December 6, 2024 • 16 mins
Imagine if savouring a simple meal could transform your day, or if mundane chores could become joyful rituals. Inspired by the timeless wisdom of The Radiant Sutras, we explore how life's challenges can be met with a cleansing sense of presence—like a gentle rain washing over us. As the holiday season approaches, let’s shift our focus from merely awaiting special moments to truly cherishing each one, making every day its own special occasion. We'll uncover strategies to engage fully in daily activities, from mindful eating to embracing the beauty of routine, all in the pursuit of living with greater awareness and joy.
Ever considered how a small object could be a gateway to profound self-awareness? Join us on a sensory journey through mindful object meditation, This practice is more than just observing. Join us and see!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
rest the gaze on something, anything, become
absorbed in it, then disengagefrom looking and slip away from
knowing that thing, slowly erasethe thought and impression of
it, abide in not knowing, revelin the freedomty taken from the
(00:25):
Radiant Sutras.
I was sorting through mybookshelf and I came across this
book and I forgot my friend hadbought it for me many years ago
and I just started reading someof the sutras out of it and
found it absolutely amazing.
I started reading some of thesutras out of it and it lit a
flame for today's class.
(00:46):
These last few months have beena bit difficult in so many ways
.
There's been a lot of familystuff that's been going on and
life has fluxes and turns.
And fitting really, because weare right in the heart of winter
(01:07):
and it's a cold and chillyplace here.
If you're listening to this andyou're somewhere nice and warm,
I bet you're nice and warm.
Having said that, I do like theweather in this country.
I love it when it rains.
People think that's strange,but not that horrible rain where
(01:27):
you feel soaked to the bone,but that refreshing rain that
you can still walk out in, andthere's so many different types
of rains.
There's like that kind ofpenetrating rain.
That's that awful relentlessrain that just shakes at your
windows for days and you reallydon't want that, um.
And then there's that kind oflight rain which feels like it
(01:49):
refreshes everything.
And the refreshing part is whatmade me want to talk today to
you about refreshing our, ourlens, or our kind of as, as this
the poem goes if the doors ofperception were cleansed,
everything would appear as it isinfinite.
(02:09):
And our doors of perception areso muddy.
Yeah, so they are so muddy, andI thought what better thing to
do than to help us cleanse ourdoors of perception?
And, taking inspiration fromthis poem, I'll just say it
again rest the gaze on something, anything, become absorbed in
(02:33):
it.
Then disengage from looking andslip away from knowing that
thing, slowly erase the thoughtand impression of it, raise the
thought and impression of it,abiding in not knowing, revel in
the freedom of uncertainty.
And this reminds me of when wedo, like this, candle gazing
(02:57):
meditation in yoga.
But I thought for today, at theend of this talk, we will do a
meditation where we findsomething to stare at and I
think, like a nice house plantor a flower is a good thing to
look at.
If you don't have that.
Maybe there's a beautifulpicture like you've got, maybe
on the wall, or you've got abeautiful book with a nice
picture, or maybe there'ssomething outside and you're
(03:19):
somewhere warm enough to sitoutside and stare at something
and you have that kind ofsoftness as you look at the
thing.
And when we do the meditation inthe bits that do stay tuned, it
really helps to clear out allthe gunk.
It has a way of kind of likereally centering us in the
(03:39):
present moment.
And um, I'm just going to talka bit more about the present
moment.
So if you look at kind of howadvertising is done, how media
is done, how we plan a wholelife and many of us for when we
retire, thinking that that'sgoing to be like this golden
time and not that I'm retiredyet, but from what I've observed
(04:04):
and the real gift in life ishappening right this moment and
it's learning to kind of findthe joy in that moment, even if
it's been difficult and that isnot an easy task, do not get me
wrong.
When you're going through ahard time, that is not an easy
task.
However, we can ease life andmake it more enjoyable by being
(04:30):
more present.
So if you're eating your dinner, fully eat your dinner.
Try not to just be likewatching something.
