In awe of the flower

I was exercising earlier and at the same time I was meditating. Now the exercise and the meditation were not going so well, so I tried a clever trick my guru taught me: I thought about a lake, and thought about how I could be like that lake. -- Now, I'm sure there is a long and venerable tradition of thinking how you're like a lake, and I apologize in advance for violating the idea. This is in no way Mr Nobel's fault, or Jon Kabat-Zinn's who probably teaches the same thing - I change and embellish as I see fit. So - back to the exercise bike. My thoughts went roughly like this:

A lake just lies there, between the hills. No matter what happens around it - traffic, building works, children playing - the lake is, and just keeps being. In fact, no matter what happens to the lake - heavy winds, rain, boats racing across - the lake is, and just keeps being.

That always calms me down. I love the lake. Next up: the mountain:

The mountain is strong, tall, indestructible. Weather and nature affect it, but through the years, the mountain stays where it is, staying strong and tall and indestructible. It is solid on the ground, cannot be moved by any force.

I'm not sure I get the mountain entirely. I should maybe look that one up again. It makes me feel more stable, but I seem to remember it being a more powerful experience before. Now we come to my favourite: the flower.

A flower is fragile, it can so easily be broken. However, it grows with hope and courage. It dares to come up out of the ground, against all odds, and puts so much energy into becoming beautiful, and being exactly what it is. It has roots in the earth and grows up into the air, and it does so with complete conviction. It is all flowerness and nothing else. It dares to be its vulnerable self.

Of the three images, I find the flower the most powerful and the most meaningful in my life. You should try it sometime. It's such a joy.

--

I was worried about getting the above ideas all wrong, so I went for a little Google search journey, and ended up here:



It is a video of Jon Kabat-Zinn giving an introduction to mindfulness. It is a sublime pleasure to watch. If you happen to be able to find an hour today in which you can sit quietly and watch this, it will be a little present of joy and light to yourself. As it was to me.

As an added bonus, it made me stop worrying about getting the images exactly right. My experience, credit duly given - it is what it is.