Where we happen to be

We don’t find things that point out and illuminate the path we need to take; we find things that brightly illuminate the path we are on so we can choose wisely where to place our feet. There is no next but always a now.  – People’s Dharma Circle

It’s another way of saying that everything happens now and enables us. Do you realize how much power and presence a human contains? It’s beyond measurement. But, not beyond belief. Everything around us encourages us to function exactly where we are every moment.

My favorite is the autonomic central nervous system. It constantly supports and asks only that we take care of it as best we can. It’s pretty faithful isn’t it? We pay little attention to it unless something is getting in the way of it functioning.

The meditations designed to pay attention to breathing are clever aren’t they? We are paying attention to something that supports our very existence that we usually ignore. Amazing isn’t it? In the middle of my Conditioned Ego yelling about something the miracle of the body’s continuous movement to keep me alive is ignored. (Unless awareness kicks in and I consciously focus on the breath.)

Just saying.

Sometimes, it feels good to have gratitude toward those things that keep us going, faithfully, and without ever really asking for much outside of a little care and compassion.

And it’s important to avoid feeling as though we have done something “wrong” when we start to practice gratitude towards our lungs, heart, and brain. Conditioned ego would use anything to beat us up. We don’t pay attention because the function of say, the lungs, is to constantly do a job so we don’t have to think about each breath. (Life is complicated enough.)

Yet, I think it’s a good practice to turn to that which supports us every second of our lives and say: THANK YOU.

Bryan