Hey,
Everyone.
Welcome.
It's Judy.
This is Wake Up Call 521.
And we've been walking the Noble Eightfold Path together,
Which is the how,
If you want to think about it this way,
The how of the Four Noble Truths and the last of the four.
And it's the path of wisdom and compassion.
It's the path of liberation for ourselves,
And also so that we can support liberation for others.
And this is liberation from suffering,
Not liberation from the vicissitudes of life,
But from the ways we want things to be other than they are,
Because we believe,
Either subtly or not so subtly,
That if only things were the way we wish they were,
Then we'd be happy.
Then we'd be free.
And liberation for others,
Meaning creating safety and belonging for everyone in our lives,
In our world.
All of which,
Especially at this moment,
Might sound like an impossible aspiration,
And it is.
And yet,
Mindfulness invites us to hold it.
So,
We know there are eight steps on the path,
Hence the name,
And we've looked at six,
And we have two left.
Wise View and Wise Intention.
So,
Let's unpack Wise View.
When we invite one another into Wise View,
We're doing something I find really interesting.
We're inviting ourselves to intentionally choose a point of view.
And this is different.
At least for me,
From what we might have been taught and what the dominant culture teaches us,
Which is that we have,
As a kind of lifelong proposition,
Or in any given moment anyway,
A kind of innate point of view that arises and is a solid concept,
And that we should pay attention to it,
And that we are entitled to share it with others.
And even to the extent of trying to persuade them to adopt it,
Since it's correct,
Right?
And theirs isn't.
And sure,
We're also taught to listen to and respect other points of view,
But we're also taught,
And society supports this,
That we should be skeptical of other points of view.
So,
The invitation of mindfulness is to de-center all of that messaging and eventually abandon it,
And instead,
First to notice that point of view,
It's just a thought.
And like all thoughts,
It's changeable,
It's changing,
It's not fixed,
Right?
Probably not innate.
But our unexamined,
Or unintentional,
Or unpracticed points of view arise from the causes and conditions of the moment,
And the causes and conditions of a life,
And both.
But this is the good news,
Because they can change and be changed.
So,
I'll call that first point of view a kind of default.
And like the states of mind I find myself in,
If I'm not practicing much,
It arises,
You know,
As a result of my childhood conditioning,
Everything that's ever happened in my life,
All the experiences,
All the humans I've encountered,
The non-humans,
The world itself,
You know,
All coming together in a given moment to form many things,
Including my point of view.
And let's say,
Hypothetically,
That someone grows up in a loving home with two self-aware parents who are emotionally intelligent and understand how to navigate the world and teach all of that to their child.
Hypothetically.
Or maybe that's you.
The child's point of view as they emerge into early adulthood could be that the world is a safe and loving place,
That people will be generally attentive,
That emotions are welcome,
That anything they decide to learn,
They can master.
So,
That would be a really amazing point of view to emerge into in early adulthood.
And there's a story that I love about a family who's moving to a new town,
And they get to the gate and ask the gatekeeper what the townspeople are like.
And the gatekeeper says,
Well,
What were the people like in your old town?
And the family says,
Oh,
They were awful.
And the gatekeeper says,
Oh,
You'll probably find the people in this town awful,
Too.
And then another family is moving to the town and asks the gatekeeper the same question,
And they say the same question back about the people in their old town.
And the family says,
Oh,
The people in our old town were wonderful.
And the gatekeeper says,
Well,
You'll probably find the people in this town wonderful,
Too.
So,
It's easy to understand.
Whatever we think and ponder becomes the inclination of the mind.
Whatever we practice becomes a habit.
And we have a choice about what we think and ponder,
What we practice,
And what point of view we hold.
So,
We aren't relegated to the point of view we had in the last town we lived in or that our family had,
Or even that happens to be arising,
You know,
Molded and shaped by the conditions of our past or by the conditions of this very bumpy moment in the world.
We have a choice.
And the choice mindfulness invites us to make is threefold.
First,
Mindfulness invites us to adopt the point of view of the Four Noble Truths,
Which say that this being human is tough.
There are a lot of bumps in the road.
Every day,
The road seems to get worse.
Gosh,
What's the county doing with all that tax money?
