QUIETER MIND

Although I haven't had much to write about of late, I continue to work on spiritual matters. I have to say that between the garden and helping my mum who has developed some health issues, I don't think that I have been as dedicated to my spiritual practice as I was during the first quarter of this year. In fact, my practices seem to be in a lull. To be fair, though, I do try to notice what my mind is doing and I continue to practice meditating while walking Sadie. As Adyashanti advises seekers to get on with their lives, I guess that this is what I am doing or am being called to do which is a more accurate way of expressing the cause of my actions.

Over the last few days, what I have discerned is that I do better at achieving a quiet mind when I turn my attention to activities that don't use the mind than when I try to simply not think. In other words, I might focus my attention on my senses and what they are perceiving in the surrounding environment and by doing this I am not engaging the mind. I am detecting that the mind on its own is a lot quieter these days. I continue to have the most success with a naturally quiet mind -- a mind that relaxes and doesn't think unless I ask it to -- later in the day. But I am beginning to sense that there are more and more -- and lengthy -- periods when there is no mental activity. I am also aware that often when the mind is busy, I am totally detached from it which is sort of neat in that on these occasions, it is like the mental humdrum is in the background rather than the foreground.

I have been slowly reading my way through Max Freedom Long's "Growing Into Light" and Jeff Foster's "An Extraordinary Absence," both of which I am thoroughly enjoying. I have also been listening to Tolle's "The Journey Into Yourself." I had listened to The Journey Into Yourself two or three times, but that was many months ago. I was initially intrigued by this audio cd, but this time around, I am impressed. Tolle does a very good job of taking the audience through some very useful exercises such as how to approach the business of looking at a tree or dealing with an emotional upset. This is the sort of information I need right now, not that I haven't already figured most of it out on my own, but to hear it from somebody who has woken up is validating.

Namaste