Appreciation

[MalleableGirlParts]

I'm not a hundred percent sure this belongs here, but that's the story I'm weaving.

I've been wanting to share the realization of my heightened experiences that I attribute to these months of sitting.

The catalyst for this has been my deciding to sit outside in the cold. Not that I've been cold while doing it. I'm amazed at how warm just a couple of blankets can keep me out on the porch in even twenty degree weather. It started with just wanting the fresh air while I meditated. Then I added in reading outside and "cozy storytime" with my children. I sat outside and watched the recent snowfall.

I realized that I've gained an appreciation for the cold weather that I never really had. I found a way to really enjoy it instead of counting the days until the warmth returns. That's a huge gift.

But it isn't just that. I'm sitting here at the table writing this and the pinging noises from the baseboard heat makes me smile. The whorls of steam coming out of my tea mug is fascinating.

There's many small things that have increased their impact on my gratitude. The rain coming down and making rivulets along the curb or the clouds moving with purpose across the sky. The scent of some combination of must and heat that brings me right back to my uncle's Catskill cabin when I was a child. The symmetry of carefully arranged utensils on the kitchen table.

I could list a whole bunch of relatively boring things, but the point is that I'm finding much more joy in simple things. It takes less to make me smile. It's becoming ok to just observe and experience. I'm so very grateful for these things. I'm grateful for my life.

I still have feelings and it isn't all roses, but to get moments like these at all, is huge.

Thanks

[Shoshin]

I'm not a hundred percent sure this belongs here, but that's the story I'm weaving.

I've been wanting to share the realization of my heightened experiences that I attribute to these months of sitting.

The catalyst for this has been my deciding to sit outside in the cold. Not that I've been cold while doing it. I'm amazed at how warm just a couple of blankets can keep me out on the porch in even twenty degree weather. It started with just wanting the fresh air while I meditated. Then I added in reading outside and "cozy storytime" with my children. I sat outside and watched the recent snowfall.

I realized that I've gained an appreciation for the cold weather that I never really had. I found a way to really enjoy it instead of counting the days until the warmth returns. That's a huge gift.

But it isn't just that. I'm sitting here at the table writing this and the pinging noises from the baseboard heat makes me smile. The whorls of steam coming out of my tea mug is fascinating.

There's many small things that have increased their impact on my gratitude. The rain coming down and making rivulets along the curb or the clouds moving with purpose across the sky. The scent of some combination of must and heat that brings me right back to my uncle's Catskill cabin when I was a child. The symmetry of carefully arranged utensils on the kitchen table.

I could list a whole bunch of relatively boring things, but the point is that I'm finding much more joy in simple things. It takes less to make me smile. It's becoming ok to just observe and experience. I'm so very grateful for these things. I'm grateful for my life.

I still have feelings and it isn't all roses, but to get moments like these at all, is huge.

Thanks

Wow, beautiful and inspiring, thanks for sharing.

(Do you mean 20 degree Fahrenheit? Oh my, that's cold )

Gassho,
Ester
Satlah

[Kokuu]

That is wonderful to hear, MGP!

I love this quote from Kodo Sawaki from The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo (p179):

Heaven and earth make offerings. Air, water, plants, animals and human beings make offerings. All things make offerings to each other. It is only within this circle of offering that we can live. Whether we appreciate this or not, it’s true. Without demanding, ‘Give it to me!’ we make and receive offerings. The world in which we give and receive is a serene and beautiful world. It differs from the world of scrambling for things. It is vast and boundless.

Being aware of all of those offerings, whether the steam coming off your mug, or the movement of clouds in the sky, can definitely produce appreciation.

I am grateful for the gift of your post this morning!

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

[IanSmith]

What a inspiring post, MGP. I seem to remember Shunryu Suzuki called these things "letters from emptiness."
Many thanks
Gassho
Ian
sattoday

[MalleableGirlParts]

Wow, beautiful and inspiring, thanks for sharing.

(Do you mean 20 degree Fahrenheit? Oh my, that's cold )

Gassho,
Ester
Satlah

lol, yes Fahreheit.

