what is important to you? How upset would you be about events in your life? Slow down, be here rather than trying to get somewhere or something. See Chapter 3 (Aimlessness) and Chapter 5 (Non-Craving, You Have Enough).
3. Read the selections in the file Awareness, Impermanence. The reading has quotes on impermanence and awareness. I encourage you to read them and reflect on them. There is a talk Not Waiting for Nibbana by Ajahn Sucitto. He gets to the quote in the attachment between 20 and 23 minutes into the talk.
4. Practice with the suggestions at https://cambridgeinsight.org/homework/#child-tab-dweek-three
5. Next week we will probably go around and each person will be asked to offer a reflection on their practice.

1. Continue practices from the previous weeks that you find helpful.
2. In Chapter 4, Thich Nhat Hahn says this is the only moment where we can be alive so “We have to make this present moment into the most wonderful moment of our life.” Even in the midst of difficulty, we can still enjoy our breathing, or if we can still walk, we can enjoy our walking. From the intention to cultivate this way of meeting life. Appreciate the precious moments of meeting someone, sharing time with them, knowing this is the only moment you have. What thoughts and actions lead to making this moment the most wonderful moment of life? Hold this question as you go through the day. This might involve slowing down, doing less, letting go of grudges, placing your attention on what brightens the heart (gratitude, kindness, compassion) and eases the mind and body.
3. In practice, shift the attention from the object to what knows the object. Sometimes this is referred to being aware of awareness, but awareness  doesn’t require doing. It is a quality that is present when we are not pushing experiences away or holding on to them. Awareness is different from attention. Attention has the quality of focusing but awareness is receptive. One approach is to look at “you” being aware of experiences and then shift to what is aware of you. The following are some additional references that might be helpful in exploring awareness if you have the time and interest: https://app.box.com/s/r2s5v5cyhgmao31z1n590wv4l1nye4le and https://app.box.com/s/k8xtxjdc4siyg34vzakqcdt966oqc2sz There is also a short Youtube talk by Loch Kelly at https://youtu.be/0bL2P7Fjzz4 and my Kindle Notes on his book are at https://app.box.com/file/558127411037
4. Next week we will break into small groups. For those who would like to, the group will describe awareness. A key to this practice is trusting awareness to describe itself. Instructions for the practice are at https://app.box.com/s/k31jmqi684zxd9r9dr17dwkzp0ggow2l Those who do not want to do awareness practice will be in a group that will discuss what is most alive for them.

Read (or re-read, if you wish) the first two sections of Aging with Wisdom: “The Tectonic Shift” and “A New Vision.” Also, “Honoring the Life Cycle” and “The Five Remembrances.” Highly recommend including the last as part of your regular practice.

Experiment with ways to inspire your practice. Bring awareness to habit patterns and try changing something, adding something!

Open to wonder each day.

The homework for each week of Aging with Wisdom can be found on this listserve.

1. Daily sitting meditation for 15-20 minutes or longer. Even a shorter time is beneficial; at least be sure to find a time(s) to stop, turn your awareness within and be still.
2. Bring awareness to your patterns of attachment. Have fun with this; you’ll be surprised at how many places during the day attachments are propelling your choices.
3. Practice letting go wherever you remember. Even letting go with your out breath is an important place for letting go.
4. In Aging with Wisdom, read “Know Your Refuges” and “A Wordless Encounter.”

The homework for each week of Aging with Wisdom can be found on this listserve.

Here’s the homework (to play with!) for this week. Reread the section titled “The Unbroken,” p. 41, contemplating the poem by that title. The themes of the two truths — relative and absolute — are woven through the poem.

When faced with challenging emotions, experiment with using the R.A.I.N. practice (4 phases to the process: Recognizing, Allowing, Investigating, Non-identification).

This is similar to Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s “handshake practice” which invites a similar sequence: recognizing, meeting (the emotion in the body), dialogue (allowing the emotion to speak, etc.), letting be.

Main point: Bringing acceptance and awareness to any emotion arising will create a shift in energy and insights.

Homework is simple though the general topic is not!

Following from last month’s meeting, today we explored the subject of “lurking fears” associated with aging. Homework suggestion is to bring heightened awareness to fear patterns, whether they manifest as worry, anxiety, or full blown fear and anything in between.

