One Moment at a Time

Sermon offered 11/15/15

 

Good morning.  I hope it’s a good morning. I hope you’re feeling this way, too.  If you are having trouble believing that today is good, let’s review what has already came to pass today.    Let’s dwell on what has happened so far today, to make your life good.  You woke up, either naturally or by an alarm clock plugged into a dependable power source.  You were lying in a bed, possibly a bed in your own room.  You stood up on two legs that held you steadily, or something close.   You did your business in the bathroom, a room containing a flush toilet that connects to a town or private septic system.  Clean water came out of the sink when you rinsed after brushing your teeth with a clean toothbrush.

 

After you washed your face, you may have used a towel to dry your face and hands, soft and plush enough to absorb water quickly.

Then you went to a chest of drawers or a closet and chose some socks, or stockings. You put on your clothes, and your shoes.  You probably picked from a few different pairs of shoes or boots.  You probably had a few choices about which shirt to wear today.  Maybe you won’t wear it for the whole day.  Maybe you will change your shirt a few times today.

 

I could go on but what we all know what happens on a mundane morning. These things happen for us almost every day –we do it without thinking about it. I get that. We can’t be conscious all the time, of everything.  But millions of people in this world—some of them not too far away—live without all or many of these luxuries.  If we would really pay attention to each action and every event, we would be responding with thank you, thank you.  Thank you!

 

We would live our lives in praise:  Praise for our luck and our luxuries, but also we must live in gratitude so as to acknowledge those brothers and sisters who don’t have electricity, clean water, a warm home, beds and blankets, towels and toilets.  Paying attention and acknowledging our great fortune of having been born in the United States does not directly improve the lives of our poor brothers and sisters.  But if we keep paying attention to what we do have, we cannot help but be grateful for the lives we do lead.  And this gratitude often leads to serving the greater good.  Once you know how good you have it, it’s hard to not want to make it better for others.

 

But how do we achieve this gratitude when we are too busy to pay attention? There are so many distractions.  We are all running around in so many directions.  It is hard to focus on just one thing.  We have our own problems and some of them are big ones.  Meditation or mindfulness helps us to live our lives one moment at a time.  That doesn’t mean we can’t plan.  Of course we can and should.  But when you are planning what to do next week, or on your vacation, or when you should retire, pay attention to that!

Paying attention doesn’t guarantee happiness. In fact, it can sometimes lead to a realization that we are not happy.  But isn’t it better to know reality?   Plus, mindfulness can help us through the bad times too.  In deep sorrow and grief, I have prayed the serenity prayer over and over.  I have tried to pray without ceasing, or used a mantra. Singing one of the short songs in the hymnal—all of this can be used to calm ourselves, to bring us back to our center.  One of my favorite songs to sing is I know this Rose will open.  Let’s try it right now. Sue, will you play it once through, and then let’s sing it while remaining in our seats. We will sing it twice.

This morning, I submit that there are many ways to pay attention or meditate.  Elizabeth McLindon offered several meditations at a program at the Gloucester UU.  I have adapted them slightly.

 

Meditation 1: To help settle into a focused state

We will have music playing in the back ground.  

         

Sit grounded:

Feet touching the floor

Hands in your lap or on your knees.

Straighten the back to allow:

Energy to flow, [Heart (chakra) to open]

Shoulders and head should be level.

Slacken jaw and facial muscles.

Place tongue behind front teeth.

Shut your eyes or crack them slightly, gaze cast down.

Settle comfortably and see:

• Your mind as waves crashing against the shore, all the sand and sediment is being tossed and tumbled—like the gunk in this glass. But you can slow it down – you can watch the sediment—all anxiety, desire, anger, the things on your to do list—watch it all sink to the bottom, as you breathe in and out.
• You can be that body of deep clear water, you can
• See these things settle to the bottom, leaving behind calm and clarity.

See the sediment settle as you breathe in clarity for 4 beats and breathe out murkiness one, two, three, four.

Breathe in peace.  Breathe out fear.  Find something in your mind that you want.  Peace, love, hope, faith, and breathe that in for 10 breaths.  As you exhale, breathe out something you no longer want.  Fear, anger,  worry, sorrow.

• Do this with concentration for 10 breaths with equal inhale and exhale.
• Be patient.

Come out slowly, bringing you attention back to the room, wiggling your fingers and toes, and open your eyes when you are ready.

This kind of meditation is not for everyone.  Some of us don’t like any music playing in the background.  Some of us don’t like someone leading the meditation.  That’s okay.  It’s a big world, plenty of room for all of us, and all of our ways.

Meditation 2: Inner Winds Meditation

Once again take a comfortable position.

Focus on the breath, watching the air pass in and out of your body.

Now visualize your body.

See it as an empty shell.

The outside is made of light.

The inside is completely empty and clear, like a clear blue sky.

Move inside the shell of your body, going from the crown of the head and the tips of your toes.

Make sure there is nothing inside but the clear space of blue sky.

In the space where your spine had been, picture a hollow tube of red-orange-light, running from the center of the head, up and then down the back of the head, down the spine’s space to the tailbone.

Go deep inside this tube.

Join the winds that run within it, the inner winds.

Listen for the song of these winds as they gather and course through the Central Channel.

Feel the strength of their gathering.

Now feel the connection from beneath your feet, up the Central Channel, through the top of your head, and up to the sky.

Ground your energy back down through your Central Channel and feet.

Come back to the room when you’re ready.

So, perhaps you don’t like guided meditation, with or without music.  Here is a practice I offer people like me—people who have trouble sitting still, people who have trouble emptying the mind.  Rev Mary Harrington taught me this meditation and I am so grateful to her.  Settle yourself again.  Try to breathe normally but intentionally.  Imagine a person, someone you love very much.  Imagine her or his face—if you prefer, his or her whole body.  Smile at this person.  Send them waves of your love, and your care.  This is especially crucial when we are upset or angry with someone we love.  Bid them good bye and send them on their way.  Mary liked to envision her people  being gently placed in a ferris wheel chair, all wrapped in velvet as she sent them on their way, but that doesn’t work for me, as I will start counting the ferris wheel cars and worry that I am going to run out of room.

So, one person at a time.  One sincere wish for their well being.  Send them on their way and invite the next person in.  We will try this for 5 minutes.  You can start with your friends or your family, the people at work, the people in this congregation.  Just start with one person and go from there.

It goes by fast, right?  You were just getting started.  We can do this meditation in the train station, at the doctor’s office, while driving or walking or swimming.  I do it almost every night before I go to bed.  Sometimes I use prayer beads as I call each person into my mind’s eye.  It is immediately calming and satisfying.

One shouldn’t miss the one life that they have been given.  If we can pay attention and let our minds settle, our gratitude and our serenity will help us do everything that needs to be done.

The Dalai Lama was asked if he meditated on really busy days.  He replied that on those super busy days, he meditated more.

May your days be filled with peace and new seeing.  May your days be filled with mindful activity and may you pay attention to all that you see and say.

May it be so, now and always.