Pure Mind, Compassionate Heart — Dharma Lecture 3

Every thought is important. 

What a delightfully quiet day! There’s lots of work for me to do, but no emergencies popping up in my inbox. An occasional car passes by, but all I hear are the wrens chirping and an occasional flock of Canada geese discussing flight plans while flying overhead. No noise to distract me. So, it’s a good day to work.

But with all the quiet (there’s always a but), I’ve been noticing my thoughts.

And they haven’t been as admirable as they should be. Nothing serious. A touch of sarcasm here (when I was trying for wit). A sprinkling of fleeting thoughts there. Of self-satisfaction. Another of frustration. Like I said—nothing serious.

But if such thoughts arise on a good day, little wonder we think the things we do on bad days!

The big problem on those days is that we fail to notice what we’re thinking until it’s too late. So now is an excellent time to practice—when life is peaceful and I can catch and correct myself. Hopefully, I’ll prove better at it on more challenging days.

Pure Mind, Compassionate Heart — Dharma Lecture 2

The peaceful environment we seek

can be found wherever we are,

even in a busy city. 

How? By replacing all those pesky bad habits that we tend to indulge in! Like being easily distracted and desirous of new experiences. Being gregarious and seeking others’ company. Or being lazy and following wherever our wandering thoughts happen to lead us.

By changing these, we can reduce our mental clutter.

When in a car or on a train, don’t look at billboards. They’re designed to elicit our cravings and emotions.

At work, spend less time chatting and gossiping. 

At home, turn the television off. Programs are made to keep our adrenaline pumping and interspersed with the commercials to have us discover something we can’t live without.

On the Internet, check what is needed but don’t get carried away, aimlessly clicking the headlines or surfing.

So many of the distractions in our lives are what we invite in. Instead, we can quiet the mental clutter and begin to create that calm, peaceful world right where we are—even in a city.