Confessions of a Modern Witch: Thich Nhat Hanh

Showing posts with label Thich Nhat Hanh. Show all posts

Bone Songs Myth & Magic - January Theme - Focus

January 30, 2022

As a member of the group called Bone Songs Myth and Magic, a group of gifted Pagan practitioners offer their experiences and guidance in their field of expertise. This past month our theme was Focus. I wanted to share my contribution to this group with my blog audience and offer you the opportunity to find us and join us for our journey into learning more about ourselves and how we interact with the magical realm.

Here's my offering for January's theme called Mindful Magic. I hope you enjoy.

Mindful Magic

As we kick off 2022, it is a great time to start thinking about where you are spiritually. Our spiritual self, our inner self or our true self as it is often referred to, is that place where we are who we really are. This is the self that rarely is shared with others. This self, is the self that sits back and judges our actions; it rates those actions and then gives us a feeling of guilt or pride based on that judgment. That self is often thinking into the future about what will come of those actions or looking at the past, wishing for or regretting actions that led us to where we are now. That self is often negative.

I know what you’re thinking, not another one of those mind over matter mumbo jumbo pieces. Why yes, yes it is. Because my dear readers, it is true. We have within us the power to decide if we want to be happy or sad. We decide if we want to continue to pave a road with our tears or brush off our cheeks and move forward with a smile. And this year, my friends, is the year that we need more than ever before to move forward with a collective happiness that can indeed, change the world.

Mindfulness is the act of being fully present in the here and now. In this fast paced world of multitasking this is much more challenging than it seems. Every day we often sit at our computers, while watching TV and stopping to read an instant message that pops up while thinking ahead about the next task. We are preparing for the future and fretting about the past so much that we miss out on what is in our lives right now. Mindfulness is a deliberate act. We stop doing multiple things and focus on the one thing that we’re doing right now with intent and purpose.

Being mindful is the beginning of meditation. Mediation is a state of calm where you sit with yourself and seek to recognize the exact moment of where you are right now. Meditation has been scientifically proven to lower blood pressure, ease the symptoms of anxiety and improve self-esteem. A study in 2016 showed that introducing a group of meditation practitioners into a community of those who do not mediate lowered crime rates and violence by about 20% in what is called the Maharishi effect. If we could get 1% of our population to meditate, we could change the world.

So what does all these mean, you’re asking? What does this mean for my magical practice?

As witches, intuitives, mystics and healers what this means to use is that we are in a unique place to help bring about positive change to our planet. We can look at each of our specific gifts and add mindfulness to it so that we can add focus to our result. Whose magical work does not benefit when you take a few extra minutes of self care time to focus your energy on your intentions? What healing energy isn’t reinforced when you spend some time directing that energy with purpose? I think we all know the answer.

For 2022, think of ways that you can begin moving into a mindful place. Think about the simple act of drinking a cup of tea. We need to be here to hold the cup, and to drink from the cup. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us that all acts including drinking tea should be done so, mindfully.

“You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.
Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.
Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.
If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the
future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of
Tea…..” - Thich Nhat Hanh

Make 2022 the year that you remain right here, right now. I look forward to taking this journey with you.

Namaste

Sosanna

Rev. Renee Sosanna Olson - CSM, PMI-ACP

Ordained Spiritual Counselor

Certified Holistic Wellness Coach

International Yogi Certification

Certified Crystal Master & Aroma Therapy Practitioner

Resources:

The Maharishi Effect - https://research.miu.edu/maharishi-effect/

How to Meditate - https://www.mindful.org/how-to-meditate/

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh - https://plumvillage.org/

Thich Nhat Hanh’s Tea Meditation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNiwOI0u9AI

The Bell of Mindfulness - https://plumvillage.app/how-and-why-to-use-the-mindfulness-bell-on-the-plum-village-app/

Exercises:

Mindful Dishwashing

While washing dishes, think very deliberately about the task. Feel the warmth of the water on your skin. Feel the sponge or cloth in your hand. Think about each stroke across the dish. Feel the smoothness of the clean dish. Now repeat this for each item in the sink. Really feel it and focus only on that one thing. This is mindful meditation.

Applying a magical context would be - take a ritual bath and think about these same things.

Mindful Sweeping

While sweeping the floor, think very deliberately about the task. Feel the handle of the broom in your hand. Feel the wind that is created from the stroke. Watch the dust and dirt collected into the pile. Feel the dustpan as you collect it. Now take it out to the trash and feel it leave the dust pan. Send it out of your space.