Bring dharma wisdom to what you are experiencing. Maybe use R.A.I.N. (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Non-identify — or invite spaciousness to the feeling) or other approaches to working with challenging emotions. “May I hold this feeling with a peaceful heart,” is one suggestion.

Opening to Joy Homework: Joy and Gratitude

1. Sit every day: Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude Practices:
   • Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate three things that you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
   • Cultivate a sense of appreciation each day.
   • Thank someone every day.
3. Joy Daily Life Practices:
   • Joy is our heart’s capacity to celebrate life! Create a list of easy ways that you can increase the amount of joy and/or delight in your daily life. For example: What are some of the obvious activities, actions, events, or aspects of nature/beauty in your daily life that you often overlook that would bring some degree of joy if you really noticed? (You can add to this list during the week.) Bring the list to class.
   • Practice a couple of easy ways on your list.
   • What effect does joy have on you?
   • Text or email your buddy. Share what you learned.

Have fun!

1. Sit every day: Try sitting for a minimum of 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
2. Gratitude Practices:
   • Write down, say to partner or friend or text a classmate three things you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
   • Cultivate a sense of appreciation and thank someone every day.
3. Pause Practice: Relax the body, ask, what is happening right now? Listen. Let go. Be in the body – feel your feet, hands.
4. Joy Daily Life Practices:
   • Reflections: What helps you feel ease, contentment or joy? What are the activities that most easily bring you joy? Is it some kid of physical activity? Are you more likely to feel joy when you are with others or when you are alone? Do you experience joy that is not dependent on any particular activity? If so, what conditions bring about that joy? How easy is it for you to be in touch with the sources for your joy?
   • Practices: At the end of each day reflect on when you felt the greatest sense of well-being, joy or contentment. Is there a time to your sense of well-being on most days; e.g. do you feel the most ease in the morning or evening? Or does your sense of well-being depend mostly on the activities you’re doing? If possible, try meditating at different times in the day; e.g. early morning, lunch time, early evening or late evening. Is there a time of day when you feel more of a sense of well-being and ease in your meditation?
   • What effect does joy have on you? Set an intention for joy (well-being, happiness, contentment, delight, ease, aliveness). Trusting that you can make a heartfelt intention, to do your part to make that happen. Set the compass of your heart. Repeat your intention before you sit and throughout your day.
   • Text or email your joy buddy: Share what you learned. Just a couple of sentences. Please have fun!

1. Sitting Practice:
   • Sit every day. Try sitting for 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
   • Set an intention for joy before sitting and throughout the day.
   • Practice wise attitudes: Be at ease and be comfortable with discomfort.
2. Gratitude Practices:
   • Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate three things that you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
   • Cultivate a sense of appreciation and thank someone every day.
3. Pause Practice: Ten seconds – repeat in your day
   • Feel your feet on the floor, shift into relaxation (relax muscles anywhere you feel tension: shoulders, jaw, eyes, belly)
   • Ask, “What is happening right now?” Listen for the answer and let it go.
   • Notice how the body feels. Pay attention, as if listening to the body. Widen attention over the entire body – inhabit the body, be in the body, feel your feet, hands.
   • Move in to the next moment with ease.
4. Joy Daily Life Practices:
   • Reflections: How do you know when you have a sense of well-being, contentment, or joy? Is it more of a physical sensation or a mental sensation for you? How is feeling joyful different than feeling ill-at-ease or uncomfortable? What effect does joy have on you? What happens to your thinking and level of preoccupation when you are joyful?
   • Practices: Spend more time than you normally would with activities that support a feeling of well-being or joy. Notice how your body feels when you feel content or satisfied. Also notice your mind state and emotional state when you have this feeling. Is the feeling of joy consistent or does it fluctuate?

More Joy Practices

Integrity Practice

• Practice non-harming.
• Remember the gladness that comes from wholesome and/or skillful actions.

Practice Contentment

• Remember that conditions don’t have to be perfect to know contentment. The art of resting within is contentment.
• Remember that joy is for all, including you.
• Dwell joyfully in the present moment – not rushing into the future. Celebrate the moments of joy in your own life! As you become more appreciative of your own blessings, the joys of others naturally start to feed your heart.
• Take time to hold in your heart and ask the question, “What is lacking in this moment?”

Text or email your joy buddy: Share what you learned. Just a couple of sentences.

