I found myself running low on patience recently. I have been very busy with work, very busy with 2 young girls, and disenchanted by a winter wonderland that is our spring in Calgary this year. It takes a great deal of strength and commitment to remain focused on the present when so much or our lives are wrapped up in deadlines and future engagements. We have calendars, memos, emails, Post-its, day timers, notebooks and phones reminding us of dentist appointments and business meetings and kids play dates. In all of the business we must find time for ourselves. Every day we have to ourselves can be taken away by illness, bad weather, overtime or countless other things we complicate our lives with.
I was reminded of the importance of setting time aside when I caught myself squeezing my meditation in when it's convenient. Here is a Daily Dharma update from Tricyle.com
April 11, 2009
Tricycle's Daily Dharma
One Stone
Set aside a time for sitting practice that is especially allocated for that practice. Don’t say to yourself, “Well, I’m going to visit my girlfriend and I have to drive, so on my way to my girlfriend’s I’ll use driving as my meditation.” That approach to mindfulness becomes too utilitarian, too pragmatic—killing two birds with one stone. “That way I meditate and I get a chance to see my girlfriend at the end, too.” But something has to be given up somewhere. Some renunciation somewhere is necessary. One stone kills one bird.
–Chögyam Trungpa, Ocean of Dharma (Shambhala Publications)
Namasté
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