karma

It's interesting how the word karma has been adopted by american culture and used sometimes as an alternative word for luck - good or bad. I once saw a perfume named Karma and thought "jesus, no thanks! I've got enough of my own, I don't need to spray myself with manufactured karma."

Essentially karma is the law of cause and effect. Our actions affect the world around us. And since in Buddhism we believe we are all connected, the effects of those actions will come back to us eventually... like an echo or the return of a boomerang.

We might try to curb our behavior to act in a way that will create good karma. But I've been thinking lately about something my teacher once said - that karma is created by the intention, or energy with which we act rather than the actual action or the result of the action. If I give someone a present because I want them to approve of me, or because I want something in return...the intention of my action isn't generosity, it's almost the opposite. So the karma created from that action won't be positive. It might not be negative, but I shouldn't be waiting to win the lottery or anything as a result.

I think of this aspect of karma when it comes to killing bugs. Before I even start on this subject, let me say that my path is my own and I have no judgement or loss of respect for people that kill bugs. Some of them really creep me out.

But when I come across a bug in my house I notice my reaction. Fear and aversion are the big ones. Sometimes a sense of invasion, that something is in my space and I want to have control over it. These reactions make sense. But I get to choose the action that follows. If I act from fear and aversion and squash them, the karma created from that action would be negative. Not just because of killing a living thing, but because the intention or energy with which I was acting was fear and in a sense, ignorance. So the echo that comes back from that is fear and ignorance. Not great karma.

If I capture the little dudes in a box and let them go outside, it's an action that might be positive or might be neutral - acting out of compassion for the bug's right to live and my right to not be incredibly creeped out in my home.

As further proof that instant karma is not always the case - it has sometimes been my experience that upon letting the insect out of the box in the backyard, it will fly or scurry back toward me, creeping me out even further. Or in the case of the praying mantis that tried to live in my closet (yeah, they're awesome and peaceful but their faces look like aliens and I find that disquieting) , JUMP into my face when I let it out of the box.

And I could get all "you're welcome, praying mantis. Enjoy your natural habitat in south philly" disgruntled at it. Or I could recognize that he's dealing with his own little bug karma and was probably scared about being in that box and pissed about being taken away from my nice comfy wool sweater and I don't need to react and create more karma of my own.

This can be hard to do sometimes. When someone is angry and does or says something rude (their action, their karma) and then we react angrily (now our action, our karma). We can get into the habit of acting and reacting from energy or intention that wasn't ours to begin with.

It can be hard to catch ourselves. Our mind reacts, we have instincts, feelings get involved and actions result. But if we are mindful before we act...create a little space between impulse and action, we have the chance to choose the way we impact our environment and through our connection to it, ourselves.

Mindfulness is another word that is sometimes recognized as a buddhist term. And this is what it's about - being aware of our energy (the emotional or mental force that motivates our actions) and choosing actions that will impact our environment in a way we'd like to have echoed back to us.

Impermanence

I was in a yoga class the other night and the teacher read part of this poem:

If we were not so single-minded

about keeping our lives moving

and for once could do nothing,

perhaps a huge silence

might interrupt this sadness

of never understanding ourselves

and of threatening ourselves with death

Perhaps the world can teach us

as when everything seems dead

but later proves to be alive.

-PABLO NERUDA, Extravagaria

It always amazes me when I catch myself being doubtful. How easy it is to forget the impermanence of everything.

Of course there's a spring on the other side of this winter.

connection

So my laptop caught on fire a little bit the other day and now it doesn't work. The crazy thing is, I wasn't really surprised. Every year around this time my cell phone and laptop usually freak out in some way. One year I dropped a phone down the elevator shaft at Daffy's Department Store. Last year I fell on the snow and my phone shattered on the ice and most of the big pieces were lost in snow piles. So yeah, laptop on fire...it's about that time of year.

After my initial attempts to revive it, I saw the bigger picture - the annual accidental winter hiatus from electronic communication. In the hours of the evening without access to email, wikipedia, itunes, dvd player etc. I began to think about the imbalance between the connection to the electronic media vs the physical world around me.

Some friends and me were talking about this a month or so ago. In certain communities there is still the barbershop or the diner or bar that is the hub of social interaction and community connection in a neighborhood. But for the most part, we've moved beyond that to an expanded connection with the world and a weakened connection from the space that physically surrounds us.

I can't even say that it's a stronger connection with the world. We may know more about other cultures. We have the ability to fact check or read a blog written in Ghana or buy a bag directly from a woman in Thailand via Etsy (it's a very pretty bag)...but the connection remains distant and cerebral.

~

In November I planted trees in Bella Vista with a local group. My reasons for being part of the group are a) I like trees b) I want to see more trees in my neighborhood. I didn't really think of it beyond these two points. Yet after planting a tree at 8th and Christian, I realized that I felt connected to that tree every time I walked by it. As if a part of me was grounded along with it's roots.

In the stillness offered by my burntout laptop and the snow outside, I thought about that tree. It's small tangle of roots that matched it's thin crown of branches. The branches of trees will only reach out as far as the roots go. This gives the tree balance. It is as grounded as it is spread out to the sky.

