Namaste ... Happy Spring to us.  And today is National Happiness Day!

Here is a beautiful Buddhhist mantra:

"May all beings everywhere be happy and free, 

and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my 

own life contribute in some way to that happiness 

and to that freedom for all."

Painting by Sucheta Lillane

I say "YES" to this mantra.  Can you imagine our every thought, action or word can have a positive effect on others?

                             Thank you for sharing happiness!

Namaste ... As our Earth keeps spinning, we are about to enter Spring, the time of new beginnings and renewal.  Time keeps moving as everything keeps changing.  I look to the beauty that is all around and my heart spontaneously sings praises for our Mother Earth.  I love being alive, I chant silently.

Spinning Earth Under the Cosmic Bodhi Tree

  

I look out to the water of the river that is so ever constant in its movement toward the sea.  With arms lifting high and wide, I take a deep breath of air and look to the sky.  I feel the sun's fiery warmth upon my face.  I look to the mountains and see the deep carvings sculpting the earth.  They are all around ... the elements of the earth are the elements that make me.  The colors, the sounds, the scents, the movement of nature.  I am in awe.

With palms together, I bow.  I am in gratitude ... thank you.  Here are some words from the Sufi poet Rumi:

"Let the beauty we love be what we do. 

There are hundreds of ways to kneel 

                                     and kiss the ground.”


                                         Think about it! 
             Thank you to everyone for doing what they can.
 

Namaste to my friends and family ... During this healing time that is stretching out in front of me, I am having a harder time remaining focused and staying in a calm and peaceful place.  

A painting by Prince Chand, an artist of India

In an effort to try something different or to even remind myself of something that I already know or to even give me a boost, I did some research.  With the help of my computer, I found a mindfulness teaching from the sacred text Anapansati Sutra.  

"There is a story where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty room, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding the body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore.  Always mindful, he breathes in, mindful he breathes out."

This is what the Buddha taught:

"Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.  Breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short; breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.

He trains himself: 'I will breathe in sensitive to the whole body.'  He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the whole body."

Again, the practice becomes clearer.  We are training our minds to clear the pathway.  (Did I know that? I ask myself with a smile.) For my situation, I am sometimes using a prayer like this:  I am breathing in healing.  I am breathing out healing.  I am breathing in healing.  I am breathing out healing.  I synchronize this thought with my breath.  Over and over again, I think my mantra as I breathe. 
                                                Or

Om mani padme hum, I breathe in.  

Om mani padme hum, I breathe out. 

Will you join me?