[MalleableGirlParts]

That is wonderful to hear, MGP!

I love this quote from Kodo Sawaki from The Zen Teachings of Homeless Kodo (p179):



Being aware of all of those offerings, whether the steam coming off your mug, or the movement of clouds in the sky, can definitely produce appreciation.

I am grateful for the gift of your post this morning!

Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday/lah-

That's beautiful, thank you!

[MalleableGirlParts]

What a inspiring post, MGP. I seem to remember Shunryu Suzuki called these things "letters from emptiness."
Many thanks
Gassho
Ian
sattoday

Thank you!

[Jundo]

But also stay healthy, don't catch a chill.

I know from sitting some Japanese places, including one in the hills where the windows of the room were thrown open and snow blew through the Zen Hall during a retreat, that it is possible to summon warmth within during an ice cold sitting. As the famous Koan says, we can sit in the "place beyond hot and cold."

Even so, the body has its needs, and we are not living in the Himalayas, so it is generally advised to sit with healthy moderation ... in a room not too dark or too light, not too hot or too cold. I advise folks to sit every few weeks in a truly noisy or disturbing place (finding the stillness and quiet within the heart) ... but generally it is best to sit in a relatively still and quiet place, if possible.

So, sitting outside under the blankets is lovely and excellent practice, so long as the body's health is maintained. That is my rule of thumb.

Gassho, J
stlah

PS - Just a side note, there are practices to speed up the metabolism a bit to summon resistance to cold, and they work (that Wim Hof fellow does so), although it has been shown not to be such a mystical process and can even be rather dangerous. Basically, with various kinds of breathing and hyperventilation, there can be changes to metabolism, heart rate, blood capillaries, blood chemistry and such. He also can focus very deeply to ignore the cold. Here is more medical information about the Wim Hof method of ice meditation than most people need.

[Housai]

I know people are probably tired of hearing about my practise at other places... But.. At Sogen-ji a Rinzai temple in Okayama they sit in a zendo which is open to The elements. People who are residents generally sleep and meditate in the same zendo. The zendo is not heated nor cooled and is open to mosquitoes and any other insects and Wildlife. in many instances The monastics would dress in slightly heavier robes and attire during the winter but some would suggest that wearing hats or mitts was extravagant and so there was a general bent to just suffer through... It never got too cold while I was there. but it's interesting how the cold does focus you to come up with ways of heating up your body without moving too much. You really have to focus the mind on the body...

Great practise... But is it necessary? my answer now is ABSOLUTELY NOT....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

[Ankai]

I know people are probably tired of hearing about my practise at other places... But.. At Sogen-ji a Rinzai temple in Okayama they sit in a zendo which is open to The elements. People who are residents generally sleep and meditate in the same zendo. The zendo is not heated nor cooled and is open to mosquitoes and any other insects and Wildlife. in many instances The monastics would dress in slightly heavier robes and attire during the winter but some would suggest that wearing hats or mitts was extravagant and so there was a general bent to just suffer through... It never got too cold while I was there. but it's interesting how the cold does focus you to come up with ways of heating up your body without moving too much. You really have to focus the mind on the body...

Great practise... But is it necessary? my answer now is ABSOLUTELY NOT....

_/\_
sat/ah
matt

Never quite had to deal with the elements like that, but I DID spend time at a monastery in NJ, and animals were an issue. Prior to being a Buddhist monastery, it had been a Franciscan Seminary... the result being that generations and generations of wildlife had lived, never seeing humans as a particular threat. Deer would approach, turkeys could be downright demanding, and once, when a monk took the days' offering from the Buddha Hall outside in the evening (at the end of the day it was left to nature,) a rather large black bear decided to come inside and look around. Pandemonium ensued, it was NOT Zen-like or meditative, and afterward, with neither monks nor bear harmed, it was hilarious...

ST
LAH

[Tai Shi]

MGP, Thank you. What your words have shown are images, and images are what drive metaphors, and metaphors drive poetry like a captain steering her boat, thank you for this beauty. This is satisfying more than physical, even as chant and pray, so do words waft upward. Thank you for your music.
Gassho
lah/sat