I watch things sometimes I'mnot going to say that I never do
but In this day and age, canyou maybe diary in a few meals a
week with your family or evenby yourself, whatever your home
(04:51):
setup is, where you're justcompletely and utterly absorbed
in eating that food and you'renot trying to watch things or
not trying to be in the moment.
Tasks like a chore in the housethat you really don't like doing
, like I don't know, washing upor polishing or cleaning the
windows Can you do that task?
(05:12):
This is going to be a bit of achallenge, but with complete
presence, where you just breathecalmly and you just know what
you're doing and you're nottrying to distract yourself.
And can you, whilst you do thattask, can you, whilst you do
that task, can you find the giftin that task in the present
moment?
Of course, we want to plan forthe future, and, and we, and,
(05:34):
and it's a wise to do so.
However, can you plan for themoment?
Can you just think, right nowI'm going to be completely
absorbed in this task and I'mgoing to enjoy it.
And now I'm going to enjoy whatI'm doing.
And as we come into the holidayseason, can you enjoy, like,
the special moments, instead ofthinking, oh yes, I can't wait
(05:55):
to get to Christmas day orHanukkah or whatever holiday
season you are celebrating?
Instead, can you be in themoment and just enjoy the bits
in between, really allowingyourself to completely absorbed
in the present moment.
And the tools to do that is thismeditation at the end of this
podcast, because it takespractice.
(06:18):
You're not going to just sitand do this meditation.
It's going to happen instantly.
Oh wow, I'm in the presentmoment.
And it's going to take practice.
And sometimes it can be a bitlike um, it can be a bit like
elastic band being pulled back.
Sometimes you feel like you'vereleased that plastic band and
you're kind of free, flowingthrough the moment, and then you
(06:40):
come back and you feel likeyou've been pulled back a bit.
So meditation isn't like thesame every day, and some days it
will be more easier than othersand some days it will feel a
bit kind of like oh, I feel likeI've taken a step back.
The key is to do it every day,if you can.
If you can't do it every day,at least try and do it every
other day, but no less than that.
(07:01):
If you miss some, though, don'tthrow in the towel and think,
oh, I'm not going to do anymore,just come back to it, because
when we're not perfect,sometimes we have the best
intentions and sometimes thingsdon't work out.
I've set my intention to havefour glasses of water in the
middle of the day, besides mydrinks at the beginning and the
end of the day, and most daysI've managed to do it some.
(07:24):
The other day, I was reallybusy doing admin, and I just got
so absorbed in it that I forgotto drink the water.
So I'm not going to throw thetowel in, I'm just going to
remember to drink the watertoday, and then some days I was
traveling, so drinking largeamounts of water wasn't the best
option for me, so I just drankmy water more at the end of the
day and at the start of the day.
(07:47):
Um, so, as I'm just using thatas an example to show the
humanness in all of us, so yourtask for today is to try and be
as much in the present as youpossibly can, and if your mind
wanders, that's fine, but justbe present.
So you're just really takingthe sounds, the smells, what you
(08:10):
see, touch, feel, hear as muchas you possibly can.
And, like I said, it's a musclethat you're going to build up
slowly, a memory muscle to be inthe present moment.
So, dear ones, here is themeditation that's going to help
you do that.
I would suggest that you tryand do this at least every day,
like I said, if not at leastevery other day.
(08:31):
So you, before you start, you'rejust going to need something
that you can look at.
That's nice, to kind of look at, um, it could be a crystal, it
could be a plant, something thatyou you can look at for five
minutes and feel like you couldlook at for a period of time.
If you've got flowers in thebars, that's always nice.
Like I said, if you it'ssomewhere warm enough to be
(08:52):
outside, then something outside.
Obviously not tv, becausethat's like defeating the object
.
You want nothing electrical,you want to look at something
that's a physical form in thisworld.
Okay, top tips for themeditation is either sit nice
and cross-legged on the floorwith a nice straight back always
(09:13):
nice to sit on a block or acushion, although that's not
available for you.
