Right Thinking: Teeming Life

This weekend was a getaway to the ocean, discovered quite accidentally through a tunnel that ran under the highway, on the property where my husband was playing tennis for the weekend. After receiving the go-ahead to scurry across the attached golf course, I popped out on a majestic lookout:

The golf course shared a property line with Fort Funston Public Beach and a quick maneuver around the hanging fence (!) had me sinking my toes into wet sand in no time:

Teeming life was everywhere ~ the bright urge for continuation shone! I walked the beach, breathing in sea breeze and sunshine. Romping, grinning dogs greeted me like a long lost friend. There were more dogs than people (my kind of place!) and the four leggeds were practically delirious with their good fortune. Embedded in the sand were the most amazing creatures, shedding what looked to be a pliable plastic skin....

Smooth stones also adorned the soft grained, open expanse of beach.

I marveled at the tide’s pull on the stone’s rough edges ~ gentle constant and relentless, smoothing them to colorful gems. “I am that,” I thought, “Good to see you again, Mama Sea.”

Breathing, walking, feeling the tide round out every rough edge, my mind became free to see ~ everything just wants to survive...and was doing it beautifully. Contentment had embedded itself deep when I finally turned to go, scrambling back up sea cliffs, across the meticulously kept green grass and back to my own version of teeming life.

Right Concentration: Contentment

Recently I was touched by a young man, 15 years old, who lives in Syria and is recording his region of Eastern Ghouta under siege, posting every few days to Facebook and Twitter. Muhammad Najem is a person I'm now able to check on regularly, and my heart lifts when I see he's still alive and active in his very real desire to be a photo journalist. There's many things about this young man that have impact: his open gaze, staccato voice, languid walk as he maneuvers over piles of rubble, his straight forward persistence. Him and his people are now more than ever in the heart of my daily practice.

Yesterday I had a break in a busy day and turned into Camp Galilee by the shores of Tahoe home. Waters were calm and placid, and as I slowly walked the shoreline, I thought of my young friend, Muhammad Najem. Eyes were downcast to the black Tahoe sand and the flat, colorful rocks adorning the shore....

I studied the stones as I walked, enamored by the colors, shapes and textures of the precious offerings, many etched in constellations reminding me of stars in night sky. I held the two realities of Syria and the peaceful shore of Lake Tahoe as I walked.

Having arrived at the end of the sun-melted beach, I turned around, realizing in my concentration, I hadn't looked out at the calm waters ringed in snow-capped peaks. I had neglected the Pureland in the distance!

My walk on the beach seemed a perfect metaphor for life. How often do I get caught in this event, or that person, this place and that news and forget to open to the larger whole? I was reminded of Right Concentration and our March IC theme of, "Contentment." Where is my energy, my point of focus? Is it possible in the intrigue of rocks and pebbles to look up and remember serenity? To come back to my foundation: body, breath, steps, equals peace, calm and ease in any situation.

As I turned to go, I dedicated insights on an undisturbed Tahoe homeland to my friend and comrade, Muhammad Najem and the people of Syria.


(For further reflections on related content: Right View, Right Speech, Right Livelihood, Right Mindfulness)

Muhammad Najem, 15 Year Old Photojournalist

Muhammad Najem 15 yo photojournalist from Eastern Ghouta, compliments of Missy Morton

Crossing to the Other Shore
©2018 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

When I push off and place both feet in the boat,
I am received immediately by calm, dark sea.
I turn, look back at land boundaries, previously defined:
hard edges where I’ve come from dissolve
as clear water softens shore.

Moon hangs full, brilliant, peaceful in an open sky.
Sometimes, all freedom takes is the willingness
to no longer stay on demarcated ground.

(Poem written in response to bombings in Eastern Ghouta and the photo journalism of a 15 yearold boy who hopes for a brighter tomorrow)

Right Mindfulness ~ Start a rEVOLution!!!

