Pledge

Today, I want to write a little bit on practice.  Practice understood as an activity-not necessarily physical- that is carried out with a certain focus, with specific meaning, dedication and commitment.  As a lady from the West i believe that our physical realm is more accessible, it turns out to be a useful gateway to deeper waters and awareness. The way this half of the world is being raised: external to internal; segregation of mind and body; and identifying/learning/classifying things in boxes or units, makes us perfect candidates to experience first with our bodies, and then discover the layers of the onion--some thicker, some narrower, some smellier, and some as thin as a butterflies wing.
So practice.
Practice.
Practice.
Practice.

What is a practice? What could be considered a practice?
There is no concrete answer here, no definition, and beautifully, no right or wrong.  It's yours.
It's you and yours.

I do believe that there is one key to practice: honesty, surrender and awareness.

I'm no sage, philosopher, intellectual, thinker or guru--oh no!-- but i have been carrying out a practice for several several years, and have been able to identify the thread that has tied my experience of practice all together: truth, letting go (surrender) and awareness (consciousness).  It seems as though i'm repeating myself here, but i'm letting the words and mind flow; reaching to this conclusion, and putting it down on writing for the first time.  I have held it inside me, doubting it all, then reassuring it all back again, then experiencing it in a new kind of way...but noticed those three stepping stones always there.

I could fill a page with ideas, images, colors, concepts that are involved in a daily practice--or at least mine...maybe i'll indulge myself by sharing some: beauty, anger, impatience, anxiety, calmness, stress, pain, love, kindness, ego, desire, pushing, focus, clarity, fear, disappointment, courage, judgement, trust, gratefulness....
on and on and on.

All these are colors, shades and lights that fill the canvas.  However the piece of art is the whole, what binds them together is awareness--being conscious of you, you and yourself right there.  Checking in, observing, being.  Awareness and surrender-- checking in, observing, being...and not judging.  Judgement like a knife slices and chops it all to disconnected pieces. Not judging, measuring or concluding anything. Awareness, surrender and truth-- waking up, checking in, observing, being, surrendering, not judging, with honesty.

For me, there is no such thing as repetition in practice.  Just like today's sky is not exactly the same as yesterday's, or the day before...just as the oceans tides are never exactly the same, practice is always new. Your body might be following the same "routine", you might be directing your breath in the same coordinated pattern; yet your muscles, tendons & ligament, skeleton & organs are different, the air you breathe, your lung capacity and steadiness of breath is fresh, feels different.

Today i worship practice.  In any shape and form; whenever, wherever, whoever, however. Just as life it's never fixed.
I pledge to a time with yourself, for yourself--how courageous is that nowadays?!
I pledge to practice.
I pledge to awareness, surrender and truth.
** an on-going journey of no right's or wrong's, better's or worse's **

I take a bow.

We are driven by self-interest, it’s necessary to survive. But we need wise self-interest that is generous and co-operative, taking others’ interests into account. Co-operation comes from friendship, friendship comes from trust, and trust comes from kind-heartedness. Once you have a genuine sense of concern for others, there’s no room for cheating, bullying or exploitation.

Dalai Lama.