Wise Heart Way

crabby humans

Ever since I read Julie's post about the crabs I've had a Shawn Colvin song "Climb On (A Back That's Strong)" running through my head. Not a bad thought to be carrying around.

But I've been reflecting on her post in light of the Wise Heart chapter I read this week,  too. I am always amazed when I hear a story like that about animal kindness. A mother dog nurses an abandoned kitten along with her own puppies. Elephants free an antelope from a pen. A dolphin aids a drowning human. Ants have been seen to pull thorns from other injured ants. Wow, I think, how incredible, how unusual. And I guess I think that because somehow I've come to believe that an animal can't have compassion. That compassion is a complex thing, only humans can express. But this week another possibility occurred to me. Perhaps compassion is an innate part of all living things, a natural instinct. And perhaps we humans are the only living things who choose repress it.

Incredible Crab Compassion

While walking the beach at low tide with her parents, a yoga classmate, Sophie, witnessed a sea gull eating something in the surf.  She ran to shoo the gull away, thinking it was feasting on a baby sea turtle.  Instead, she discovered a white speckled crab with one claw eaten.  Her father picked it up and held it in the palm of his hand.  The crab fiercely swung at him with his one good claw.  A tough little critter.  Her father dug a nest in the sand, gently placed him down, covered him up, and Sophia and her parents continued on their walk.  Upon returning, about thirty minutes later, they looked for the crab to see if he survived.  Amazed, they witnessed a much larger crab carrying the injured crab on his back, towards the water.  The injured crab slipped off, and the larger crab, scrambled back into the sand, under the smaller crab, and, once again, lifted him up, and walked towards the ocean with the injured crab on his back.  They carried on, in this fashion, until they reached the water, then both floated away.

Principle #2: Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

Practice: A Meditation of Compassion

Prick

Alice jumped.

She felt a pin prick on the inside of her elbow and scratched at it to get the annoying sensation to go away.  An odd thing about her body, that was.  For no reason at all, she could be sitting in a chair, or taking a walk, or lying in the bathtub, she’d get this feeling:  like someone sticking a pin into a tender part of her body.  Never the same body part, so she had long ago ruled out a neurological problem.  Once the fleshy top of her big toe.  The soft indentation of her shoulder another time.  The thigh right above the bony part of her knee just last week.  Today, it was the soft fleshy skin on the side of her arm, just above the elbow. 

Alice shift in her office chair.  It was ergonomically designed to support her back, force her to sit with straight spine, elicit her best work.

She was sleepy.

The pricking sensation came again.

The Birds and the Bees

The other day while shopping for a birthday gift for my best friend I found myself intrigued by an ink drawing of a bird. I kept coming back to it in the store.  If we can't be outside in qigong class, the teacher plays a CD of water and birds chirping.   I often amplify the sound of water in my mind to be more like the Niagara River.  In this standing meditation we practice sung, translated as relaxation,  but is of a different type of relaxation than what I am used to.  It  is when the meditator is "outwardly still like a mountain, but internally her energy is flowing like the torrent of a river" When I got home I saw the beautiful photo of the bird from Julee, thank you.

 Some things I am pondering:  How do we reconcile this openness towards others with the reality of protecting ourselves? (Smiling More)  I know I have told my daughters in the past to bring a book when they ride the bus in the city so that is less likely some guy will approach them.  In relationships, how do we love and then leave when we know we have to? (Seeing the Light)     A relationship ( of the one on one romantic type)  that is THE toughest one for me to navigate on the path.  Sometimes I think those that go to a mountaintop or zen center, monastery, or such places to be by themselves for 10 years are taking the easy path!

seeing the light

Early this week I took my laptop to a café with wi-fi, because my Internet connection had been down all day, and I needed to check e-mail. I enjoyed an hour there with a tuna sandwich and coffee, classical music in the background, and the genial bustle of the suprisingly large late afternoon crowd --  a welcome contrast to the quiet aloneness of my standard work day. Even though I hadn't felt down when I arrived, being there had lifted me up.

So I was feeling good and light-hearted as I stood on the curb waiting to cross the street. And then I heard a voice greeting me by name. When I turned, there he was, the ex. Our relationship has been the most challenging and painful of my adult life. He is the Ultimate Difficult Person.

Smiling More

Hi everyone -- I know I'm a little slow in getting writing, but I've enjoyed reading everyone else's posts over the past few weeks, and I'm looking forward to joining the discussion!

Anyway, I read through the first chapter today, and I enjoyed it. But really, my engagement with Wise Heart began on my walk to the Leicester Square Tube station this afternoon. I was thinking about what Julie had written -- specifically the part about greeting someone warmly.

For some reason, it took me back to an experience I had in a night club a few months ago. I was dancing in a group with some of my friends when one of them said, "Try smiling more -- it makes you more approachable." 

The friend meant more approachable in the sense of meeting girls, but today, I thought of it more broadly. It's hard to be unhappy or think unpleasant thoughts about someone when you're smiling. I tried to smile and think something negative. It was too hard, and I gave up. And when I saw other people smiling, it was easier to think of them as happy and beautiful.

So as I go forward trying to see the inner nobility in everyone, I'm going to do my best to keep a smile on my face. It's not that I walk around frowning all the time. Far from it; I never could make myself frown when I tried to. 

I don't see a need to smile if it's not an accurate reflection of my mood. I just think I am generally happy, and so I should let myself and everyone else know.

A Wise Heart Quote for the Day

The frigid temps have turned our garden into a haven for the birds--our beloved painted bunting appeared this morning.  A fitting companion to this passage I came across during my morning meditation.  I must share with you all...it speaks so eloquently to our readings:

Bright but hidden, the Self dwells in the heart.

Everything that moves, breathes, opens, and closes.

Lives in the Self.  He is the source of love

And may be known through love but not through thought.

He is the goal of life.  Attain this goal!

The Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran

Practice: Seeing the Goodness in Other People

On this high-spirited day of hope for the Obama-Nation, I feel compelled to share a few musings.  Karen, I’m thrilled that you found inspiration in my photo of the little Cuban tree frog – he was a joy to shoot, actually posing for me.  Unfortunately, his species is an considered an invasive, exotic (non-native) tree frog, who eat Florida native tree frogs.  Scientists are studying the impact they may have on our natural environment.  This one was hibernating under our wheelbarrow when Skip disturbed his sleep and called me out for the photo session.

Also, if you don’t object to a little bathroom humor, imagine my surprise one wet August afternoon when I lifted the lid on our toilet to find one swimming in the bowl!  With the help of a soup ladle, I scooped him out and relocated him to the garden.  It’s common for them to jump from roofs into plumbing vents and drop into the john!

Principle #1: see the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

I am loving reading the posts and encourage everyone to continue to post free form with whatever and however it occurs. I love what's developing here.

The organizing idea behind this blog is to read the The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology by Jack Kornfield over the course of this year,  do the practices in each chapter. and write about it. I've already read the book once, and my thought was, that if I read this book slowly, very consciously do the practices, write about my experience, and surround myself with people who will hold my feet to the fire, that would support my wish to improve my "way of being with the world" (Kornfield 7).

Anyway, I don't want to get all project-y about it, but imposing some structure as a way to keep me honest seemed to me to be a good idea. So I did develop a schedule (don't let that word freak you out) and will be posting the milestones (principle, chapter, practice) here every two weeks throughout the year. My fellow bloggers may or may not follow this same schedule.