Meditation - "the need to calm the reptilian brain.... " - Matthew Fox
me and Chi Chi, my room-mate's Boa Constrictor
(photo circa 1970 something?)
"Feeding and taming the reptilian brain - put your anger into something creative"
"Fear can so overcome the human heart that it drives compassion out"
- Matthew Fox
26 comments:
well, just came back inside from the balcony...there is a bit of a breeze, but it seems like it's going to be "another hot one", day, that is...i was going to make a 'chicken pot pie' but i don't think i want to have the oven on...so...other things to do....Blog Hopping, maybe?
getting absolutely nothing done slowly...decided to take a nap but the brain just won't turn off...turn on the t.v. and caught the tail-end of a very interesting program on KCTS - "Do You Speak American" -- kool! language, linguistics, dialects...etc. facinates me.....so here i am on this very hot day, talking to myself on my Blog. HAH HAH HHAHHAH, doesn't that just make you want to laugh too?
well, i AM glad i stayed home, all day long i have heard sirens blaring - ambulances, fire-trucks, police cars -- muted and loud, some close by and some in the distance....sounds like a lot of distruction going on out there in the heat of the day....well, you know the old say: "Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the Mid-day sun...and even 'tho is is already 5:00 p.m. the sun is blazing down as if it were High Noon in the Desert!
cheers from the Shade of Flamingo's Hideaway!
Hmmmm, don't know about the boa-constrictor ... how big was it ???
Hope the meditation goes well. I've never been any good at that, as my mind wanders too much. Much better for me to just sit and read a book ... my mind switches off from everything else this way !!
Have a wonderful week.
Take care, Meow
i was looking for you all over the place meow, could not find you in any of my Blogs for some weird reason, anyway, the Boa was just a baby, probably not much more than three feet long.
well, depending on what KIND of book you are reading, maybe....but i don't think that is what Fox had in mind when he talks about calming the reptilian brain, but never mind, some people are naturally more calm than others, i'm not one of them! HAH HAH!
I'm going canoeing up north for a week. All by myself. Just me and the loons. That's the best meditation there is. Well, that and painting.
i think you are missing the point; it is not to distract yourself, the point of "meditation" is to concentrate on yourself, without distraction....
Hello Dear Filly
Thank you for your visit and your comment - you have been on my mind
You might enjoy this little bit:
http://www.just-a-minute.org/movie.html
Joy to you
-.a.-
Have a relaxing meditative day. Love the boa picture!
You are brave to have a snake wrapped round you like that. It happened to me once for a tourist photo while on holiday in Morocco. I have also been pictured with a tarantula in my hand. But not again, I don't know where I found my courage from.
well "angeldust"; i might check out that WWW, but my Blog is quite slow right now...
hey there El Kapitaino, meditation has ceased to be a form of relaxation for me, what can i say, it is hard work; right now the only thing that really relaxes me is t.v. without commercials, so i have been watching a lot of Ch.5 and 27 - i have discovered Michael Pallin, last night he took us on an exciting arm-chair adventure through South America, and down a little travelled river, full of white water, rocks, and spectacular scenery, i can't remember the same of it, something like "Chonga" - (now i have intrigued myself so i'm going to go on-line and check out last night's programming to get the correct info.)- anyway i digress, as usual!
hey elle seymour, thanks for stopping by, checked out your blog, very interesting, i shall be sure to go back, i think i tried to leave a comment but my server was slow and would not allow me to. Just as well, i tend to be a bit verbose!
cheers all,
pj
to all my dear visitors:
If you want to learn about meditation i would strongly suggest you visit "james"'s blog. [The Buddhist Blog] you can catch a link to it if you visit my August 19th Post 'Growing Old With Grace', just click on his beautiful floral profile photo !!! - a great blog, with lot's of insightful postings and quotes
~~ correction ~~
not 19th, rather
August 9th
in addition;
if you want a "photo feast" you should visit Dharma Bums - http://newdharmabums.blogspot.com/
elle seymour: i love snakes, and Chi Chi was quite small, although strong; i DID sleep with my bedroom door closed ~ hah hah ~but i would probably approach really really dangerous ones, like vipers, with great caution, AND i certainly would NOT be brave enough to handle a trantula -- well, here i go again, talking to myself, hah hah!
Hello dragonflyfilly......
