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Entries from July 1, 2013 - July 31, 2013

Friday
Jul262013

Like Mother, Like Daughter (Oops)

I was not a witness to the event, but I remember tales of what happened the day my mother's pressure cooker erupted. I don't remember why, although she was a very kitchen-savvy woman who had used the cooker many times so given that this was many decades ago, I assume the pressure cooker malfunctioned.

Dramatically.

There was food on the ceiling, on the walls, and on the floor. And presumably on Mom. This is the reason why I have never bought nor stepped within erupting distance of a pressure cooker.

So why "Like Mother" you ask?

I just got another jar attachment for my Blendtec blender to make hummus, salad dressings, nut butters, etc. Things that required a different design from the usual jar. Unlike my mother, I didn't sit down and read the manual first. (To save myself from sounding completely silly, much of the time I normally do, but not this time.)

Unfortunately, I should have.

Fortunately, I was chanting. And I was standing within arm's length of the blender.

Apparently, (hindsight is wonderful!) I had filled the jar too much with my usual morning smoothie. I did have the presence of mind to not turn on the blender and leave the kitchen.

Being a powerful blender, the moving of the jar contents is very strong and forceful. So forceful in fact that the contents came shooting out the pour spout of the blender jar.

Where did the contents go you ask?

On the walls, on the water filter, and yes, a bit on the floor. I purposely keep it under the cabinets so I managed to miss the ceiling (and I just now checked) and me. (You have no idea how difficult it is to clean up tiny bits of fresh blueberries. They stick to everything like glue!)

The good part of all this (in addition to getting something to write about) is that since I was chanting, I did not get upset. At all. I calmly cleaned everything up, poured the remaining smoothie into the larger jar, added more blueberries, etc., and finished making my smoothie.

Wow!

Before I started practicing, this would most definitely NOT have been my reaction.

Chanting—silently or aloud, at the front of one's mind or the back—has wonderful consequences. Ultimately, it will enable us to be reborn in the Wester Pure Land. But until that longed-for rebirth happens, it will help us face life's daily challenges more calmly and more happily.

And more like our mother would have wished.

 

Thursday
Jul182013

When Thoughts Intrude

When sad thoughts arise . . . Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . . 

When fearful thoughts arise . . . Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . . 

When self-defeating thoughts arise . . . Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . . 

When unkind thoughts arise . . . Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . . 

When angry thoughts arise . . . Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . . 

Replace the negative with the perfectly positive. The thought of "Amituofo." The more we do so, the more natural it becomes. Just as our brain knows to breathe, to digest food, to pump blood, it will gradually know to "Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo."

The learning can be extraordinarily profound and deep.

The practice can be utterly simple. And incredibly fulfilling.

Amituofo, Amituofo, Amituofo, . . .

 

Wednesday
Jul032013

Why Am I Grieving So Much Over the Death of My Dog or Cat?

I grew up having cats as companions. A few years after graduating from college, I again got a cat. The first day I had him, he alerted me to someone trying to get into the apartment through a hatch over the closet. (You would not have imagined that a tiny kitten could meow and howl so loudly!) From then on whenever someone came to the door of where I lived, he would sit right next to me as I opened the door. When with me in the car, he would not allow anyone to approach the car. We spent many years together. When not protecting me, he was the sweetest friend you could want.

When he died, I grieved more than some people might another human. I later understood that there was a deep karmic connection between us. The fact that he was in one life form and I in another did not matter. The deep, caring karmic affinity was there.

You are grieving for the loss of a loved one.

You are also feeling guilty for not having done more with and for your dog when he was alive. Sadness over knowing we will not see the loved one (regardless of the life form) again and guilt that we did not do enough when the loved one was alive are part of the grief process.

Please let go of any thoughts that grieving the loss of a dog or cat, or an other companion animal, is somehow not right. The karmic connection takes precedence over the form we find ourselves in in our uncountable lifetimes. Knowing about causality and rebirth can greatly help us to recognize and understand the reasons we love.

And the reasons we grieve.