Pick
Up the Puppy
“Concentration
is never a matter of force or coercion. You simply pick up the puppy
again and return to reconnect with the here and now.”
Jack
Kornfield (A Path With Heart)
Jack
Kornfield, meditation teacher and writer, uses the metaphor of
holding a puppy to teach his students to return to the breath.
Sitting meditation is not something that comes naturally to many of
us, but the image of picking up a warm puppy does. Who doesn't love a
puppy? Who doesn't want to pick one up and snuggle it? Puppies open
our hearts and make us all tender and squishy feeling. When we hold
one, our attention is totally focused on it.
For
almost everyone, meditation is a valuable tool for spiritual, mental,
and physical health, but it takes practice and incremental steps to
achieve. Just as we don't learn to play a musical instrument in three
sessions, we won't learn meditation in three attempts. Some of us
have a hard time just sitting still for five minutes, much less
concentrating on our breath. Many of us give up too soon and feel
like a failure because we cannot force our mind to stop talking. Like
everything, it's a process. Force and coercion do not work in this
arena.
Using
imagery—holding a puppy, sitting on a beach with gentle waves—is
one way of helping ourselves to simply slow down and focus. Another
way is music. Quiet music, classical music, music without words, or
music sung in a language we don't know helps us to concentrate
without being distracted. If all we can manage is to sit quietly and
look around us, noticing what is there, our attention is brought into
the here and now. Even that small step is helpful to body, mind, and
spirit.
I
hope today, you will make some time for quiet contemplation. If
sitting is not your style, walk, but walk slowly, focusing on the
details of your environment. And, most of all, be gentle with
yourself. Be easy. Just pick up the puppy and return to the here and
now.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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