Exposed.

We spend a lot of time and effort to make ourselves comfortable, secure, safe.  That notion of comfort and safety really pulls on our hearts and minds, maybe because we think we can do what we really want to do once we have it secured.

But there is something to be said for being exposed.

Raw. Naked. Vulnerable. Exposed to the elements. To pain and adversity.  There is something about being exposed that makes us feel alive.

I don't know if other people get the feeling that they want to be exposed to the raw elements. 

I know I do.

Do you?

 

Homage to the nature of mind.

དཔལ་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།

གདོད་མའི་མགོན་པོ་ཡོན་ཏན་གང་ཆེན་མཚོ།

མཁྱེན་བརྩེའི་རང་བཞིན་གཏིང་མཐའ་དཔག་ཡས་ཤིང།

རྒྱལ་བ་རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཡིད་བཞིན་འབྱུང་བའི་གནས།

ཕན་བདེའི་སྤྲིན་ཕུང་འཕྲོ་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།

འོད་གསལ་ཆོས་སྐུ་དྲི་མེད་རྒྱལ་བའི་ཁམས།

མ་རིག་འཛིན་པས་སྲིད་པ་འདིར་འཁྱམས་ཏེ།

ལས་དང་ཉོན་མོངས་མྱང་མ་ཐང་དཀྱིལ་དུ།

དུབ་པའི་སེམས་ཉིད་དེ་རིང་ངལ་གསོ་བྱ།

NAMO SHRI SAMANTABHADRA!

I pay homage to the primordial Lord, an immense ocean of precious qualities,

Whose depths of natural wisdom and compassion are beyond measure.

This wish-fulfilling jewel of the Victorious One’s and their spiritual heirs,

Gives rise to cumulus clouds of happiness and benefit for all.

The luminous clarity of the stainless dharmakaya is our own buddhanature.

Through fixation and not recognizing our own awareness, we wander in states of becoming.

Exhausted and wearied by karma and negative emotions,

Today, may we find rest in the nature of mind.

~Longchen Rabjam

From the Semnyi Ngalso

Setting sun mentality.

As the sun sets we have a tendency to get our things in order, to settle in and make ourselves comfortable.  We might grab a drink, start a fire (or a movie), reach for our book or tuck in our loved ones.

Establishing a state of comfort and rest is important.  And necessary.

As the sun rises we might get up, meditate, get ready for the day, grab breakfast and our coffee and move with deliberate intention.  The day ahead is ours to make, we have much to do and today is the only day I have to do it.

Establishing a state of responsibility and enthusiasm is important.  And necessary.

When we approach our days in this way, we are balanced and in harmony with the world around us.  We run into conflict when we try to alter this balance.

How does your day go, when from the moment the sun rises you are looking for a state of comfort and rest?  What happens when conflict or problems arise in your morning and disturb your pleasure?

Too often we set out at the beginning of our day with the intention, "I hope today is an easy day".  This is a setting sun mentality and we will only encounter obstacles and problems on our path.  What we do not realize is that we are actually the creator of our problems, because our intention at the beginning of the day is to already start preparing for sunset. 

Start your day with the right intention.  That intention is to take responsibility, maintain your discipline and to benefit others. 

Very simple.  Hard to do, but I trust you. 

I'm busy.

That seems to be the status update of our day. 

Busy- finishing up a project at work, working overtime.
Busy- with the kids, with the family, with friends.
Busy- with errands, events, and emotional interactions.
Busy- searching, shopping and seeking solace. 

Strange isn't it, how much of your day are you 'busy' trying to create something enjoyable?  Or fun?

Our effort to stay busy is a pretty new cultural invention.  Our grandfathers used to work long hours and did harder work, but did they really describe their weekend and their life as busy?

'Busy' might be the new comfortable, even though we don't admit that we like being busy, more and more often we don't like when we are not busy.  When we are not busy, we feel uncomfortable, like we are wasting our time or that our life doesn't have value.  So we stay busy, because it makes us feel important.  It makes us feel like we are doing something, maybe even accomplishing something. 

But in our efforts to stay busy, we miss a lot of opportunity.  We miss taking the chance on new interactions, we miss doing something important, we miss making a difference in someone's life. We might like the feeling of being busy, but don't make the mistake of being busy when you could be doing something valuable.  

The only way out of this hot mess we call 'busy' is to contemplate our own impermanence.   When we realize that our life is short and death is quickly approaching, you automatically start to do what is important because you know you don't have any time to waste.

New status update to how was your weekend: It was a gift.  My life is quickly passing before my eyes and I chose to do what was the most important, I shared it. 

I shared it in my work, even though they were long days.
I shared it with my family, friends and loved ones.
I shared it on my way to do errands, at events and with those I interacted with.
I shared with myself, in a moment of solace and peaceful enjoyment. 

It was a gift, and I hope yours was a gift too.