Comments on: Thinking Is Overrated

By: acne

acne — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:05:52 +0000

You’re soooo talented in writing. God is truly using you in tremendous ways. You are doing a great job! This was an awesome blog!

By: John E

John E — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:24:56 +0000

I’m just sitting on it! I feel I am anyway.

By: lewrich

lewrich — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:16:03 +0000

Thank you all for thinking!

Lew

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:18:38 +0000

Advice for a Friend

Don’t watch the thoughts
Let them pass,
watch space between thoughts.
Cultivate that.

When space between thought
is seen as it is
turn in the seat of awareness bare
And look there.

By: Rico Provasoli

Rico Provasoli — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:02:38 +0000

Fear is the cheapest room in the house – I would like to see you living in better conditions. – Hafiz

My personal experience is that sitting allows me to witness the construct of my early life neural imprinting which left me confused with my identity…

Whew! What a relief to know that I am not my neurosis.
Or the fears. Or at the mercy of a displeased God who is keeping score.

Deep Gassho to the ancestors who have preserved the Dharma.

By: Barrie

Barrie — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:01:23 +0000

Thank you for your beautiful writing and for not having “fear of cute metaphors.”

By: julie freiberg

julie freiberg — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:19:37 +0000

It is good to realize that dementia is not a given..
I was raised in a family of women living well into their nineties for the last three generations,during my lifetime.
My fate, alas unknown..I can only hope that my sense of place and quality of mind will be as peaceful as my great grandmother when I last visited her,she was 99 and I was 24..I am now 73 and the “wise” elder among my 4 children and 7 grandchildren.

just so… don’t know…my koans for the coming times.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:47:41 +0000

I’ve been interested in meditation and buddhism since I was a young woman in my 20s. Now I’m 61. But I would torture myself every time I tried to meditate with worries that I wasn’t doing it “right”. It was only when I realized that inner scolding wasn’t working or necessary that I was able to keep a consistent meditation practice. It was then that I began to realize how negative my thought patterns were–all aimed at telling me that I wasn’t “good enough.” So I am interested to read the definition of karma as inner action–the action of thought that creates our fixation on our inner world. It has been an enormous relief to catch those thoughts as they form and let them go.

By: Pam Anderson

Pam Anderson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:40:00 +0000

I was a Jr. High School Counselor for thirty years. I can safely say that ninety five percent of the of the mediations I did were a result of faulty thinking. Identifying the initial thought(what the kids were telling themselves) and disputing it was the way to peace. Wouldn’t it be nice if we learned to sit before developing our habit of thinking.

By: Cynthia Lunine

Cynthia Lunine — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:37:02 +0000

I like your metaphor, John. My cop is always with me, but sometimes sleeps on the job or doesn’t pull out the handcuffs when I’m getting hot under the collar! Too bad I can’t just fire this one and hire a more qualified guy. Guess he just needs more training. One of the biggest challenges with emotions like anger is what Pema Chodron calls “sitting with the pain of not reacting”. It can be very painful to not respond to a favorite button being pushed, even when you’re aware of it happening.