Applying a magical context would be - clean your ritual space, sweep that negativity into its place and remove it from your area. Direct the energy here, same intensity, same focus.

Journaling Your Experience

Journals are a great way to document what you’re feeling before and after your mindful experience. I recommend picking up a small book or if so inclined use an electronic journal to jot down your feelings. This is going to be useful to come back to at the end of year to look at how you have grown. Some example labels for entries could be:

Date/Time

Day of the Week

Moon Phase

Activity Practiced (examples, mindful sweeping, mindful walking, mindful dishwashing)

Feelings Before

Feelings After

Goals/Notes

Take this time to jot down anything that comes to mind around your mindful activities. Even if you get distracted, jot that down. These things will help you on your path to grow into being mindfully present in all you say and do.

Melting Pot Boils Over - Racism Today

March 4, 2020

Dedication ceremony for the sculpture of Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Magnolia Grove Monastery. Photo by Paul Davis

I want to feel integrated within myself, just feeling like all parts of myself can be present. But sometimes it’s hard to feel a sense of belonging when people tell us that we’re different or “not normal”. The work that ARISE is doing is to create an openness and a space of belonging for everyone.

— Brian, Multi-heritage, Queer, Person of Color

For more information on ARISE follow this link.

I wanted to write a bit about The recent drama around a Target commercial is making news. Beatrice Dixon, the founder of The Honey Pot was shown in a commercial for Black History month. Now white people are posting comments on her page and review sites trying to destroy her business.

Here is the commercial.

The Honey Pot has a really great product in that they are all plant based and are available at a variety of retailers such as Target, Walmart and Whole Foods just to name a few. As the controversy grew, I took some time to check our their website. I donate often to groups that provide resources for the homeless, and I was pleasantly surprised that this company offers support for those without access to feminine hygiene products. Another great reason to support this company.

I grew up in the 70s and 80s. I watched the shows and learned about the melting pot, while hearing my stepfather complain about black people in a derogatory way.

My school was mostly white while my teachers were mostly black. Being raised in the Confederate South I never knew about slavery or the struggles that I non-white people experienced. I was ignorant to what white people had done and still continue to do to non-whites. In my late thirties I began to learn more about American history and began to educate my self on what messages were left out of our history books.

As I begin to look into myself and take accountability for my actions I also have started to see where as a society we need to come together and realize just how horrible we gave been to each other. We as white people, including and sometimes specifically white women, have used our positions of privilege to oppress and in some cases directly attack black people and people of color.

This lead to a discussion on my Facebook page where I tried to sum up my opinion with the following comment:

I agree that all should be supported. In this case she was commenting about what representation she had as a child. No black women were visible to her as successful entrepreneurs. When I was a child I only saw white men as being the ones who had the power or rules the household. Today I am a very successful primary breadwinner and I never knew that was possible. I want to be a role model for those raised in my similar circumstances that they do not have to stay in them. They can overcome where they are and become more. I cannot be a role model for black girls because I have no way of understanding the black experience. My perspective will always be one of privilege. I have no concept of what it feels like to be black. I can only pass the mic and not speak for them but instead amplify their voices. She didn't say white girls shouldn't be successful. She didn't say only black girls should be successful. She said, I want to be a role model for black girls so they can see they have opportunities too. There is nothing wrong with that statement. We as white people have to understand that not everything has to include us. We do not deserve to be included. If we look at history we take been front and center in the lives of black girls. They didn't even have dolls until the 60's and 70's that represented their skin tones. Little girls and boys are still being singled out for the way their hair naturally comes out of their head. We have had our say. I stand by my statement and fully support her for feeling she needs to be a role model for black girls. This isn't a job white people are qualified for.

We have a choice as white women to continue to stick our heads in the sand, preach messages like "I don't see color" all the while benefiting from institutionalized racism or we can begin to allow this system to change. It starts with not speaking over marginalized voices. Stop getting defensive when black women support black women. Read about the Black experience. look up Black Wall Street. Read The New Jim Crow.

We have the real history at our fingertips. Forget what you though you knew and begin to learn again. There is no shame in admitting you were once ignorant on a subject. Shame comes with remaining ignorant.

What are the steps we can take?

