MEDITATION

Since the month long drought broke we have had two rainfalls over an inch. A couple days ago, we received an inch and a half. It drizzled all night long, last night, but there wasn't much in the rain gauge this Morning. It looks like we will go into the Fall with adequate soil moisture. All the deep rooted plants look very good. The apple trees have produced a bumper crop. I planted four young apple trees about five years ago. They came into production this year. I made a map delineating which apple tree is which. Now that they have apples on them, I want to know. We can't find the map. I know two of them, a Fireside and a Honey Crisp but I forgot the other two. I think one is a Haralson, but which one? Bummer! This has happened before, but this time I thought I was smart by making the map.

Have you been trying to stay in the present? In  the "now"? Our teachers have exhorted us to meditate and learn to stay in the present. It is difficult. We find thinking about the past hard to resist. We find thinking about the future seductive. Yet, our lives occur now. We create now. In a very real sense the past and future don't exist. The past only exist as a shadow in our minds. The future has never happened. Still most of us miss the present because of our preoccupation with some time that doesn't exist.

We are creators. We create with every thought. We shape our future with our thoughts Now. It behooves us to pay attention to our thoughts Now.

Our teachers have recommended meditating every day. We can learn to quiet our minds and observe thoughts, that pass through, without attaching ourselves to them. If we let the stream of thoughts pass through, without focus on the individual thoughts, they will gradually slow down and eventually stop. Another technique, is to focus on everything we experience with such intensity that our minds empty. We can consciously practice both. We can see it as active or passive meditation. When we run across a meditation teacher, we should not pass up the opportunity to learn. I learned from a hodgepodge of sources, including self hypnosis. I have been meditating for over forty years but I would not call myself accomplished. There are no accidents; if a meditation teacher becomes known to you, avail yourself of the learning.

Quieting the mind relieves us of the tension that accumulates, from living in this world. Tension keeps us from experiencing our peace. Without peace we cannot love. We cannot bless the world. We cannot bless our neighbor. Without peace we cannot create the world we want to live in.

We are constantly contributing our consciousness to the group consciousness. The group consciousness needs our love. We need to pour as much love into the world as we are capable of.  The combined love of humankind has changed the world we live in. Look for the positive changes, they are there. The media is having difficulty ignoring the positive changes that are occurring. Soon the love that has been growing beneath the surface will break through, like a mushroom that breaks through the forest floor, emerging from the litter, full of glory.

Hey this is a great day! We are alive!

Love and Peace,  Gregg