Kindness to All Things

Ever push the car engine to go faster, shoved the dishes on the shelf, or threw your weight carelessly on the couch?

Nothing wrong with that, by the way. In this Living Meditation, yet again, we are not practicing a way to live.

But we are taking a stance in relation to the whole world of things as a practice and an exploration just for now.

Probably in this Living Meditation there is not as much emotional charge behind judging ourselves, but that may actually result in another challenge:

Finding enough interest in it to come back to it.

For this reason, we might want to bring in some outside-in motivations.

Consider this a meditation in being mindful of your actions and activities, and using a discipline to do that.

So call up some motivation to develop your meditation skills, your focus, and your cognizance of what you are doing, the care and attention that you bring to your life.

As you practice, in little moments,
that you can try to sustain for a while,
but more importantly do often throughout the day,
be kind to the objects and things and matter in your life.

Tap lovingly on the keyboard for a while (I’m doing it now). Sit down gently on the seat, and rest gratefully there.

Slip the dishes in the dishwasher like tucking little children into their cozy nooks, or caress them in the sink.

Don’t pound your feet on the pavement or drive your car like a tyrant.

If you must run, then do it with the attitude of a Shiatsu massage.

(as you remember and practice, of course)

As you do all this you are doing more than just being watchful over your actions, though you are doing that too.

You’re changing how you relate to the dynamic, changeful aspect of life.

Now, while the temptation to judge yourself might not come strong today (except maybe in the “good meditator” or “ungrateful and selfish” personyness department), you might experience awkwardness about relating to things this way (am I a weirdo who apologizes to dirt?) or a lot of thoughts about what it all means. Am I and the thing one? Is this how you unify with the universe?

But you’ll notice, especially if you have been doing some of the Modules before this or even just yesterday’s meditation, that beingness is the place from which you are able to relate to the world this way, and in relating to things this way, the “normal way” of being a person is disrupted.

It’s quite simple– you are mindful of your actions but not in a cold, surveillance type way. There is love and care and gratitude in this relation.

Try to use thoughts as sparingly as possible. Don’t think to much about what this means or contemplate the existence of a pencil too much, or your relationship with the pencil (which kind of sounds silly anyway, right?). Keep it as much as possible about a very immediate, felt way of action, not so much thought.

And remember, once again, that this is not how you are supposed to be all the time– it’s a practice, and an exploration.

Be kind to all things. Experience the miracle of Being, in this world that has matter and things. Without You, none of this would be here. Be kind to your many children!

TIPS and TRICKS

1. For extra power, give yourself specific activities you will do with this meditation and go into them with a formal meditation-like frame. For instance, if your formal meditation is to sit until the audio is over, in this case it’s kindness to all things until the shopping cart is full. Pick up the items gratefully and place them kindly in your basket, until you are done. Creating these mini-meditations (outside-in so to speak) gives you some extra power. You can also spontaneously go into actions, right before you do them, and say to yourself, this is going to be a Living Meditation. Or you might find yourself in the midst of them and suddenly mark them as Living Meditation and pick up on the frame in the middle of the action.

2. Kindness or gratitude work equally well, although gratitude will often invoke a lot of thought-full reflection, which is fine. If you are having thoughts of gratitude, use them as a “reset” button to adjust your attitude, then let go of the thoughts and go with the attitude. For instance, you might find yourself thinking “I take this chair for granted. I should be grateful for it”– get out of that personyness as soon as possible, and get quickly to the gratitude thoughts “wow I’m so lucky to have this chair” instead. But then, just get to the attitude or feeling.

3. Some ways we relate to things involves hacking, tearing, smashing and grinding. Find your way to a kind way to do it. In some cases it’s easier to understand how not to do something than how to do it. For instance we all know what it’s like to relate to things as obstacles to simply smash our way through on the way to some other meaningful thing. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But we know what that means. So in this meditation we simply resist that and go the opposite way. So being kind while smashing something might be joyful, a celebration, a release of that apple from the burden of maintaining that form, whatever. This might sound a little more “thought-full” than I meant it to be, but just make it about the attitude which will be different than the “normal” way.

4. If you are having persistent philosophical thoughts let them happen. It’s not like there isn’t something more to this– it’s just that it’s not a thought or word sentence that is behind this practice.

5. If you find you are annoyed by others who are violently stomping through the world today, keep some perspective, while allowing yourself to feel what you feel. My meditation students throw cushions around and I wince all the time, because I was trained to relate to these items differently and I don’t teach them that (due to limited time to focus on other matters).

6. On that note, treat your meditation items well, with great sacred respect on this day!

7. Remember as much as possible not to treat this meditation as a standard by which to judge your actions. Keep the eye on the ball! It’s not about the thoughts about the “person” it’s about the beingness!