So today's practice we are going to be working with interconnectedness and what it means to be connected.
So in this reflection on this meditation of interconnectedness,
I invite you to just find your stillness however that is available for you.
See if you can begin to notice your breath,
Notice your body,
Notice your mind.
Where is it now?
And let's just get straight into it.
See if you can begin to trace back all those people who are involved in your interest and meditation.
So someone might have given you a book,
Read you a poem,
Played you a piece of music,
Told you about their meditation practice.
And let a sense of them,
Recollection of them,
Come into the room with you.
Consider including those who may have guided you in some way.
Maybe someone's actions may have brought you to change,
May have actually made you find another way to be.
Just be.
Or may have prompted you to take a look at your life more deeply.
After all they're a part of why we are here now as well.
Maybe you had a teacher who instilled love of learning and a willingness to be adventurous.
Maybe you had a parent who instilled confidence in your ability to try new things or explore new terrain.
Maybe you've had a child who's opened you up to a sense of wonder and interest.
Just let them be here with you as well.
Again I invite you to notice where your mind is.
If it's starting to wander off or have you caught it in a different place,
Just simply invite it back to this meditation on interconnectedness.
Invite you to take a pause and notice what about the clothing that you are wearing.
How many forms of life,
How many people,
How many beings have been involved in growing of that fiber,
Creation of the cloth,
Transporting it,
And you wearing it.
The creation of the building in which you are sitting are the stewards of the plot of land if you are outside.
All the forms of life involved in the food that you've eaten today are going to consume.
Those who plant into that seed,
Nourish that crop,
Did the harvest,
Transported the food,
Prepared the food,
And now you can start to notice that none of us is actually independent in this sense.
Alone or cut off,
However alone we might sometimes feel.
They're all a part of the greater fabric of life.
This immerses us in a web of relationships and connections and influences.
This immense web of interdependence is where we arrive right in the middle of it.
We arrive at this moment knowing all the interconnectedness within us.
If we look at a tree,
We can see it as just a tree or we can look at a tree and sense the soil and everything that affects the quality which is nourishing the tree.
The rainfall,
Everything affecting the quality of that rainfall,
The sunlight and the moonlight,
The quality of the air.
So is the tree just a tree or the confluence of all these conditions coming together,
Moving,
Changing.
So too we can see ourselves.
Meditation on seeing the good even through our more habituated tendencies.
That might be to remember the things we've done wrong and the mistakes we have made,
The things we regret.
Now we can consciously shift our attention to include the good within ourselves.
And so too when we look at others and knowing that this is not an exercise that is meant to deny that anything is wrong or regrettable.
But if we look at a person and we only think about the mistakes they've made,
Then a tremendous sense of self and other and us and them can be reinforced.
Whereas if we include even one good thing,
If we can look at it,
Then a bridge is built.
So that when we honestly and directly look at what's difficult,
It's more from a stance of being side-by-side rather than across this huge gulf of separation.
Beginning with oneself,
Just in a relaxed,
Easy posture,
However you feel comfortable,
See if you can think of one good thing you did yesterday.
It may not have been very grandiose or big.
Maybe you smiled at somebody.
Maybe you listened to them.
Maybe you let go of some annoyance.
At a slow clerk at a store.
Maybe you forgave yourself for not saying something totally correctly.
Maybe you were generous.
Maybe you took some time out for yourself.
Maybe you rested.
Maybe you thanked someone.
It's not conceit or arrogance to consider these things.
It is quite nourishing.
And it's replenishing to take joy,
To take delight in the good that lives through us that we can manifest.
If at any time,
Whether with ourselves or somebody else,
We cannot think of something good,
Then there is another reflection that we could do,
Which is simply to recall that all beings want to be happy,
Want to be peaceful.
Everybody wants to be peaceful.
This urge towards peace is nothing to be squeamish about or feel funny about.
The problem is not the urge.
The problem is ignorance.
Not really sensing where genuine happiness might be found.
And so making the mistakes that we might cause so much suffering for ourselves or for somebody else.
The urge towards happiness,
Joy,
Peace itself is rightful.
It's appropriate.
So when we combine it with the wisdom instead of with ignorance,
It becomes like a homing pigeon for freedom and can help us cut through many obstacles.
So we start with ourselves and then with others,
Looking for the good wherever you can find.
If it's just not going to happen that way,
We switch to this other reflection,
Recalling that all beings want to be peaceful and happy in the end is suffering.
I invite you to think of a benefactor,
Someone who's helped you and as soon as you bring this person to mind,
Notice their good qualities might come in a rush.
You can appreciate that about them,
Those aspects,
Those efforts,
Those acts of kindness.
Think of a good friend.
Appreciate the good within them.
Think of someone you know who's having a difficult time right now.
They may be hurting or suffering.
Think of the good within them.
The times they've reached out to help others,
Their own sources of strength.
You can now see that this person is not just the problem,
But something bigger.
Think of someone you may have a little bit of a difficulty with,
The conflict,
Uneasiness.
See if you can find some good reflected in the things they have done,
Choices they've made.
If not,
You can switch to that other reflection,
Remembering that they too want to end suffering for themselves and want to be happy and peaceful.
But he wants the same sense of belonging,
To feel heard,
To feel loved,
To feel accepted,
To feel at home in this body,
This mind,
This life.
Ignorance is a very strong force.
We will close this reflection with a few moments of a few moments of a practice with all beings wanting to be happy.
May they be happy.
You can silently repeat that over and over again.
If this is something you can do right now,
You can close the session with this few reflections that all beings want to be happy.
May they be happy.
You can silently repeat those phrases over and over again.
As we come towards the end of the session,
Just simply notice your breath,
Your body,
Your mind,
Where it is,
How it is,
And simply come back to the room you are in,
Opening your eyes if your eyes are closed,
And relax into this moment.
