Inner landscapes

“Let us fall in love again and scatter gold dust all over the world.”

Rumi.

Sometimes I picture my inner landscape as an actual landscape. Right now it is a clearing in a forest, there is fresh air and dappled sunlight, a gentle breeze. It is a contained and safe space. I sit on the grass, cross-legged listening to the swish of the wind through the leaves in the treetops, the movement of small creatures in the bush and the trickle of running water.

I’ve just finished my (almost) daily meditation practice which can completely change my mind if I engage closely with it. Concentrating on an object of your choosing (choose wisely, make it meaningful) allows all other thoughts to become quiet and at times completely cease as you absorb fully into the practice. Although I have been practicing for some years, this experience of a complete cessation of distracting conceptual thought is not stable for me and doesn’t last long. But it is enough to provide relief and relaxation.

I can feel all my worries and usual mental preoccupations fall away and this glimpse of true peace sustains my ongoing practice and helps me to enjoy my day. I take this gentle awareness into all my activities and it keeps me calm and light. Sometimes I lose it and get caught up in whatever is before me until I remember that my happiness depends on my mind and it comes as a deep breath and a letting go of pressure. I have a choice in how I experience whatever is going on around me. I am eternally and deeply grateful to all my mediation teachers (past, present, future) for giving me this invaluable mental resource.            

My little dog is barking at the two big white dogs that come along our street on the way to the park. He leaps at the front gate and keeps barking until they are well past our place, just to be sure they know this is his house. When he meets them in the park, they run around and play, Rupert chasing them as though he is just as big and strong as them. My teenage boys are talking and laughing in the lounge room. This is my life and I am present. I send love.