One fall-out of all the workshops, classes, conferences and workshops I've attended are the plethora of notes. I have storage bins and shelves of note-crammed journals. Transcribed here, from the little black notebook that hitches a ride in my purse, are these scribbled bits from my **former mindfulness meditation group leader. May they resonate with you, too:
"Happiness is an inside job."
"When the mind is still/calm: Happiness arises."
"The breath sweeps the mind."
"There is nothing to hold onto. Groundlessness. Let Go. Let Go."
"If we want to be free[…] let go of suffering."
"Have Compassion to the contents of the mind. Let thoughts [of suffering, etc.] pass through without identifying with them. Practice nonclinging."
"The awareness of feelings (anger, etc.) is not the feeling. Awareness of anger is not anger." [For more on non-attachment, see this "Journey with Grace" post.]
And the best yet, the denoument:
"Life is Change. When we hold on, we suffer. Happiness is letting go."
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**The Nashville Mindfulness Meditation Group moved, last year, from the Vanderbilt Divinity School chapel to Second Presbyterian Church. The group is still led by "Christian-Buddhist," author of (What Christians Can Learn from Buddhists About Suffering,) Gordon Peerman, D.Min, an Episcopol priest, psychotherapist, Vanderbilt Divinity School professor, and Vanderbilt Integrative Medicine Center mindfulness teacher–and his wife, Kathy Woods.
Photos: My neighbor's willow, copyright, 2010, Leisa A. Hammett