First, let me start off by thanking you for visiting my sight, and for your kind words and your insight...it really gave me food for thought....and then today...here I am nursing another addict.....he was in rehab for 3 months...got out and went on a 5 day binge......it's interesting you should mention meditation.
When I did palliative nursing I use to work with patients and encourage meditation prior to a treatment or procedure...and again today prior to changing my patients dressing(in a extremely sensitive area I might add) I encouraged him to do deep breathing and centering in order to help deal with the pain. There are so many many benifits to meditation.
Now about that boa....I don't mind snakes either....and you do look very relaxed with the boa....but don't put me near spiders.....yuck!!!
Hope you had a grand day.....cheers....
Hi Mary,
thanks for dropping by again, and for the in depth comment.
Seems to me you have a challenge, eh? - hmmm, who said that every problem brings with it a gift?
The problem of relapse...*sigh* -- well, you probably know at least one individual who has given up nicotine, only to "fall off the wagon" when the first emotional upheaval comes along....It is a terrible problem, boy, if i had the answers i would be a millionaire eh. Although the Vapassana group has had quite a lot of success in the Penetentary System in the United States. Although the program is "voluntary", you could say they have a somewhat "captive" audience, hah hah!
Yes, well i had been living with Chi Chi before i got the chance to pick her up, and that was AFTER she had had her dinner of three mice! Yes, spiders are a little more tricky, you know they can be damanged very easily?
The world is whirling a bit more quickly of late, so here I am a day or two behind again...forgive me, please?
Always such beautiful artwork...
and then there's a "fox" quoting Fox!
Thank you for that definition of meditation in the comments as well; food for thought for my little mind!
alan
hi alan; thanks for stopping by and please not to worry about when or how, you know, blogging is supposed to be fun, no pressure....
as far as my definition of medidation is concerned, well, that is only mine you know, there are so many different schools of thought, and i started meditating about 29 years ago, when my aunt gave me a litle book, published by the White Eagle Publishing Trust in Hampshire, called simply "Meditation" written by a woman called Grace Cook. She was a member of a group, by the same name, White Eagle Lodge in England. When i was in England i went to London to the address i had, but i could not find the building. It was a very surreal experience. Anyway, since then i have tried many different forms of meditation, and most recently Vapassana. I do not meditate for relaxation, rather for spiritual enlightenment, so when people talk about washing dishes as being a form of meditation i think it is just a trick to try to get me to like something i don't like! hah hah! (try again buddy -- hah hah hah, chuckle chuckle...)
hope your week goes well,
cheers for now,
pj
wow youre really pretty nice smake :D
Can you tame the reptilian brain? Maybe more importantly, do you want to?
Just wondering.
Your friend, Ian
Good question Ian, i'll meditate on that. HAH HAH HHAH HAH AH HAH!
HEY there JIP,, yeah, Chi Chi was a really kool/and cool snake, quite gentle actually, as snakes go!
That's true that fear really does drive out the passion. Passion comes from pursing something new and being adventurous in that capacity, and it seems like a lot of people sacrifice that for something "safer" that they can lose themselves in every day, like a drone-like job.
to dragonflyfilly
thanks for stopping by,
I've been busy these days,
because I'm going to college this September!!
HI!! I would like to see more about meditation. I don't know the first thing about it. I really liked slskenyons' post! How true!
Hope all is well in your part of the country. Rainy, drizzly, dreary here...but not me...I am going to clean out a closet...its time...out with the old, in with the new. LOL.
Later
Peg
just dropped in to say hello , nice chi chi~~~~ hope your well
Greeneyes
slskenyon; how true, when one get's stuck in the "safety net"...ah hah, almost like a fly in a spiders's web! - comfortable but sticky (?),; thanks for stopping by....
hey jm nice to see you again; still hard at work at school eh? i guess that means you got accepted to the university of your choice!?
Hi Peg; i honestly have to say i'm not the best teacher as far as meditation goes...i have been very lax over the past year, not able to sit, and not able to concentrate for very long....but you could check out The Buddhist Blog, or "james", he has lots of good information over there.
Nice to see you....have you been on any of the SB cruises at all? yes, i too liked slskenyon's comment....
hey gegope, nice to see ya, !! yes, Chi Chi was a sweet little reptile...but she had very bad table manners, if you know what i mean, ha ha!
Post a Comment