Morning guys,
Afternoon,
Good evening.
So let's start with a reading from Charlotte Joko Beck,
And I hope this just puts things into perspective for us.
She's talking about our true self,
And just to say that Joko Beck wasn't one of these practitioners who lived in caves in the Himalayas,
And she had a real life,
Four children,
Single mother,
Her husband was at some point violent to her,
So she had to leave him,
And she was a receptionist,
And yeah,
So she lived a real life,
And she made real life,
Everyday life practice,
That was her genius.
Now,
Our true self doesn't know anything about ambition,
Or anticipating life in any way.
It does not become busy with thinking about the future or the past,
It's not busy waiting,
Measuring,
Or worrying.
Our true self doesn't get anxious.
It's just perceiving second by second.
It's just being itself and responding to whatever happens to be there.
When that millisecond of response is over,
It's over.
We won't ever be able to be completely without thought or anticipation,
But if we sit regularly,
Bored or not,
It weakens this whole ego process.
It weakens our attachment to our core belief,
And at the base,
It's the core belief telling us what life should be like,
Instead of allowing us the space to experience life as it is.
That's the core belief.
That's where it is.
He should be nice to me.
There it is.
That's coming out,
Which is related to the core belief.
When we weaken that attachment to our belief in things,
Sorry,
When we weaken that attachment to our belief in how things are,
We are thrown back into our actual experience,
Which is what we're doing every day here.
If we're thrown into it directly,
Then that's the passageway to our true nature,
To our true self.
And let me tell you,
This is the most rewarding thing you will ever do.
But it's also,
At first,
It's a very edgy life.
We may sometimes get a response we like,
But you can't count on it.
There's no way to count on that.
You don't know what's coming,
But don't worry.
Your true self can't worry about anything.
It's not capable of doing that.
To see what upsets you is to see through your core belief.
Everything we do and see immediately,
Label with our perception,
Like or dislike.
Go right ahead and label.
It doesn't matter.
But this is the work,
Noticing the feeling or thought,
Just feeling it,
Just seeing it.
Become aware of the core belief,
Animating it.
And then just being with whatever arises,
Without response or reaction.
Practice isn't about liking practice or not liking it.
See,
That's where we fall down.
Most of us come to meditation to have a nice time.
Whilst we're sitting.
Liking the weather or not liking the weather,
It doesn't matter.
The weather is what it is.
Our sitting is what it is.
Our liking or disliking of it doesn't make any difference.
Just makes us miserable.
Only the practice matters.
One way we can begin a meditation is,
Which helps to calm the system.
It's just to take,
Just for a minute or two,
Slightly longer out-breaths than in-breath.
It's manufactured,
But it's okay for a minute or two.
So let's start off like that.
Very conscious breathing.
You may notice at the end of that longer out-breath,
There's a softening.
And you can shift attention.
Or rather,
What does want attention?
So you just begin to feel what's here.
Like Joko says,
Just directly.
Don't need to label the feeling.
Just feel that silently.
Or we're lost in thought.
Oh,
You can label that as thinking or having a thought.
If you wish.
And just keep feeling what's here.
Gentle.
Tender.
Don't back off.
No need to judge.
Because that's all thought.
Move around whatever it is.
Feeling the texture.
Let it reveal itself to you.
Quite often it may be layered.
You just have to be interested.
In the feely sort of way.
Now if you wish.
So not looking for outcomes here.
It's not result oriented.
You can stay with this.
Or just relax.
The practice.
And just sit.
Just be with whatever arises.
The breath.
Sounds will arise.
Other bodily sensations.
Boredom may arise.
Where's the attention?
Just checking that you're not tense.
Take a conscious breath.
And then relax.
Okay.
Come at the end.
Bye.
