If you perceive the true form of heaven and earth, you will be enlightened to your own true form. If you are enlightened about a certain principle, you can put it into practice. After each practical application, reflect on your efforts. Progress continually like this.
If this sounds vague and far out, it is because it has to be. Your true form, is uniquely your own.
That said my lesson learned was that my ego is always try to assert its identity. What is my egoick identity?
Let me explain it like this. I saw two squirrels fighting in a pine tree. One squirrel got so fired up and agitated that it misjudged a jump and fell twenty feet or so to the ground.
The little guy popped right up but when do you ever see a squirrel screw up being a squirrel.
Zen master say, "see self in squirrel"
How often have I screwed up being my self?
That led to the question, "what causes me to act in a way that totally misses the mark?"
Wise iRest book say "study opposites to see truth"
What the opposite of totally blowing it.....Harmony.
My wife had good friends in from North Carolina. The southern charm and manners of these three wonderful women made me feel so nice and happy.
Manners as harmony?
My mindfulness practice is based on presence. As I practice I am more present with what is happening now. I think this enables me to harmonize better.
Think of shooting a single round out of a rifle. To do it well you wouldn't firing before or after you line up your sights, you fire when you line up your sights.
You fire when the alignment of your sights and your trigger squeeze and your breath all are present as you act. AKA:Harmony.
Why would anything want to get in the way of that? Why would I act from a diminished capacity?
I don't practice mindfulness for nothing the same way the army didn't give me a weapon for nothing.
Manners means momentary harmony with others.
Down range it was military discipline, in society it's manners. Anyway I can't harmonize with another person if my mind is running wild the same way I can't shoot straight if I line up the sites after I pull the trigger.
I study mindfulness to tame and train my mind. When I was new to this it was tough because my ego was primed by war and trained for survival.
Not only that, this armor up identity was every aspect of how I thought and felt.
It was running me and I didn't know it because I thought I was it.
Each time I practice manners I break my ego's dominance over my day into pieces. The pieces were big in the beginning but over time the old me and the more skilled me began to distinguish themselves.
When that started to happen I began to hit the mark more often, even when I was agitated.
ARMOR DOWN UPDATES
This post was guided by the 96th stanza of the Art of Peace, a book written by Morihei Ueshiba
Armor Down is backing Legislation "H.R. 3516" AKA "The Veterans and Armed Forces’ Health Promotion Act of 2013".
This bill will
• Expand the scope of holistic care education and research for signature wounds such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
• Establish complementary and alternative medicine pilot programs for mental health and pain management treatment for veterans.
• Create a grant pilot program to upgrade Veteran Service Organization facilities, expanding the reach of wellness services directly into economically strained communities.
What we need right now people to show their support for this legislation by sign this petition.
To learn more about Taming and Training the mind in the gym, follow this link for two of the four week course.
Presently I'm promoting a new comedy on Fox, called Enlisted. It looks funny.
Mindful Memorial Day is coming in May.
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