Simple Time

In November everything slows down, and I try to remember to be more aware of time flowing; to find the right tempo for each activity; and to transition calmly. Advent will bring a wealth of activity, so take time this week to savor the changing season. Remember, as Waverly Fitzgerald says in Slow Time, that time is "much more fluid and mysterious than I had imagined."

Agenda:

1. Read "The Power of Less"

2. Simple holiday decluttering

3. Simple projects list

4. Love meditation

1. Read "The Power of Less":

Continuing with this little book by Leo Babauta, who hosts the Zen Habits blog. I bought it because simplifying is a favorite topic of mine, one I long for and keep trying to perfect.

I'm reading to Chapter 16: Slow Time. He asserts that our bodies and minds were made for a slower pace than our modern life-style assumes; rushing and stress is not good for us. That's not news to me! His advice is to move slower, which has been my mantra all along.

1. Firstly, choose tasks that you love, important tasks that will make a long-term impact and that are challenging enough to demand your attention.
2. And then learn to focus your attention on the task you are doing without allowing it to be pulled away to something else. Every time something distracts you or your attention wanders, take note of it, like you would in meditation; stop, refocus, and continue.
3. Thirdly, work slowly on it for a block of time, and enjoy the process. 

He goes on to say that you can also give attention to preparing meals slowly, and eating slowly, walking and biking slowly, 

2. Simple holiday decluttering:

This month I set an intention to care for our home with scaled-back and simplified goals, because this is the season of drawing inward to regenerate, and Simple Cleaning is one way I can re-focus my attention on family, creativity, and abundance while still maintaining a well-ordered and peaceful sanctuary for those I love.

Along with simple cleaning comes decluttering. This is a time of year to purge, to give or throw away things I don’t need, give up habits I don’t want, and pare down my activities to make time for introspection. 

Leo Babauta would say to get down to the essentials in each space. My goals this week:

1. Simplify the studio space and contain the clutter so it is a meditative space to work and teach in.
2. Clear out the hall linen closet so things have room to breath.

3. Simple Projects List:

Last month I initiated Babauta's "Simple Projects List" - with my top three projects only, which I need to finish before starting any others. (A "project" is something that has several steps, and takes only a week or two.)

My simple projects list this week:

1. Sewing: Sew new Owl appliqué and frame Small Forests.
2. Celebrate the season: Thanksgiving tree, leaf projects, cook pumpkins, make Christmas pudding.
3. Mantra signs: Advertise class and prepare, make new Wild Bee sign.
4. Nature culture: Nature Neighbors notebook, wild garden tasks, climate advocacy plans.

4. Love meditation:

This fall I began a set of practices that brings me to love and receptivity every month after the full moon, in the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon.

The Buddhist term bodhicitta means "completely open heart and mind". Developing bodhicitta is a journey: You move toward a flexible way of thinking and feeling, releasing fear and a need for security, and embracing the possibility of love.

During the waning moon, I practice this Love Meditation to help open a door to bodhichitta.

1. 1 minute - Relax your body, and focus on the tender emotion of generous love. Allow a smile to settle on your face and in your heart.
2. 1 minute - Visualize love as soft, tingly, warm, pink light, and see it move from your heart to every part of your body so that every cell is glowing and vibrating.
3. 1 minute - Now see the pink light of love radiating to fill the whole room, then the whole city, and the whole planet earth.
4. 1 minute - See that all people, plants, and animals feel warm and happy.
5. 1 minute - Send an extra dose of love light to those people you want to have a better connection to.

Day 1: Practice a love meditation, and open to receive blessings - send a prayer to the universe asking to be showered with love, kindness, health, and happiness.

Day 2: Practice a love meditation, and end by feeling and expressing gratitude - send a prayer to the universe of thanksgiving for all I have in my life. When I remember to feel grateful for my blessings, my days take on a different tone: I have more vigor, optimism, compassion, and peace. By noticing how I am blessed, my impatience decreases and I realize how satisfied and fulfilled I really am.

Day 3: Practice a love meditation, and then journal about generosity with time and attention - start with ideas for being generous with myself, then my family, my neighborhood, community, and the earth. I might decide to give money or a gift, or simple acts of helping and sharing my time. (Even though my world has been narrowed by crisis, I can still find small ways to be outwardly generous.)