26 February 2006

Live With An Open Heart Even If It Hurts

"Closing down in the midst of pain is a denial of a man’s true nature. A superior man is free in feeling and action, even amidst great pain and hurt. If necessary, a man should lie with a hurting heart rather than a closed one. He should learn to stay in the wound of pain and act with spontaneous skill and love even from that place.


Imagine failing at a major project, lying to your woman and getting caught, or overhearing her joke about your shortcomings in bed. How do you react with your body, breath and eyes? Notice if you react to a person or situation that hurts you by withdrawing, hiding or closing in on yourself. Notice if there are times when you find it difficult to look into someone’s eyes, or times you’re your chest and solar plexus become tense and contracted. These are signs of an unskillful reaction to hurt. Contracted and closed in on yourself, you are unable to act. You are trapped in your own self-protective tension, no longer a free man.


The superior man practices opening during these times of automatic closure. Open the front of your body so your chest and solar plexus are not tense. Sit or stand up straight and full, opening the front of your body, softening your chest and belly, wide and free. Breathe down through your chest and solar plexus, deep into your belly. Look directly into the eyes of whomever you are with, feeling your own pain as well as feeling the other person. Only when the front of your body is relaxed and opened, your breathe full and deep, and your gaze unguarded and directly connected with another person’s eyes, can your fullest intelligence manifest spontaneously in the situation. To act as a superior man, a samurai of relationship, you must feel the entire situation with your whole body. A closed body is unable to sense subtle cues and signals, and therefore unable to act with mastery in the situation."

From The Way of the Superior Man, by David Deida.

16 February 2006

Feel the love generation!

As a music addicted (and a world-jazz-rock-guitar-player-wannabe) I would have a lot to talk about music. And I was just thinking about posting something on it when I listened to a radio hit called "Love Generation" by Gary Pine and Bob Sinclar, whom I`ve never heard before.

So, here I am, forgetting for a while some of my heroes like Joe Pass, Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Dylan, Egberto Gismonti, Miles, etc, to wonder about this love generation thing! Well, well, well, the fact is that I just loved it!

I think there is something simply beautiful in this kind of music, something captivating and inspiring. Maybe because everybody still dreams in secret about better days to come, about some promised land full of beauty so far across the sea, that paradise we leave in some very distant past, just like Bob Marley used to sing a lot. Sometimes these simple songs seem to catch us like a trap for this "lost paradise neurosis". At that moment we could even close our eyes, smile beautifully, sing together and also eventually drop a little tear ;-)


Love Generation
Bob Sinclair/Gary Pine

Why must our children play in the streets
Broken hearts and faded dreams
Listen up to everyone that you meet
Don't you worry, it could be so sweet
Just look to the rainbow you will see,
The sun will shine till eternity
I've got so much love in my heart
No one can tear it apart

Feel the love generation
Come on, come on, come on
Feel the love generation
Don't worry about a thing, gonna be all right

It's all love you know, it's all love from I and I to everyone
Don't you worry, we got the love yeah
There's no need to cry yeah
Don't you worry, we got the love yeah
Gotta live that love, you know what I'm talking about
Don't get hooked up on what you see cause the greatest thing is spirituality
Share that love, share that love, share that hope, share them dreams

Feel the love generation
Come on, come on, come on
Feel the love generation
Don't worry about a thing, gonna be all right


"Have a good time in your life until we meet again!" ;-)

05 February 2006

Don't Vacillate

"You should not vacillate in your enthusiasm for practice. If you sometimes practice and sometimes do not, that will not give birth to certainty in the dharma. Therefore, don't think too much. Just concentrate one-pointedly on mind training."
From Training the Mind & Cultivating Loving-Kindness by Chogyam Trungpa , copyright 1993 by Diana Mukpo. Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.

01 February 2006

Whichever of the Two Occurs, Be Patient

"If you become utterly destitute and are suffering greatly, consider your previous karma. Without being resentful or depressed, take up all the sufferings and evil of others and work hard at ways to clear away evil actions and obscurations. If you find yourself very happy and comfortable, surrounded by great wealth and servants, don't succumb to carelessness or indifference. Use the wealth for virtuous projects, use your power constructively, and pray for all sentient beings to have the same comfort and happiness. In short, whichever occurs, happiness or suffering, be patient."
From The Great Path of Awakening: An Easily Accessible Introduction for Ordinary People by Jamgon Kongtrul, translated by Ken McLeod. Copyright 1993 by Ken McLeod. Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston.

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