Please have fun!

1. Sitting Practice:
   • Sit every day. Try sitting for 15-30 minutes per day (more if you are able). Please practice your meditation in silence.
   • Set an intention for joy before sitting and throughout the day.
   • If an uncomfortable sensation or emotion arises, try not to shove it down. Give it space to be and allow mindfulness to simply meet it, in the body as it is. Offer the kindness of non-judgment. Remember: Just watch, allow it to stay or go. You are not trying to get rid of it, but you aren’t clinging to it, either. As you sit with an uncomfortable experience, you may feel like you are moving further away from joy. But as we come into contact with feelings that are vulnerable or tender and let them be, we begin to see our suffering without bias or shame and begin to meet it with compassion and softness. Instead of banishing our unwanted experiences to a closed heart, we practice offering them a gentle space to just be. From practicing, we may start to feel a sense of contentment, ease, well-being within.
2. Gratitude Practices:
   • Write down, say to a partner or friend or text a classmate three things that you are grateful for each day. Can be anything.
   • Cultivate a sense of appreciation and thank someone every day.
3. Pause Practice: Ten seconds – repeat in your day
4. Joy Daily Life Practices:
   • Cultivate joy as a way of being: In the midst of all the conditions and events of your life is the invitation to radically transform your understanding of joy, experiencing it not as a state but as a place where your heart can rest. Learn to cultivate the gladdened heart in the midst of life within all its difficulties and challenges.
   • Keeping perspective: When you are going through a difficult time, the suffering might feel relentless. Please keep in mind everything is impermanent. Do your best to notice any moments of well-being or joy that arise – the sun or blue sky, the light on the bark of a tree or a leaf, the berries on bushes, children laughing or playing, the warmth of sharing a hug with a friend, taking a walk, reading a good book, tasting yummy food, spending time enjoying your pet(s), speaking to a friend, or receiving a kind or delightful text, or…Please don’t miss these or other delightful moments!
   • The Buddha’s teachings start out by focusing on an awareness of our suffering (First Noble Truth). He also spoke about our Buddha nature – a state of unshakable happiness, joy and ease that does not depend on conditions. This is our birthright. So, remember that joy, gratitude, contentment, happiness are also gifts of our lives.
5. Please Remember:
   1. Contentment, happiness lies in wholesome ways of being
   2. The power of setting your intention and developing mindfulness to support wise choices
   3. A grateful heart lets you see that life is full of blessings, along with sorrows
   4. Fearlessly being with your sorrows keeps your heart open to all of life
   5. Change, we change, things change, everything changes – letting go of what we are holding on to can be a great relief! Buddha taught that the end of suffering – highest happiness comes from developing a mind that clings to nothing. Start to be aware of what you are attached to, or clinging to, or holding on to and if it causes you suffering. Gently, see if you can loosen the grip or let go.
6. Practice Contentment (from last week)
   • Remember conditions don’t have to be perfect to know contentment. The art of resting within is contentment.
   • Remember that joy is for all, including you.
   • Dwell joyfully in the present moment – not rushing into the future. Celebrate the moments of joy in your own life! As you become more appreciative of your own blessings, the joys of others naturally start to feed your heart.
   • Take time to hold in your heart and ask the question, “What is lacking in this moment?”

Text or email your joy buddy: Share what you learned. Just a couple of sentences. Please have fun!

1. Practice meditation once daily for 10-15 minutes.
2. Practice meditation twice daily for 1-2 minutes (be creative about when/where you create this 60-120 seconds for yourself).

Extra Credit: Begin gladdening the mind with a daily gratitude reflection (three things each day).

1. Increase your longer meditation practice by 5 minutes: Practice meditation once daily for 15-20 minutes.
2. Practice meditation twice daily for 1-2 minutes (be creative about when/where you create this 60-120 seconds for yourself).
3. Investigation practice: Throughout your day, keep an eye out for moments that could be examples of the Simile of the Two Darts. The first dart is a moment of unpleasant experience occurring, the second dart is the additional misery-making, resentment, resistance which the mind piles on afterward. Notice and explore how these two darts are separate phenomena, and see if you can find what a wise and compassionate relationship to each of these might look like — in the moment.

Extra Credit: Begin/continue gladdening the mind with a daily gratitude reflection (three things each day).