You sit in a chair with theback nice and straight.
The important thing is you'renot slouching, and if you're
doing something that requires alittle concentration, all you
need to do is just pause thisand you can reconvene the
meditation at a time that isgood for you.
If you're doing the meditation,let's begin.
(09:36):
So, as you sit, you're going toplace the object ideally, kind
of like, um, an arms or twoarm's distance in front of you.
Obviously, if it's somethingthat's not that close, just look
at it as best you can from thedistance that you're at.
I am, for this instance, I amgoing to look at a house plant
(09:57):
which is one arm's distance awayfrom me, and I am going to
remember to blink, and I wishyou to do the same.
But you're just going to takesome slow, calm, deep breaths
and you're just going to startto look at that thing.
In my case it is the plant, andas I look at the plant, I can
(10:18):
see, like almost a tiny thinlayer around it, as I stare at
it, the way the light pops fromthe plant.
And as you look at your objectmaybe it's a beautiful painting,
whatever it is just start totake some slow, calm, deep
(10:38):
breaths and as you breathe,you're going to look at,
allowing the breath to be calm,deep.
And even so, as the mind wantsto go off to this, that and the
other, don't fight it, butinstead steer it back to what
(11:00):
the object you are regarding.
Start to look at that object.
What does its texture look likewith your eyes?
What are the colours of it?
Does it have a smell?
Does it matter?
If it doesn't, what would youimagine it to taste?
Don't taste it, but what wouldyou imagine it to taste like?
(11:20):
What is it?
Is there any sound at all?
Even if it's not the object,can you hear any sounds as you
regard it?
How does the light hit againstit?
And all I want you to do is justto look at the object and use
(11:43):
the tool of your breath, so slow, calm, deep breaths as you
regard this object for the nextfew minutes, just remembering
that you can come back tolooking at how you see it if the
mind starts to wander.
Thank you, I love you.
(12:45):
Okay, so, as you continue tostare at this object, who is the
(14:17):
person regarding the object?
So, who is the person regardingthe object?
Are you regarding yourself,regarding the object?
How does it feel to regard thisobject as you slowly start to
(14:41):
come back into the moment, comeback into the now.
Just start to blink the eyes abit more and then just take a
calm, deep breath, inhale,exhale, go about your day so as
much as possible.
Try and practice that daily andlook after yourself, and I'll
see you very soon.
rest the gaze on something, anything, become
absorbed in it, then disengagefrom looking and slip away from
knowing that thing, slowly erasethe thought and impression of
it, abide in not knowing, revelin the freedomty taken from the
(00:25):
Radiant Sutras.
I was sorting through mybookshelf and I came across this
book and I forgot my friend hadbought it for me many years ago
and I just started reading someof the sutras out of it and
found it absolutely amazing.
I started reading some of thesutras out of it and it lit a
flame for today's class.
(00:46):
These last few months have beena bit difficult in so many ways
.
There's been a lot of familystuff that's been going on and
life has fluxes and turns.
And fitting really, because weare right in the heart of winter
(01:07):
and it's a cold and chillyplace here.
If you're listening to this andyou're somewhere nice and warm,
I bet you're nice and warm.
Having said that, I do like theweather in this country.
I love it when it rains.
People think that's strange,but not that horrible rain where
(01:27):
you feel soaked to the bone,but that refreshing rain that
you can still walk out in, andthere's so many different types
of rains.
There's like that kind ofpenetrating rain.
That's that awful relentlessrain that just shakes at your
windows for days and you reallydon't want that, um.
And then there's that kind oflight rain which feels like it
(01:49):
refreshes everything.
And the refreshing part is whatmade me want to talk today to
you about refreshing our, ourlens, or our kind of as, as this
the poem goes if the doors ofperception were cleansed,
everything would appear as it isinfinite.
(02:09):
And our doors of perception areso muddy.
Yeah, so they are so muddy, andI thought what better thing to
do than to help us cleanse ourdoors of perception?
