The Power of Opposites
“Creators are an enigma to many people, because creators seem to tolerate apparent contradictions quite easily. To creators however, these are not contradictions but opposites that need to be balanced continually, as a bicyclist continually shifts weight from left to right to maintain balance with the least amount of effort. Creators live simultaneously in many universes. Each universe has its own set of governing principles. When a creator performs a creative act, many separate and distinct universes suddenly converge in perfect alignment.”
Robert Fritz, The Path of Least Resistance
Stillness
When you are present in this moment
You break the continuity of your story
Of past and future.
Then true intelligence arises
And also love
The only way love can come into your life
Is not through form, but through
That inner spaciousness that is presence.
Love has no form.
Eckhart Tolle, Stillness amidst the World.
And thanks to NancyBe for this mediatation from Thich Nhat Hanh
Savoring an apple
Forget about stopping to smell the roses! What about stopping to savor your food? This simple meditation from Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh and nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung will show you how to find more joy in your life by slowing down and savoring every bite you eat.
Take an apple out of your refrigerator. Any apple will do. Wash it. Dry it. Before taking a bite, pause for a moment. Look at the apple in your palm and ask yourself: When I eat an apple, am I really enjoying eating it? Or, am I so pre-occupied with other thoughts that I miss the delights that the apple offers me?
If you are like most of us, you answer “yes” to the second question much more often than the first. For most of our lives, we have eaten apple after apple without giving it a second thought. Yet in this mindless way of eating, we have denied ourselves the many delights present in the simple act of eating an apple. Why do that, especially when it is so easy to truly enjoy the apple?
The first thing is to give your undivided attention to eating the apple. When you eat the apple, just concentrate on eating the apple. Don’t think of anything else. And most important, be still. Don’t eat the apple while you are driving. Don’t eat it while you are walking. Don’t eat it while you are reading. Just be still. Being focused and slowing down will allow you to truly savor all the qualities the apple offers: its sweetness, aroma, freshness, juiciness, and crispness.
Next, pick up the apple from the palm of your hand and take a moment to look at it again. Breathe in awareness a few times to help you focus and become more in touch with how you feel about the apple. Most of the time, we barely look at the apple we are eating. We grab it, take a bite, chew it quickly and then swallow. This time, take note: What kind of apple is it? What color is it? How does it feel in your hand? What does it smell like? Going through these thoughts, you will begin to realize the apple is not simply a quick snack to quiet a grumbling stomach. It is something more complex, something part of a greater whole.
Then, give the apple a smile and slowly, mindfully take a bite, and chew it. Be aware of your in-breath and out-breath a few times to help you concentrate solely on eating the apple: what it feels like in your mouth; what it tastes like; what it’s like to chew and swallow it. There is nothing else filling your mind as you chew—no projects, no deadlines, no worries, no “to do” list, no fears, no sorrow, no anger, no past, and no future. There is just the apple.
When you chew, know what you are chewing. Chew slowly and completely. Chew consciously, savoring the taste of the apple and its nourishment, immersing yourself in the process one hundred percent. This way, you really appreciate the apple as it is. And as you become fully aware of eating the apple, you also become fully aware of the present moment. You become fully engaged in the here and now. Living in the moment, you can really experience what the apple offers you, and you become more alive.
By Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung from the book Savor Original Content | March 09, 2010
Photos: Pool by Siena Ammon, Apple by Bald Monk
