The OBSERVING mind is our wisest and kindest teacher.

Be the kind witness.

Fall is the season of reflection. In traditional Chinese Medicine, the season of autumn corresponds to the element of metal, which is reflective. The winter's element is water, also reflective. The darker colder months are the time to be able to take time each day to sit and become still so we can reflect and see our reflection...without judgment. Just a simple kind observation. Like a kind wiser being observing a struggling younger soul. When we observe without judgment, it naturally propels us to realign back to our center. Then we have the opportunity to shift our behavior and thought patterns to bring us back to homeostasis, or balance, where true health resides.

For most of us, being still and clearing the mind is nearly impossible. We quit trying to meditate, thinking we're no good at it because our thoughts get in the way. Welcome to the human condition! We all are subject to our monkey minds.

The point of meditating and becoming still is NOT to stop thinking.

Meditating into stillness is simply shifting how we relate to our thoughts and emotions.

When we can observe them, name them, and let them dissipate, then we take control of the mind, rather than our incessant thinking mind controlling us. The observing mind that we can rest back into when meditating is like the kind grandparent observing the small grandchild struggling. No judgment, just love, and compassion. When we get caught up in a cloud of thoughts and emotions, we realize it, pull back and observe it, breathe a slow long abdominal breath and return to a neutral mind, where our wisdom resides.

So...how clear are you? Are you able to sit and still the turbid mind so you can see your own reflection? In today’s society of determining our value on clicks and likes, it’s very hard to drop down out of that surface turbidity to our root power, which is the truth. Natures truth.

There's a Zen teaching of the dragonfly sitting on the water, sitting right on top of his reflection. If he makes one subtle move of his wing he cannot see his reflection, the stillness is broken, which represents our mind. When our mind is still it’s calm.

Wisdom and knowledge are very different. Knowledge is taking on someone else’s ideas. Wisdom is applying these teachings and ideas to our lives and reflecting on their truth. These truths can be found in spiritual, religious, and indigenous stories from all over the world throughout time. They all point to nature's truth.

Become the analogy of a glass of water with a diamond at the bottom. Our bodies are the glass, our mind is the water, and the truth of who we are is the diamond. When a speck of dirt drops in the water, that is our mind clouded by thoughts that obscure our truth. When we stop spinning the water or adding dirt to it, we can sit still enough to see the diamond, our truth.

Where there is tranquility there is stillness, stillness reveals the truth. Once we can see the diamond we cannot be manipulated by man-made truths which are always changing. Man-made truth represents law, medicine, and politics which are always changing. Nature's truth is constant. It’s what we can truly depend on.

When we embody this, then we can find stability in our own unwavering truth, and we won’t be so moved by others' opinions and beliefs that we don’t necessarily agree with. We can allow them and cohabitate peacefully.

When we can see our own inner light in our hearts as unwavering, then we can see the light in others, even if they can’t see it themselves. Just by seeing the light in others helps them see it themselves. When we cannot see our own inner light we become dangerous to ourselves and others. By shining our light we help others see their own light, which is teaching, Not just teaching in words but by being. Being is the water element, the Sage. The wisdom of the sage is what we’ve accumulated through maintaining our stillness which reveals our truth. Then sage wisdom can nurture the sprouting of our own or others' inspiration and opening of consciousness.

The sage wisdom does not necessarily mean a zen master sitting on top of a mountain top, but in our everyday inner work. When we are triggered, impatient, or judgemental, we quickly then see the reflection and correct the mind to come back to clarity and our constant so we can upgrade ourselves to being more compassionate and loving.

~What we practice gets stronger.~

Namaste,

Maggie