How Do You Work?
This is the design of me in my flowered gumboots as well as my daughter's aged down vest, operative down by the pond. There is no shortage of things to be done around here as well as we have to be clever not to work with the grim determination of "there's so much to do around here". You know that crunched brow, shoulder to the grindstone physique posture, it utterly sucks all the fun out of the beauty of the day. we can get approach too goal oriented when we decide there are things to be done as well as forget the value of the process. we can get so engrossed in this position that we see the landscape as "something to do" rather than something to enjoy.
The tumble has been so amazing here, tipping behind as well as onward between warm, cloudy days as well as brilliant fever as well as blue sky. It is truly the happiness to be outside. Yesterday we reminded myself to enjoy the walk around the pool as we surveyed it for what indispensable pruning as well as assessed what passed as well as vital timber required hauling out of the water. we released the curly willow from the tangle of salmon berry as well as pulled out the most little holly volunteers along the path. we pulled the little depressed alder branches from the H2O as well as reminded myself that the ducks as well as we have opposite opinions of what makes the pleasing pond. Sometimes when we demeanour down upon the pool from the sunroom we consider of Thoreau as well as Walden Pond. we will have to scour my packed books. we consider of Mary Oliver as well as her poems of simply being with the land.
Later in the day an email came in from my aged Sangha that included the little content I'd created years ago upon operative imagining as well as it reminded me of what the morning's work during the pool could demeanour like. Ah to remember to approach each changed task with this view:
Workin! g imagin ing can be the valuable addition to the sitting as well as walking meditation. Essentially we are doing the same thing, cultivating the awareness. In operative imagining this takes the more active form. We attempt to be entirely present with what we are doing, be it unconditional the building or trimming the hedge. We are aware of the sights, sounds, the movements in the light as well as focused way. We are not rushing to finish the task though experiencing it as entirely as possible, bringing the thoughts behind when it drifts. We speak when necessary about the work during hand, though strive to maintain the quiet, contemplative atmosphere. While we work we can develop as well as notice the gratitude for the things we are caring for, in this case the wonderful home for the Sangha, the earth we live on. This operative use gets us in hold with the everyday life in the deeper way. We can carry this use home with us as well as with time will find that it complements the other forms of use as well as enriches the lives in the surpassing way. As we do this we can see how we are chipping divided during the habitual tendencies of rushing to finish the most small, clearly inconsequential tasks that have up the days. Our civilised world of being present will give us behind the life in tiny as well as startling ways. It can enlarge the energy (which is depleted by rushing) as well as favour happiness as well as high regard that comes from noticing something as tiny as well as miraculous as the dot of dust caught in the lamp of sunlight.
And how is it when we work?
