Hey everyone,
It's Judy Cohen,
And this is Wake Up Call 472.
Happy New Year.
So I guess it's traditional to say out with the old and in with the new,
And yeah,
I would definitely say there are things that I would put in the out category for 2024.
And then as far as in with the new,
You know,
A lot of times we talk about resolutions or aspirations and maybe we make promises to ourselves to let go of something or start something or do more of something,
Change something.
So our family was celebrating New Year's Eve early in the evening,
And I started to ask those traditional questions.
And my daughter said,
You know,
What about the theme?
What about picking a theme for the new year?
And I really like that.
And it got me thinking.
Because in mindfulness,
We're kind of all about the themes.
Right,
It's not so much that we're cultivating present moment attention every moment of every day.
I mean,
Maybe some people are,
But I'm going to say that most of us are just doing our best,
Which doesn't amount to every moment,
Or at least that's me,
That's my experience.
And it's the same with the Brahma Viharas,
So loving kindness,
Compassion,
Appreciative joy,
Equanimity,
And with the Paramitas,
Generosity,
Ethics,
Patience,
Joyful energy,
Cultivating a focused,
Calm mind,
Wisdom,
You know,
With all of the lists of wholesome qualities,
I think we're just doing our best to,
Well,
A,
Remember that they exist at all,
Right?
And then B,
To practice them.
So to me,
Anyway,
It feels like mindfulness is a kind of as much as possible,
Or maybe it's an as well as possible kind of path.
And since it feels like,
Since it feels like an as much as possible or as well as possible kind of path,
For me,
It's almost like what we're actually doing is continually laying down tracks,
Right?
So these qualities of heart,
These qualities of mind,
We practice.
And as we do that,
They begin to almost fill up a kind of pool or reservoir in our hearts,
In our minds.
And then,
You know,
Maybe we're having a rough morning,
Or we're noticing,
Or maybe being short with our partner,
Or the barista,
Or our assistant,
Or a colleague.
And somehow,
Because we've been practicing loving kindness for years,
We can dip into that pool,
That reservoir,
You know.
And the dipping might not even be conscious.
In my experience,
It's mostly not.
And the body,
And the mind,
And the heart remember.
There's a recollection of how to let go of irritability and be loving.
And once the recollection arises,
It's,
Well,
Sometimes it's easy.
Sometimes it's just easier to make that choice.
So most years,
I've committed to cultivating a certain quality,
And maybe not to the exclusion of other qualities,
But kind of primarily,
Right?
So for many of the early years of my practice,
It was just paying attention as much as I possibly could,
Until doing that,
Or remembering to do that,
Or remembering that that was possible,
Became something that was available.
Something in the pool that I could draw on to walk through my day.
One year,
When I was still working downtown,
I was doing an active compassion practice,
Sending and receiving,
Some of you know,
I've talked a little bit about,
For each unhoused person that I would see.
And of course,
There were a lot.
So now that practice is in the reservoir,
And it arises most of the time when I see someone who's unhoused,
Or whenever I encounter someone who looks like they may be suffering,
Right?
Right in front of my eyes.
And this is years later.
Last year,
I was doing a kind of just this practice.
You know,
This is just what's happening,
Or what's happening is just this.
So being with what was.
So maybe a kind of an acceptance practice.
And what these have been,
I think,
Are just what my daughter named themes.
The theme of presence,
The theme of compassion,
The theme of acceptance.
And then when I'm noticing the absence of the theme,
Drawing from the reservoir.
And when I'm noticing the presence of the theme,
Taking a moment to be glad,
To almost like memorize the sensation of the theme and let it refill the reservoir so that it can arise the next time.
The next time that I need it.
So I want to work with two themes in 2025.
The first is enoughness.
In 2024,
I noticed a good amount of greed,
Graspiness,
Wanting,
Acquisitive retail therapy.
So this year,
One theme I'm going to work with is enoughness.
And I'm going to be practicing with the meditation that I've shared here a couple of times.
I have enough.
There is enough.
I am enough.
Right.
And just trying to keep curiosity alive so that I can see when enoughness is present and when it's not.
And being as graceful as possible when it's not.
Right.
It's important.
And filling up this reservoir of enoughness when it is.
And then the second theme I want to work with in 2025 is connection.
So,
You know,
With so much divisiveness and activation in the world and so much harm being caused by those two themes,
I want to see if I can be a little bit of a counterweight.
Right.
And just keep remembering that I'm connected to everyone,
That we're all connected,
That we're not different,
Even though we look very different or we think very differently or we behave,
Behave,
Believe or behave differently.
And be glad when connection feels alive and,
You know,
Pour that gladness of connection into the reservoir and then be curious and graceful when I,
When I draw back.
Right.
When I draw inwards,
When I draw away,
When I stop connecting.
So,
Yes,
I thought today we could spend our time in meditation,
Maybe inquiring into our hearts and minds,
Bodies as to what themes we want to cultivate this year.
So I mentioned my two and then I also named the Brahma Viharas and the Paramitas and simple attentiveness.
Or another theme could be gratitude or ease or rest or a sense of humor.
Right.
It can be a classical mindfulness theme or not a classical mindfulness theme.
It's whatever calls you,
Whatever draws you forward.
In mindfulness,
We talk about what's onward leading.
So whatever will be onward leading for you,
What is resonant for you?
So I want to create the space for that inquiry and for all of us to play with different inquiries during our sit.
And so the question for the sit is what wants to be the theme or the theme for my year?
You can ask yourself that.
So,
So let's sit and I'll just be dropping that theme in periodically throughout the next 10 minutes.
Okay.
So finding a comfortable posture,
Whatever is going to support your practice for this morning or afternoon or evening,
Wherever you are.
And closing the eyes or lowering the gaze to the heart.
And just taking a moment to settle in.
See how you're doing right now.
How's the body feeling?
What's happening in the mind?
All good.
No judgment.
No problem.
And then just gently dropping in the inquiry,
What wants to be the theme or themes for my year?
Maybe something arises and you turned it over in your mind,
In your heart,
And it feels right.
So that's great.
Or maybe something arises and you take a look at it and you say,
Nope,
That's not it.
And that's great too.
What wants to be my theme for this year?
Or themes?
What wants to be the theme or themes for my year?
I'm going to ring the bell a minute early.
And if you would like to put your theme in the chat,
Feel free.
If you don't want to,
No problem.
Put mine in.
And fun to see what people are thinking about.
So thank you for being here on this first Wake Up Call of 2025.
A couple of quick announcements.
Next week,
My husband lost a very,
Very dear friend this week,
Unexpectedly,
And the memorial is next week in Los Angeles.
So I may or may not be able to do the call because we'll be down there.
It's Thursday.
So on the note,
It'll either say that I will be there or there'll just be a note.
And also,
I'm going to be doing an intro to mindfulness course online for CLE credit sometime in the winter and then starting in the next month or two.
So I'll keep you posted.
And thank you.
Thank you for your kind words.
Nice to see everybody.
Take good care.
And I'll either see you next week or I'll write to you next week and see you the following week.
