A personal blog by a graying (mostly Anglo with light African-American roots) gay left leaning liberal progressive married college-educated Buddhist Baha'i BBC/NPR-listening Professor Emeritus now following the Dharma in Minas Gerais, Brasil.
If we are to help heal the world, we need to remember that it is a
sacred place. Our actions need to be positive statements, reminders that
even in the worst times there is a world worth struggling for. We need
to find ways to keep the vision alive, to acknowledge but not get caught
in the dark side, to remember that even the worst aspects of suffering
are only part of the whole picture. We need to enter lightly.
>> Want to dive deeper with Ram Dass? Click Here to Receive a Daily Wisdom Text from Ram Dass & Friends.
Whatever a person frequently thinks about and ponders, that will become the inclination of their mind. If one frequently thinks about and ponders healthy states, one has abandoned unhealthy states to cultivate healthy states, and then one’s mind inclines to healthy states. (MN 19)
Reflection
What do you do when you are in the grip of an unhealthy mood, filled with a steady stream of unhealthy mental and emotional states? Sometimes you just have to take the initiative and change the channel, so to speak. Just as you might decide to prepare and eat a meal if you are hungry or take a walk if you are restless, so too you can decide to develop healthy states and, by various means, invite them to arise in your mind.
Daily Practice
You might adopt the practice of each day choosing a healthy state to develop and then working to deliberately bring it to mind. Maybe generosity one day, kindness another, or compassion all week. It is just a matter of making a decision to call to mind that particular positive quality. Choose to think kind thoughts about someone or decide to do a kind act, and you will find that the emotional state of kindness will naturally arise.
Tomorrow: Establishing Mindfulness of Mind and the Third Jhāna One week from today: Maintaining Arisen Healthy States
Share your thoughts and join the conversation on social media #DhammaWheel
Why is it that we yearn to be more or other than we are? It so rarely occurs to us that what we are looking for may be—indeed, always is—already within us, simply undiscovered.