We don't really have that safeguard. We can reach out as far as we want. Spread our energy out into the world, our thoughts - keep it all out in this high speed information pool. But if we're not grounded in our physical body, our physical environment, our neighborhood...we are unbalanced. And then, what good is all that accessability? If we can't bring it down to earth - ground it in ourselves, or our community....what's the benefit?

From an energy perspective mental energy (thought power) is a higher frequency than physical energy (the power to move, to create physical change). When I think of the chakras, the energy vortexes in the body, I think of them as similar to a tree. The top chakras are about connecting our energy to the universe. The energy in these chakras is fast. The lower chakras are about connecting the physical world and our physical selves. This energy moves slower.

No matter how open our higher chakras are - how connected we are to the universe, if our lower chakras are weak and unhealthy and we don't feel connected physically, all of that high chakra energy cannot be grounded, cannot be brought into the physical world.

It's an amazing thing, the power we have to reach out and connect to vast parts of the world but it's equally amazing that we have the ability to take that energy and ground it in the physical world.

Maybe next winter I won't need a burnt out laptop to remind me to spread my roots as far as my branches. But until then, I'll try to respect the lesson. :)

ego

Sitting in a coffee shop this morning I noticed "across the universe" was playing. The phrase "nothing's going to change my world" struck me. Sounds peaceful...especially when Lennon sings it but I had another song lyric in my mind too "it's no better to be safe than sorry" (A-ha). Maybe because my mind was at odds, these lyrics seemed at odds too.

For starters, everyone has their own reality...their own world. And if we are in control of our minds, we are in control of our world. If we can calm the mind, we can create calm in our world. This can be incredibly difficult when the worlds of others are conflicting with our own. The nature of the mind is to react. And the nature of the ego is to fight against anything that doesn't support it or make it feel secure. If I want to be calm but there is chaos in this coffee shop, babies crying, dogs barking, coffee grinding etc. my mind's reaction will be to jump from distraction to distraction. My ego's reaction will be to reject everything that is not how I want it to be. "Why isn't someone picking up that baby? Aren't there laws against dogs in coffeeshops? How much coffee can you possibly need!?"

In Buddhism, the ego is like a kind of mechanism that protects our idea of 'self'. Because the idea of nonself is so scary, the ego tries to support our separateness and importance. One way the ego functions is by trying to feel bigger. When I imagine the ego, I think of this game . Cracks me up every time I see that. Another way is to control the environment. If the environment reflects our wants, feelings, needs or preferences in an affirming way, we feel safe and important. If more chaos breaks out in the coffee shop our ego feels threatened, small and powerless.

Sometimes, our ego chooses to protect itself by limiting interaction with others. We make a nice little controlled space and don't let anyone mess with it, don't let anyone in. I guess it's in response to this idea that my mind offered "It's no better to be safe than sorry".

And the true peace from the phrase "nothing's gonna change my world" doesn't come from isolation, control or being the biggest katamari on your block. It comes from knowing our own feelings, wants, needs, thoughts and not needing them to be reflected back at us from the outside. It comes from knowing that despite the constant triggers and actions that happen all around us, we have a choice about what we react to, what becomes part of our reality.

If we really know this, we don't have to reject outside influences, we don't have to try to control them and we don't have to try to find a way to fit in to the outside world. Because the outside world is constantly changing. It is made up of uncountable influences, diverse realities and unknowable factors. If we are always trying to react to the outside world or make the outside world react to us, we won't be at peace.

And before my sisters get all snarky on me, I admit I am the first person to freak out about static electricity's winter war against me, mall air and math jazz. I'm talking to myself over here. I'm figuring it out as I go :)

the christmas season

A friend of mine said recently that they experience the 'christmas mood' most through popular culture, especially tv shows, taking them back to their childhood. This whole season is rife with nostalgia and there are so many sensory memories associated with it. The scent of scotch tape brings me back to wrapping presents with my mom on Christmas Eve. Any Nat King Cole christmas song takes me back to one of my very first memories - listening to christmas albums with my dad at age 3.

I enjoy going back to those times and remembering the feeling of Christmas as a kid. But I started wondering recently what is the core of the feeling I had as a kid. When we say "it doesn't feel like christmas this year." or "I can't seem to get into the spirit this year." what do we mean?

As a kid, the thing I loved best about the christmas season was that the adults around me became children. My parents shelved their daily stresses and became downright impish as they decorated/shopped/baked. They were open to joy in a way that we as kids were naturally.

Which makes me think of the heart chakra. As young children, our hearts are open and it is as natural as breathing for us to give and receive love. When we grow older and experience pain, trauma or heartbreak, our hearts become more closed and we are wary of giving and receiving love. It feels vulnerable. We can be mistrustful. We might fear rejection. We think of our heart as something fragile that needs to be protected. And we protect it by closing it up and keeping it guarded. In truth, our hearts are incredibly strong when they are not restricted by our fear.