And, taking inspiration fromthis poem, I'll just say it
again rest the gaze on something, anything, become absorbed in
(02:33):
it.
Then disengage from looking andslip away from knowing that
thing, slowly erase the thoughtand impression of it, raise the
thought and impression of it,abiding in not knowing, revel in
the freedom of uncertainty.
And this reminds me of when wedo, like this, candle gazing
(02:57):
meditation in yoga.
But I thought for today, at theend of this talk, we will do a
meditation where we findsomething to stare at and I
think, like a nice house plantor a flower is a good thing to
look at.
If you don't have that.
Maybe there's a beautifulpicture like you've got, maybe
on the wall, or you've got abeautiful book with a nice
picture, or maybe there'ssomething outside and you're
(03:19):
somewhere warm enough to sitoutside and stare at something
and you have that kind ofsoftness as you look at the
thing.
And when we do the meditation inthe bits that do stay tuned, it
really helps to clear out allthe gunk.
It has a way of kind of likereally centering us in the
(03:39):
present moment.
And um, I'm just going to talka bit more about the present
moment.
So if you look at kind of howadvertising is done, how media
is done, how we plan a wholelife and many of us for when we
retire, thinking that that'sgoing to be like this golden
time and not that I'm retiredyet, but from what I've observed
(04:04):
and the real gift in life ishappening right this moment and
it's learning to kind of findthe joy in that moment, even if
it's been difficult and that isnot an easy task, do not get me
wrong.
When you're going through ahard time, that is not an easy
task.
However, we can ease life andmake it more enjoyable by being
(04:30):
more present.
So if you're eating your dinner, fully eat your dinner.
Try not to just be likewatching something.
I watch things sometimes I'mnot going to say that I never do
but In this day and age, canyou maybe diary in a few meals a
week with your family or evenby yourself, whatever your home
(04:51):
setup is, where you're justcompletely and utterly absorbed
in eating that food and you'renot trying to watch things or
not trying to be in the moment.
Tasks like a chore in the housethat you really don't like doing
, like I don't know, washing upor polishing or cleaning the
windows Can you do that task?
(05:12):
This is going to be a bit of achallenge, but with complete
presence, where you just breathecalmly and you just know what
you're doing and you're nottrying to distract yourself.
And can you, whilst you do thattask, can you, whilst you do
that task, can you find the giftin that task in the present
moment?
Of course, we want to plan forthe future, and, and we, and,
(05:34):
and it's a wise to do so.
However, can you plan for themoment?
Can you just think, right nowI'm going to be completely
absorbed in this task and I'mgoing to enjoy it.
And now I'm going to enjoy whatI'm doing.
And as we come into the holidayseason, can you enjoy, like,
the special moments, instead ofthinking, oh yes, I can't wait
(05:55):
to get to Christmas day orHanukkah or whatever holiday
season you are celebrating?
Instead, can you be in themoment and just enjoy the bits
in between, really allowingyourself to completely absorbed
in the present moment.
And the tools to do that is thismeditation at the end of this
podcast, because it takespractice.
(06:18):
You're not going to just sitand do this meditation.
It's going to happen instantly.
Oh wow, I'm in the presentmoment.
And it's going to take practice.
And sometimes it can be a bitlike um, it can be a bit like
elastic band being pulled back.
Sometimes you feel like you'vereleased that plastic band and
you're kind of free, flowingthrough the moment, and then you
(06:40):
come back and you feel likeyou've been pulled back a bit.
So meditation isn't like thesame every day, and some days it
will be more easier than othersand some days it will feel a
bit kind of like oh, I feel likeI've taken a step back.
The key is to do it every day,if you can.
If you can't do it every day,at least try and do it every
other day, but no less than that.
(07:01):
If you miss some, though, don'tthrow in the towel and think,
oh, I'm not going to do anymore,just come back to it, because
when we're not perfect,sometimes we have the best
intentions and sometimes thingsdon't work out.
I've set my intention to havefour glasses of water in the
middle of the day, besides mydrinks at the beginning and the
end of the day, and most daysI've managed to do it some.
