Good evening and welcome to Monday Group Meditation, we will be sitting from 7:30 to 10:00 PM EST. It is not necessary to sit for the entire extended time, which is set up to make it convenient for people in four North American Time Zones; sit for as long as you like and when it is most convenient for you.
Monday Group Meditation is open to everyone, believers and non-believers of all stripes who are interested in gathering in silence. If you are new to meditation and would like to try it for yourself, Mindful Nature gave a good description of one way to meditate in an earlier diary, copied and pasted below:
"It is a matter of focusing attention mostly. In many traditions, the idea is to sit and focus on the rising and falling of the breath. Not controlling it, but sitting in a relaxed fashion and merely observing experiences of breathing, sounds, etc. Be aware of your thoughts, but don't engage in them. When your mind wanders (it will, often), then return to focus on breath and repeat."
For some reason, even though I have a low tolerance for clutter, I cling to scraps of paper, receipts, photos, ticket stubs, subway passes and the memories attached to them. And even though this isn't something I've ever discussed, people sometimes open their wallets to share a meaningful scrap of paper they've carried for years, and sometimes they even give them to me; for example this one from a former colleague, is even more meaningful because of the way I received it than the sentiment expressed:
Think about this
To laugh is to risk appearing a fool
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out for another is to risk involvement
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return
To live is to risk dying
To hope is to risk despair
To try to risk failure
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing...He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by his sureness he is a slave; He has forfeited freedom. Only a person who risks is free.~author uknown
Below is a photo of the front of my refrigerator, which for years has been the repository of my memory and emotional laden scraps of paper. I am finally ready for the plain, clean front of the refrigerator to become a part of my kitchen, yet I am not ready to let go of the items currently posted there. I thought installing a cork board in the computer room would be a good place for them, or I suppose another option would be to make a scrap book. The whole point of this rambling is to warn you that from time to time in the future I will be posting from the collected bits of wisdom found on my refrigerator in these Monday evening diaries. Oh, and if anyone has any creative suggestions for what I might do with all my little paper attachments please feel free to share. :-)
Finally, also from the front of the refrigerator a Metta Prayer and then a simple, clean image to wipe the clutter above from your mind before we sit.
May all beings be peaceful
May all beings be happy
May all beings be safe
May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature
May all beings be free