During a season like christmas if we participate fully in the spirit of giving, our hearts just open. They can't help but to open. Giving is their function. We become joyful, impish like children. And by giving (and thereby opening our hearts) our hearts are open to receive the love that is around us.

Reading "the Grinch that stole christmas" to a four year old or walking down the street, delighting myself with random memorized lines from "It's a Wonderful Life", the main theme that strikes me is the point where each of them - the Grinch and George Bailey, open their hearts the grinch by giving, George Bailey by receiving but both by opening their hearts and feeling connected to the love around them.

Open hearts aren't just for children. They're not just for the Christmas season. They're not just for a specific time of year when the focus is on giving gifts.

Thich Nhat Hahn says "If you love someone, the greatest gift you can give them is your presence."

That's what the Whos down in whoville were singing about. That's zuzu's petals.

acceptance

A while ago, my sister was stuck in traffic. She turned to her four year old daughter and said "I am not a fan of this traffic. Not a fan." To which my niece replied "But there is traffic, Mom. There is traffic on the road."

Back seat zen is so much cooler than back seat driving. Yet it's always easier to see what other people need to accept or let go of. I'm sure it was easier for the four year old to accept traffic than her naptime.

This same sister, an athiest/agnostic, used to find it very annoying when I used the phrase "let go and let god." To be honest, I used that phrase jokingly the first time and teasingly every other time after. I have just as tough a time with that idea as she does. I am also not a fan of traffic.

To truly accept something we have to understand our capacity to impact a situation and accept that we can do nothing beyond that point. There is a peace that can come with that, if we let it. But it can be hard to accept our capacity, to accept the limitations of our power over our environment. We want to believe that we have the power to get what we want. To arrive at destinations on time. To create a situation that makes us happy. And very often, we're able to do this. There are shortcuts and back roads and traffic reports. But there are also three hundred million people with free will in this country. Every situation, every moment is made up of countless other situations and moments. They are constantly changing, elements coming together and dissipating. There is a limit to our control.

When we talk about accepting things, we're not talking about surrendering completely to fate. Laying down and saying "I just have to accept it. That's just the way it is." Because then you're only accepting the power of the world around you - all the other factors. You're not accepting your own power, your own ability to impact your environment.

And true strength is in the middle. We exhaust ourselves when we make ourselves responsible for things that are truly beyond our capacity. And we create victims of ourselves when we don't accept the power we DO have in a situation.

It can be hard to recognize our capacity, especially when we're so used to overreaching it or not testing it. But when we find it and settle into it, the feeling is much more stable. It makes it a bit easier to sit in traffic and say "I'm not a fan of this, but it's there...there is traffic on the road." Instead of railing against it futily or waiting for divine intervention to clear the way.

meditation for beginners

For T and anyone else who's interested in trying meditation:

Set aside about ten or fifteen minutes and find a comfortable place to sit.

How to sit -
You can sit indian style, lotus or in a chair. Whatever is most comfortable for you. You want to be relaxed but have pretty good posture so your breathing isn't impaired by slumping shoulders. If you're sitting on the floor, try to make sure that you are grounded with you butt on a cushion and both knees touching the floor.
Another thing to note when you're preparing to meditate is the position of your head. Try to keep your chin level. If you nod too much forward, you might become drowsy. Too far back (besides being kinda uncomfortable) your mind will be more inclined to race around.

The goal -
As a beginner, you really just want to practice calming your mind. There is a tendency to believe that we are our mind and if we stop thinking we will cease to 'be' in a way. When we take a few minutes to calm the mind down, we can pull back a little and see what it's doing. See where our thoughts take us. Instead of being 'in' our mind, we can pull back a little and observe it.
When we try to NOT think, we become aware of how busy our minds are and how little control we have over them. We can choose for the most part what we want it to focus on, but when we ask it to stop for a few minutes and be still, we can see how active it is without our choice.
The important thing to remember is not to get hung up on clearing your mind completely. That will happen after a while of practice (so I've heard :) For now, you want to see what your mind is doing, accept the thoughts that come up but don't follow them. Don't investigate or let them bloom in your mind. Just acknowledge them and let them pass.

Tips-
If you have a super busy mind, giving it something to focus on can allow the rest of you and it to relax. Focusing on your breath is a great one. Just feel the breath coming in your nose and going out your nose. This is a great way to calm the body as well. Often our mind races ahead of us and we become a little ungrounded. Meditating on the breath bridges the mind and the body and can help you feel more centered.

Too stressed to sit down? -
If you get frustrated with sitting meditation, you might try walking meditation. This is the one type of meditation that always calms me down when I'm stressed out. Just choose a path, around a room or between two and walk very slowly. Pay attention to each foot as you lift it and place it back on the floor. Having your mind pay attention to your body and the sensation of your feet on the ground can really help bring you out of your thoughts and into your body.

You can create a ritual and specific place to meditate, or you can do it whenever you are sitting with nothing to do. A friend of mine sometimes meditates on the train during her daily commute. I've meditated during terrible movies.

The main point is to calm the mind. You want to limit distractions as much as you can, but remember that when you do get distracted, just bring your attention back to your breath.

Hope that helps!