  Spiritual
This week: Mindfulness: Non-Striving Edited by: SophyBells  
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Hi, I'm SophyBells ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountaain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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Mindfulness: Non-Striving
By Guest Editor, Mr. Sophy
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller
“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” John Lennon
When I began learning about mindfulness, my first impression of the tenet about non-striving was that it’s a prescription for refraining from activity. I interpreted the concept of striving as “doing.” There’s an adage invoked by meditation practitioners that says, “Don’t just do something, sit there!” The image of someone in the lotus position came to mind. I thought the tenet of non-striving suggested that mindfulness is meant to be at least in part an escape from activity. I thought it meant that work is incompatible with mindfulness, that people who’ve made progress cultivating mindfulness would regard work as unnecessary, as irrelevant. In my naïveté, I supposed that achieving enlightenment somehow placed one above it all. As if the laws of physics and biology and economics and biology would become irrelevant. Obviously, that’s just silly. Yet another proverb from the Zen tradition declares, “After enlightenment, the laundry.”
As I’ve learned more about mindfulness, I’ve discovered that non-striving isn’t about doing nothing instead of doing something, rather it’s about doing things for their own sake. It’s about mowing the lawn and weeding the gardens for the sake of cultivating an artistic landscape rather than to compete with the appearance of the neighbors’ yards, it’s about changing the oil for the sake of changing for the sake of maintaining a healthy machine rather than to save money on repairs, writing a report for the sake of conveying worthwhile information rather than for pursuit a promotion, studying for the sake of understanding a subject rather than for getting a good grade.
The problem with striving isn’t in having spent time that resulted in accomplishing something so much as it’s having accomplished something without experiencing it, without experiencing the value of the activity itself.
As I get older, more and more often I reflect on what it might be like preparing for my death, assuming I can see it coming. Maybe I’ll be struck by lighting and life will be over without having a chance to consider it. But if I happen to live long enough that the complications of old age accumulate over the course of months or years, or – short of that – if I acquire some malady while I’m still middle aged that leads to a more gradual death, I imagine recalling moments in my life, appreciating moments in my life, that I didn’t realize as they were happening. I imagine looking back on episodes and activities I experienced as tedious or even aversive at the time, activities that were means to an end, and recognizing in hindsight a beauty that was missed for having striven to get on to some more pleasant activity, for having craved the reward or recognition or relief of having it over with rather than experiencing the episode for its own intrinsic value. However my life concludes, whether suddenly or in the course of a more gradual process, it helps me now to value my experiences for realizing that that experience itself finite.
As I write these words, I listen to my dog breathing at my feet – now yawning and scratching, now nudging my leg to indicate that the moment has come for finding the leash and exploring the neighborhood once more. I check the radar and see the echo of scattered showers, and relish the possibility of feeling rain fall on my head and arms. I marvel at the technology of my laptop computer and the internet through which I have simple and immediate access to gargantuan volumes of information. I celebrate the community of friends and neighbors who will gather in a few hours to share the bread and cup of Jesus as a way of practicing forgiveness and peace in a crazy world starving for more of those commodities. And I rise to find the leash and venture out with my Daisy to see and feel and hear what life is like on the surface of the Earth.
Non-striving is a frame of mind that allows us to appreciate the experience of being alive, of sharing life, for its own sake rather than trading it for the possibility of a future accomplishment. Can you call to mind an activity or project or occasion you’d rather skip if you had your druthers? Is there a part of your routine, a relationship or a task, an experience of traveling or doing or waiting for something else that you approach as a means to an end, as killing time, as an acquisition rather than experiencing the present moment in your life for whatever is has to offer on its own terms?
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Below you'll find some spiritual offerings from other WDC members. Please let the folks know if you read their piece by leaving a thoughtful comment or review. If you have something you would like me to highlight, please do share it with me, thanks!
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Here is a response to my last newsletter "Spiritual Newsletter (August 23, 2017)" about "A Life of Meaning:"
From Mia - craving colour 
Hi Sophy,
Thank you for your thoughtful article, pointing us in the direction of defining the meaning of life within our personal scope. Sometimes we need a gentle reminder to live with purpose.
You are most welcome, glad it resonated with you.
    
From An apple a day.... 
A very thoughtful and thought-provoking newsletter, Sophy. I had never heard the mirror story and was intrigued. My view lies with the Buddha and if I can incorporate a little happiness into the mix along the way, all the better. Thanks for your reflections.
Thank you for your kind words!
From Quick-Quill 
I loved the last story. We truly are a reflection of what's inside us. What we show to the world is what we are. Be careful what you want others to see. Put yourself in the best light. Is your glass clean so it reflects a true light? or so covered with dust and grime from neglect its distorted. The light reflected on a piece of paper for the eclipse is from a powerful source. Whose light are you reflecting?
Excellent, provocative questions - thank you!
Please keep your comments and suggestions coming! Until next time! SophyBells |
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