And yet,
That it's one kind of difficult to live with the pain and sorrow of life,
Of the world.
Quite another to spend time or to spend our lives wishing life or things were different because then we think we'd be happy.
And quite another and quite liberating to just let all that go and be here right now where happiness and freedom are possible,
Even in really hard times.
Second invitation of mindfulness is to take the point of view that we're all on this bumpy road together,
That we're interconnected,
That as Thich Nhat Hanh says,
We inter-are.
You know,
That everybody's life is bumpy and that even though that's true,
What's also true is that joy is available if we only stop and take a breath and remember how remarkable it is to be living this human life together.
And remember that even more joy is available when we lift up the joy around us.
And joy is also,
More joy is also available when we tend to the sorrow around us.
Third,
Mindfulness invites us to take the point of view that our happiness is largely in our own hands,
That all of this is in our own hands and it depends on the choices we make and that every single choice matters.
Everything we say,
Everything we do,
Every choice we make related to our livelihood,
Our community-based endeavors,
Our spiritual endeavors,
The decisions we make about our family life and friend life and the strangers we meet along the way.
Every choice matters,
Which is why it's so important to make wise,
Compassionate choices,
You know,
Loving choices,
Moment by moment by moment.
Because then actually,
And you know,
Obviously see if this is true for you,
Wise view emerges easily and it becomes resilient and steady.
So let's do some practice.
And today I want to offer a Metta practice,
A loving-kindness practice and loving-kindness for ourselves.
Not always the easiest person,
So we'll start with an easier person,
But then we'll move to ourselves.
So with Metta practice,
It's good to start with a be in a very comfortable,
Comfy posture.
And so that means you can lean back and relax in your chair or maybe you're lying down.
It doesn't have to be an upright posture for Metta practice.
And as you settle in and close the eyes,
If that's available to you,
Or lower the gaze,
If it's not,
As you do that,
Just take a moment to connect with yourself.
Notice how the body is feeling right now.
Notice the breath in the body.
Let go of anything that's not necessary just for the next nine minutes.
Anything you can let go of.
And call to mind some being who you really love and they really love you.
And it's easy,
Really easy.
So it could be a human being,
Could be a canine being,
Feline being,
Could be an elder,
Could be an ancestor,
Could be a child,
Easy child.
And just have that experience of calling this being to mind and how much love there is,
Going back and forth,
That physical sensation.
And check out the body,
Where does it reside or where is it alive for you right now?
Could be the heart or the face or the belly or the toes.
And wherever that feeling of love is most prominent,
Just let it flow around through the body.
Just let it bump around through the body and fill up the body.
Helps to turn the corners of the mouth up ever so slightly.
And then sometimes it also is helpful if you want to put a hand on the heart or a hand on the belly or both.
And think about a moment in your own life when you felt safe.
And maybe that's now.
Or maybe that's when you were four.
Or maybe that's just a moment in time.
And call that to mind and let this love that you've been paying attention to lift up that feeling of safety.
And you can say to yourself,
May I be safe.
May I be safe.
Safe from inner harm.
Safe from outer harm.
May I be safe.
And then think of a moment in life when you were happy.
Just easy,
Happy.
Could be right now.
Could be the last time you had an ice cream cone.
Could be the last time you saw a good friend,
Walked in the woods,
Hugged your dog,
Snuggled up with your cat.
And let that memory collide with all this love that is in the body right now.
And just say,
May I be happy.
May I be happy.
And then imagining the greatest measure of health that you could possibly have right in this moment.
And really wish that greatest measure for yourself.
And say,
May I be healthy.
May I be healthy.
And then what is just the freest that you could imagine yourself being?
Free from harm.
Free from suffering.
At ease.
Resilient.
Grounded.
And just with all of that imagination,
Connecting with the love in your body and your heart,
Just wish for yourself to be free.
May I be free.
May I be free.
And just to invite you to take this with you into your day.
And you can take it by just taking the four words with you.
Safe.
Happy.
Healthy.
Free.
And then anytime during the day,
Just stop and take a breath.
And wish these four things for yourself.
And for everyone,
For everyone else.
Thanks,
Everybody.
Great to sit with you.
Have a have a safe and good day.
And I'll see you next week.