(07:24):
The other day, I was reallybusy doing admin, and I just got
so absorbed in it that I forgotto drink the water.
So I'm not going to throw thetowel in, I'm just going to
remember to drink the watertoday, and then some days I was
traveling, so drinking largeamounts of water wasn't the best
option for me, so I just drankmy water more at the end of the
day and at the start of the day.
(07:47):
Um, so, as I'm just using thatas an example to show the
humanness in all of us, so yourtask for today is to try and be
as much in the present as youpossibly can, and if your mind
wanders, that's fine, but justbe present.
So you're just really takingthe sounds, the smells, what you
(08:10):
see, touch, feel, hear as muchas you possibly can.
And, like I said, it's a musclethat you're going to build up
slowly, a memory muscle to be inthe present moment.
So, dear ones, here is themeditation that's going to help
you do that.
I would suggest that you tryand do this at least every day,
like I said, if not at leastevery other day.
(08:31):
So you, before you start, you'rejust going to need something
that you can look at.
That's nice, to kind of look at, um, it could be a crystal, it
could be a plant, something thatyou you can look at for five
minutes and feel like you couldlook at for a period of time.
If you've got flowers in thebars, that's always nice.
Like I said, if you it'ssomewhere warm enough to be
(08:52):
outside, then something outside.
Obviously not tv, becausethat's like defeating the object
.
You want nothing electrical,you want to look at something
that's a physical form in thisworld.
Okay, top tips for themeditation is either sit nice
and cross-legged on the floorwith a nice straight back always
(09:13):
nice to sit on a block or acushion, although that's not
available for you.
You sit in a chair with theback nice and straight.
The important thing is you'renot slouching, and if you're
doing something that requires alittle concentration, all you
need to do is just pause thisand you can reconvene the
meditation at a time that isgood for you.
If you're doing the meditation,let's begin.
(09:36):
So, as you sit, you're going toplace the object ideally, kind
of like, um, an arms or twoarm's distance in front of you.
Obviously, if it's somethingthat's not that close, just look
at it as best you can from thedistance that you're at.
I am, for this instance, I amgoing to look at a house plant
(09:57):
which is one arm's distance awayfrom me, and I am going to
remember to blink, and I wishyou to do the same.
But you're just going to takesome slow, calm, deep breaths
and you're just going to startto look at that thing.
In my case it is the plant, andas I look at the plant, I can
(10:18):
see, like almost a tiny thinlayer around it, as I stare at
it, the way the light pops fromthe plant.
And as you look at your objectmaybe it's a beautiful painting,
whatever it is just start totake some slow, calm, deep
(10:38):
breaths and as you breathe,you're going to look at,
allowing the breath to be calm,deep.
And even so, as the mind wantsto go off to this, that and the
other, don't fight it, butinstead steer it back to what
(11:00):
the object you are regarding.
Start to look at that object.
What does its texture look likewith your eyes?
What are the colours of it?
Does it have a smell?
Does it matter?
If it doesn't, what would youimagine it to taste?
Don't taste it, but what wouldyou imagine it to taste like?
(11:20):
What is it?
Is there any sound at all?
Even if it's not the object,can you hear any sounds as you
regard it?
How does the light hit againstit?
And all I want you to do is justto look at the object and use
(11:43):
the tool of your breath, so slow, calm, deep breaths as you
regard this object for the nextfew minutes, just remembering
that you can come back tolooking at how you see it if the
mind starts to wander.
Thank you, I love you.
(12:45):
Okay, so, as you continue tostare at this object, who is the
(14:17):
person regarding the object?
So, who is the person regardingthe object?
Are you regarding yourself,regarding the object?
How does it feel to regard thisobject as you slowly start to
(14:41):
come back into the moment, comeback into the now.
Just start to blink the eyes abit more and then just take a
calm, deep breath, inhale,exhale, go about your day so as
much as possible.
Try and practice that daily andlook after yourself, and I'll
see you very soon.
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