Articles in the Meditation Exercises Category
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“We are the microcosm of the macrocosm.” ~ Deepak Chopra
Kindness
Imagine this: It is the winter of 2008. Outside, the world is whirling. The stock market is tanking. The air stings of uncertainty. Seeking shelter from this financial storm, you sell all of your stocks to put the money into a fund guaranteeing stability. Shortly after doing this, you recieve a voicemail. It is your best friend. She tells you that your entire life savings is gone. She, too, is financially ruined. The man responsible for this is …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“The mind is raw, full of energy, alive and hungry. It does not think in the way we were brought up to think – well-mannered, congenial.” ~ Natalie Goldberg
Synesthesia
I recently read about an intriguing condition called synesthesia. This term comes from the combination of two Greek words (syn, meaning together + aisthesis, meaning perception) and translates to joined perception.
So, synesthesia happens when two or more senses mix to form a given moment. It is where a person assigns a sensory perception such as smell, color or flavor to objects such as …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“…a good poem is like a sacred mind-altering substance: you take it into your system, and it carries you beyond your ordinary ways of understanding.” ~ Kim Rosen, author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words
Over the holidays, my family and I watched Invictus. It is a movie about poetry and transformation: the transformation of a prisoner turned president, the conversion of a losing rugby team to 1995 World Cup Champions and the story of how a poem influenced peace between 43 million people …
Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
Pleasure is the flower that passes; remembrance, the lasting perfume. ~ Jean de Boufflers
It’s the time of year where we tend to make lists of wishes, gifts, resolutions, etc. Why not turn them into writing prompts?
Take the list of people that you’re planning to purchase gifts for (or would like to buy for but can’t) and go: write for five minutes on each person.
Begin with the prompt, I remember…
And end each writing exercise by filling in this statement: Your ________ is a gift to me.
Remember, no …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“at my feet
when did you get here?
snail”
~ Kobayashi Issa
I’ve been meandering underneath moody clouds lately. Fall weather often brings about a blanket of wet gray sky and deeply felt breezes. There’s a simultaneous freshness and fading in the air this time of year.
It was this weekend that an empty snail shell halted my footsteps.
Can a snail live without its shell? I wondered.
This small encounter stirred whimsical notions within me. The snail, this week, has been my muse. I’ve spent several portions of my walks pondering its …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien
I sit watching my husband mold sticky rice into the shape of a small pine cone in his right hand. The scene reflects for me, on so many levels, the meeting of east and west: Southeast Asian food on Swedish-American tongue. Sitting at the table is my sister-in-law’s mother, whom we call maa-tow or Grandma. She raves about the rice fragrance and recalls living in Laos, …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
“If you want to attain your true nature, you must have Great Faith, Great Courage, and Great Question.” ~ Master Seung Sahn
Faith. Courage. Question. These are three things needed for Zen practice. I learned this from last Sunday night’s lecture given by Master Bon Haeng of the Kwan Um School of Zen.
I sat cross-legged, left ear cocked.
He told us a story: it’s during the ’60′s and there’s a draft taking place to send young American soldiers off to war. The Vietnam War. There’s a young lady attending Boston …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self. ~ Benjamin Franklin
‘…I meditated on love and reasoned it out. I realized what is wrong with us. Men fall in love for the first time. And what do they fall in love with?’
The boy’s soft mouth was partly open and he did not answer.
‘A woman,’ the old man said. ‘Without science, with nothing to go by, they undertake the most dangerous and sacred experience in God’s earth. They fall in love …
Insights & Inspiration, Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why. ~ Kurt Vonnegut
What We Need is Here
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,
as in love or sleep, holds
them to their way, clear
in the ancient faith: what we need
is here. And we pray, not
for new earth or heaven, but to be
quiet in heart, and in eye,
clear. What we need is here.
Wendell Berry
What we need is here. What a wonderful message.
I read this poem as part of my sitting …
Meditation Exercises, Writing Prompts »
Post by Chintana Ahlund
The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time. ~ Richard Cech
It’s Saturday morning. As my husband and I walk to a cafe, he tells me, “I’m having lunch with a friend. That’s the one thing I’ve got to do today.”
What he says makes me pause. I had already made a mental list of about ten things that I needed to do (this is before having my first sip of coffee).
Hmmm. What’s the single most important thing that I have to …