Heart Nebula IC 1805 discovered by William Herschel

"Turn, ever turn toward love..." February started with this sweet aspiration and the theme of "Revolution!" materialized.  Love, gratitude, peace...are all a practice. I don't know about you, but when I have space in my day, I can rotate more freely, towards the qualities I wish to express and grow in myself. This brings us to the Noble Eight-Fold Path which has been explored since August in a number of IC blog articles--next one up ~ Right Mindfulness.

Mindfulness could be defined as the practice of paying attention. Sometimes our attention is wholesome and sometimes not so wholesome. This Lover of Metaphors appreciates the idea of a garden. Imagine our mind is the soil, with all kinds of seeds (anger, fear, love, gratitude, etc). Which seeds do we water? If we water the tomato seeds, tomatoes will grow. If we water the rows of corn, we don't expect sunflowers. Wholesome mindfulness is the practice of consciously paying attention to what we wish to grow and express in ourselves and in others.

Unwholesome mindfulness might be paying attention to another's shortcomings, seeing his big red button and thinking, "do EEEEEEET!" as we reach to push...but...with right mindfulness we interrupt this pattern and instead, turn, ever turn ~ we have a revolution toward love, peace, compassion and understanding.  We might think this is harder than hard! Perhaps that's why mindfulness is often defined as a practice and a way of life. What are our tools for practice?

• Stopping
• Breathing

Breathing is as natural as, well...breathing. Perhaps it's the stopping that's the challenging part. Science now shows simply oxygenating one's body is enough to shift the nervous system (turn, ever turn...) and light up the parts of the brain that generate empathy, compassion and insight.

• Stop
• Breathe
• Turn

Photo compliments of Eluna Photography

Another beautiful metaphor often used to represent mindfulness is the moon which shines on everything without exception. Moon reflects sun and doesn't differentiate good from bad. Right Mindfulness shares the same qualities of reflecting our inner universe without discrimination. Sometimes moon is full and bright, sometimes it's a mere sliver, or even dark, but moon is always there, same as mindfulness. 

In this month of February, may you turn toward the sweetness of love, reflecting full and bright the beautiful universe within and around you. Start a rEVOLution!

Martin Luther King ~ North Star of Equality Shines Bright

It's been a long time since writing in the "Freedom Series" category of this blog, and I know--I've highlighted MLK before but by far he's one of my favorites, so I'm extolling his praises again! I'm presently reading his book: Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community and this story struck me as clearly defining a major driving force in MLK's life, his aspiration or in Inner Constellation language~his North Star:

...a group of us packed into four automobiles and made our way to that desolate spot on Hwy 51 where James Meredith had been shot the day before. So began the second stage of the Meredith Mississippi Freedom March. As we walked down the meandering highway in the sweltering heat, there was much talk and many questions were raised. 

"I'm not for that  nonviolence stuff any more," shouted one of the younger activists.

"If one of these damn white Mississippi crackers touches me, I'm gonna knock the hell out of him," shouted another.

Later on a discussion of the composition of the march came up.

"This should be an all-black march," said one marcher. "We don't need any more white phonies and liberals invading our movement. This is our march."

Once during the afternoon we stopped to sing, "We Shall Overcome." The voices rang out with all the traditional fervor, the glad thunder and gentle strength that had always characterized the singing of this noble song. But when we came to the stanza which speaks of "black and white together," the voices of a few of the marchers were muted. I asked them later why they refused to sing that verse. The retort was:

"This is a new day, we don't sing those words any more. In fact, the whole song should be discarded. Not 'We Shall Overcome,' but 'We Shall Overrun.'"

As I listened to all these comments, the words fell on my ears like strange music from a foreign land. My hearing was not attuned to the sound of such bitterness. I guess I should not have been surprised....I should have been reminded that disappointment produces despair and despair produces bitterness, and that the one thing certain about bitterness is its blindness. Bitterness has not the capacity to make the distinction between some and all." *

Equality shines bright in our hero Martin Luther King, Jr. May we, as his continuation, strive toward a freedom that sees not gender, race, sexual preference, financial status, class, political party or any other contrived divisions but rather practices this sole desire ~ for all beings everywhere to live unmolested and in peace.

Happy MLK day everyone. 


   * Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? on sale for $7.68 (Amazon) consider adding this classic to your North Star library

After the Rains, Birds Sing

January theme of silver lining is rich with practice material. Firstly, our Tahoe 2018 Winter has been wet and dripping as our pictures from Winter Retreat last weekend attests....

At the end of retreat, a beloved asked, "How can we take the theme of silver lining forward into our days?"

In everything we shared, it seems the commonality was: practice putting others first, step outside our own experiences and focus on the big picture, i.e. the silver lining.

How do we direct our minds to the big picture?

• practice gratitude
• take a pause, literally a breath 

Both of these suggestions are concrete mindful habits to practice and can actually be done in tandem. I notice a storm...breathe...practice gratitude. To do so may offer us a fuller experience and more holistic picture. 

I went on a rainy run the other morning and I noticed as it was still clearing, the chickadees came out, tweeting and collecting seed. In their song I felt the rejoicing, "we're alive, we survived the storm!" Grace filled tweety birds transformed the stormy moment to something better, a celebration of being alive!

Please consider joining us in the practice of noticing the silver linings in the storms this month of January. Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community would love to celebrate your experiences. 

Not Flying Away! Touching the Earth...

Yesterday I had an exchange with another person that began to turn sour. We had entered into a differencing of opinions that led to a drawn out analysis. I lost patience...in other words my mindfulness turned into forgetfulness. I forgot that this person was precious to me and that understanding was more important then business. I forgot that our interaction was actually causing stress versus alleviating stress. Luckily, in a few minutes time, we both realized our thoughts had been carried away, literally. I brought myself back to my breathing, back to being mindfully attentive. Soon after, we were able to reconcile our differences and come back to a peaceful resolution.

Later, I contemplated my true desire to never add to another's load, to practice diligently not watering the seeds of frustration and stress in another. A poem came to mind that so beautifully conveys coming back to oneself in moments when we've been pulled of course:

Earth Touching

Here is the foot of a tree.
Here is an empty, quiet place.
Here is the cool green of the grass.
My Child, why don't you sit down?

Sit upright.
Sit with solidity.
Sit in peace.
Don't let your thoughts lift you up into the air.
Sit so that you can really touch the Earth
and be one with her.
You may like to smile,
Earth will transmit to you her solidity,
her peace, and her joy.
With your mindful breathing,
with your peaceful smile,
you sustain the mudra of Earth Touching.

There were times when you didn't do well.
Sitting on the Earth, but it was as if you were floating in the air,
you who used to go in circles in the triple world
and be drawn into the ocean of illusion.
But Earth is always patient
and one-hearted.
Earth is still waiting for you
because Earth has been been waiting for you
during the last trillion lives...

...Walk as if you were kissing the Earth with your feet,
as if you were massaging the Earth.
The marks left by your feet
will be like the marks of an emperor's seal
calling for Now to go back to Here;
so that life will be present;
so that the blood will bring the color of love to your face;
so that the wonders of life will be manifested,
and all afflictions will be transformed into
peace and joy...

...the beautiful path is always patient.
It is always waiting for you to come back,
that path which is so familiar to you,
that path which is so faithful.
It knows deeply that you will come back one day.
it will be joyful to welcome you back.
It will be fresh and as beautiful as the first time.
Love never says, "This is the last."

The path is you, My Child.
This is why it will never be tired of waiting.
Whether it is covered now with red dust
or with Autumn leaves
or icy snow~
do go back to the path,
because I know
you will be like that tree,
the leaves, the trunk, the branches,
and the blossoms of your soul
will be fresh and beautiful,
once you enter the mudra of Earth Touching.

~Thich Nhat Hanh*
Call Me By My True Names, p. 197-198

Whether standing or walking, sitting or lying, I'm determined to practice grounding in mindful awareness and keeping my North Star in sight. Tremendous gratitude for those who practice alongside me, patiently watering my best seeds and joining me in shining bright.


*for more, please enjoy this beautiful dedication episode: Coming Home to the Present: The Life and Teaching of Thich Nhat Hanh