Listen.
Read.
Learn.
Breathe.

https://arisesangha.org/

Monday Meditation - Self Love

February 3, 2020

One of the most difficult things in my life that I have ever tried to overcome is my low self esteem. I am a people pleasure. All my life has been me trying to be everything for everyone else, while not being enough for myself. I spent so much of my time trying to be perfect. I would try to learn everything I could about a class BEFORE taking the class so I would know what the class was about before taking it. The pressure I put on myself was unbearable. It was obvious of the pain I was in just by looking at my health.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson

While reading The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh, I found the following paragraph profound:

People who are not at peace with their lives tend to let their minds wander back to moments that have passed and are filled with remorse and regret. Those with self-esteem issues dwell on things that people have said to them and feel worse about themselves because they let these thoughts and actions penetrate and become more important than the actual reality.

I spent so much of my time in future worrying about things that hadn't happened yet, based on experiences I had from the past. I was already failing at a new thing because I felt I failed (which really means, it wasn't perfect) at something in the past. I think we are all hard on ourselves, but I believe I took mine to a degree of self abuse.

An example of this is my drawing. I always felt I wanted to draw but when I would draw I would berate myself. Nothing was good enough. I would compare myself to other artists even though I had only been drawing a few months. Earlier this week I took a look at one of my old drawings. I really did a great job. I love this one. So much so that I might even pick up the pencil again. I need to love myself and stop looking for approval from other people. I need to be ok, with who I am and where I am in my life.

Photo Credit - Renee Sosanna Olson
Artwork - Maiden, Mother & Crone

I found a few videos that are helpful on this type of self work. The first is to stop looking for approval from other people.

The second is a mediation to learn self compassion.

Learning to love yourself is hard. It isn't something we're all born doing as second nature. For me, I am still working on this. I want to be the best I can be for me. I want to be strong, healthy and happy. Most of all, happy.

Monday Meditation - Empathic Eating

January 27, 2020

A few years ago I switched over to a Whole Food Plant Based No Oil (WFPBNO) lifestyle. I switched to this from being Vegetarian/Pescatarian for many years. I had several reasons for this switch. I wanted to be healthier and all the science currently points to having little to no animal products in a diet is better for the body. It changed my life.

Photo Credit - Elijah Trent Olson
July 3, 2016 - December 1, 2019

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is just that, sad. It is full of calories, no nutrients as well as being cruel and inhuman. From the treatment of the animals to the treatment of the planet, our SAD lifestyle is destroying our world.

I recently wrote an article on being an empath and food. Many people I know claim this title as well. They say that can feel the energy of other beings. They can touch a wallet and know who had it. They can touch a ring and feel the happiness of a wedding day. I often wonder if they feel the pain and suffering of the animals they eat. Are they able to feel the sadness of the mother cows who have their babies taken away? (Trigger warning - this link shows a video of a cow losing her calf and the suffering she endures.)

I have changed a lot about my life. When I was asked originally if I was an ethical vegan, I would always say, no. I'm vegan for my health. I found that as I stopped drinking milk, eating cheese and other dairy, I was able to connect more with animals on a higher level. I was able to connect more to my gifts, including precognition and my aura readings. Today people freak about about a dog left in a hot car for an hour but don't seem to care about calves being left in boxes for eight to sixteen weeks, deprived of their mother's milk. Instead feed formula to intentionally make them anemic for the "best" tasting veal. (Trigger warning - this link is to an article that gives the exact details of what a young male calf endures)

It just boggles the mind what we as human beings believe is ok to do to other animals. We often hear that serial killers start out killing animals before moving on to humans. Let's think about what we're doing each time we have a burger. I often watch the news and am dismayed at how awful we can be to one another as a species. Maybe all that suffering we're eating is finally making itself known in our actions.

I know I'll hear a lot of complaints about how, this is my choice, and I shouldn't impose my choice on others. I agree. I don't want to impose my choice on others. I would like others to choose compassion on their own.

Monday Meditation - We Inter-Are

January 20, 2020

Another great thought from The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh was something that really struck me. He says in the book that we are "Inter-are".

We are connected to each other more than we really think. Just as we cannot take the soil out of the flower or the sunlight out of the flower we cannot remove others from ourselves. If we tried to take the sun away, the flower is no longer a flower. We cannot separate the water from a wave. We see the wave, we see the flower. The flower without the sun would not be a flower. It took me a while to see that no matter how hard I tried to remove myself from my family, they are still there. A part of me.

I have the choice to stop the suffering. I do not have to participate in the negativity of the daily grind. I can stop. I can breathe. I can learn that we are all connected and we - inter-are. This was a massive lesson for me. If you have the opportunity I highly recommend listening to Thich Nhat Hanh speak. I'll add another video at the bottom of this entry.

His poem gives a glimpse about what he means by we inter-are.

You are me, and I am you.
Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.
I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy. ~ by Thich Nhat Hanh (Link)