If you haven't already been inviting your attention to come to what's here in some way,
Through one of your senses,
Maybe through the sense of sight or sound,
Through the sense of taste or touch,
Through the sense of smell.
Just noticing what's here now.
Just noticing what's here now in actuality,
In factuality,
In simplicity,
Hardness,
Softness,
Green,
Round.
Just looking for and connecting with what simply is in this moment through one of your senses.
And letting your attention meander to discover,
To discover what is here,
What's simply here.
It doesn't matter what your attention locates or connects with.
There's no pass.
This is not a pass fail test.
This is not a test that's being graded.
We all pass and none of us pass.
It's just whatever your attention wants to connect with that just is simple,
Indisputable.
In this moment for me,
It's my cat's cold nose on my chin.
I can just feel the coolness.
It's not right,
It's not wrong or good or bad.
It's just what simply was at this point because now it's gone and now my attention comes to the softness of the blanket under my right hand.
So becoming intimate with your attention and your attention becoming intimate with this moment and keep inviting your attention to reconnect to this moment when attention leaves,
As it will.
Gently reclaim attention back with something that is simply here.
Let yourself discover what is simply here in this sitting,
Breathing body.
Keep noticing attention leave and go to past or future or to something of figuring out.
Gently reclaim attention,
Bringing it back to something that is simply true that does not require analysis or figuring out.
Rest with that.
Notice what happens in your body.
Notice what happens with your mind and thoughts.
Notice what happens with your nervous system when you rest with that which does not require figuring out.
Notice your experience of connecting with what is simple and notice the opposite.
What happens when you accidentally and innocently get lost in figuring out and analyzing and moralizing and judging,
Not to make any of that right or wrong.
Just notice what is it like to be caught in thoughts?
What is it like to be resting with what simply is,
Tangibly simply is?
Just notice.
This morning I was noticing lots of rigidity in my system.
Lots of rigidity in thoughts and ideas and identity in the world,
Who I'm supposed to be in response to that and so forth.
And then someone reminded me,
Be like water.
And I could feel my attention lean into softness,
The softness of the sound of water in my background,
Lean into the softness of the blanket that happened to be there in the moment,
Lean into the softness of breath that is always soft because it's a gas and reconnect to that.
And with the invitation to lean into softness,
My nervous system softened and then I could feel the softness that I was enclosed within,
Inseparable from.
And it reminded me of the Dada Ching,
The Dada Ching often utilizes the metaphor of water.
And so I thought I'd bring in a couple of verses of the Dada Ching just to see what that yields for us,
For our attention,
For our bodies,
For our minds.
Just to be curious and playful with these verses.
The highest goodness resembles water.
Water greatly benefits myriad things without contention.
It stays in place that people dislike.
Therefore it is similar to the Tao.
Another verse,
Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water.
Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.
I'm going to read that one again.
Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water.
Yet nothing is better at overcoming the hard and strong.
The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
Performing without actions,
That is the master's way.
The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.
That which has no substance enters where there is no space.
This shows the value of non-action.
Teaching without words,
Performing without actions,
This is the master's way.
Let yourself lean into and feel that which you are within.
The breath that breathes you.
The field of gravity that holds you.
The space of being that is you.
Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
Nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
But few can put it into practice.
Therefore the master remains serene in the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter her heart because she has given up helping.
She is people's greatest help.
True words seem paradoxical.
If you want to shrink something,
You must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
You must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
You must first allow it to be given.
This is called subtle perception of the way things are.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Before we pause our time together,
Our sacred time together,
I invite you to connect with something that has dropped in for you this morning or this afternoon,
The last 30 minutes,
That you want to carry forth into the rest of your day.
What has dropped in for you this last bit of time that you want to continue nurturing or be nurtured by?
Just pause with that.
Let yourself connect with that for a moment.
Thanks and gratitude for being together today.
Thanks and gratitude for the Dao De Qing.
Thanks and gratitude for breath and gravity,
For slowing down to be with what's always here.
Sometimes we forget.
Thanks and gratitude.
Thanks and gratitude.
Thanks and gratitude.
Much love.
See you all soon.
