The Power Of Gratitude

0:01 Okay, hello, kia ora everyone, that's Kiwi for greetings. So I completely forgot, I thought we started with the meditation, so now I'm going to go with what you said, but it's like, oh, that's okay, only the first half, but I just like meditating, but we'll do it. I think we can start with that meditation first. I'll tell you what I was going to do, and I think it works, and to be honest. Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:26 I did the same presentation at the Buddhist Society here because they also need people when the monks are on the rains retreat so this is the one I did a few weeks ago there and I started with the meditation and I didn't make it half an hour I made it 20 minutes because the talk tonight is going to be about gratitude and so then I'll finish with a short gratitude meditation that we can do and there will be time for you know questions and stuff but so We'll start with the meditation and it will be a little shorter. And then at the end, we'll do a little practice gratitude one. So it'll be guided with silent parts into it. Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

1:11 So I'm just going to invite you to come into the room, come into your body, come into the moment, whatever it has in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:28 And there'll be lots of different things for different people. You've had a busy day, you've had a happy day, you've had a sad day, you've had stress at work. Report an error in the passage at 1:28 Highlight the passage at 1:28

1:38 There'll be things going on. So the first thing to do is to come into the body and just cultivate or try to engender a very loving, relaxed, positive, accepting vibe to yourself. Just go, I'm here. Bravo to me. I made it to my dharma group and it's safe to be here and it's good to be here and I'm just going to be here and whatever's going on is fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38

2:12 And so the body, people have different ways of liking to work with the body. So if you're really a breath meditator, you can come into your breath, which is very steadying breath, wherever you like to feel it, at the nostril, at the chest, at the belly. Or just a sense of the whole breath, the breath breathing itself and your breath coming in, going out. Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

2:44 And there's another one we do in Zen, which is just like you're in the whole body. It's like your body's a big mountain. You're steady, steady on your cushion or chair, wherever you are. And it's like you're aware of the whole body just as it is. And there might be a little twinkle here or an itchy there. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:06 Strange sensation in the knee, and you allow that, but basically the focus is to just come back to the mountain of the body, just to be solid and still in your own body. And Report an error in the passage at 3:06 Highlight the passage at 3:06

3:35 then we might like to do, it's a little bit channeling Tara Brach, a gentle body scan. So you're here, you've settled into your breath, you've settled into the fact that your body's got time for some stillness now. Report an error in the passage at 3:35 Highlight the passage at 3:35

3:54 And you can just gently start at the top and soften and notice. So you start on the head. You relax the brow and soften the brow. Report an error in the passage at 3:54 Highlight the passage at 3:54

4:08 Tara always says a little smile, a little lift in the corners of the eyes, like a little half smiley thing in your eyes and also in the mouth. Do a little smile in your mouth just to soften, help to soften your face and soften. The head, maybe a little swivel of your neck to, it's a bit stiff, just to soften the neck. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:39 Then Report an error in the passage at 4:39 Highlight the passage at 4:39

4:48 coming down into the shoulders. Often more tension than you'd believe is sort of in your shoulders. You can soften into the shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 4:48 Highlight the passage at 4:48

5:00 Tara always says, ice to water, water to gas. It's sort of like the shoulders from the inside out. What's it feel like to be in the shoulders? What's it, might be warm or it might be dull or it might be whatever it is. You can sort of feel into it as a bodily sensation. And Report an error in the passage at 5:00 Highlight the passage at 5:00

5:35 we can soften down the arms, the length of the arms, just soften, soften and let them go gentle and limp. And into the hands, soften into the hands. There's often some sensation there, some warm thought. Tingling. Make a little mudrā with the thumbs together if that feels nice. The Report an error in the passage at 5:35 Highlight the passage at 5:35

6:09 hands are so busy all the day long, chopping and writing and carrying and driving and then now they get to just be soft and be hands and be very relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:41 Next to the chest, to the torso and to the heart area. Just checking in with yourself there. Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

6:57 Might be tight feeling. It might be a warmth. It might be a tingling. It might mean nothing much. You might sometimes when you get to the heart area, you realize that you're really sad about something or you're feeling really peaceful tonight. You can get a sense of not just the physical sensation, but the emotional realm that you're inhabiting. Breathing into the heart. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:26 Then Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

7:48 we go into our back. Again, just softening and loosening, softening and loosening into your back, seeing if there's anything that needs to soften more, anything to notice. Report an error in the passage at 7:48 Highlight the passage at 7:48

8:15 It's always good to check in with the breath again. I just checked in and I realized my breath was a bit like not the most relaxed breathing I'd ever done. So you can be in the back, but you can just go, how's the breathing? Breathing into the whole upper body, breathing. Letting the breath come in and out gently. The whole upper body, the head, the shoulders, the arms, the hands, the chest, the back and the heart. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

9:07 Now into the whatever, whatever's supporting you, like the buttocks on the chair or the couch or whatever. And if you're lying down, the back of your body, the earth element, the solidity, the heaviness, the groundedness of where you... Touching the earth, sinking into the safety of being earthed, being still. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:37 And Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

9:56 you can bring the attention to the pelvic area. And it always makes me laugh a little bit because Tara says, and you can have a big smile in your pelvic area, which is amusing somehow, but just softening in because it is a part of our body and there will be sensations there. Report an error in the passage at 9:56 Highlight the passage at 9:56

10:18 Why not relax into every single part of ourselves? Things are stored in the body, tensions and desires and all sorts of things. Report an error in the passage at 10:18 Highlight the passage at 10:18

10:32 For some people, that area is like a creative, like a creative fountain area in the body. And Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

11:00 then we can soften into the legs, the length and volume of the legs from the inside out. Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:11 Again, we sometimes hold quite a bit of tension in the thighs or the calf muscles. You can just relax, soften in, relax, notice the sticky parts. Report an error in the passage at 11:11 Highlight the passage at 11:11

11:51 You can feel the energy in your feet and the feet are possibly touching the floor, grounded, settled on the floor. Often quite a bit of sensation in the feet to notice. You can soften, you can wiggle the toes. Report an error in the passage at 11:51 Highlight the passage at 11:51

12:10 Be glad of your feet. Report an error in the passage at 12:10 Highlight the passage at 12:10

12:38 I'm going to return to the breathing and if it works for you, you can do a breathing into the whole body. It's like you're breathing from the top of your head and it's just flowing down. Spacious breathing. It can flow right down and out your toes. Breathing in. Breathing in life force. Letting it flow through you. Letting it relax and soothe. Report an error in the passage at 12:38 Highlight the passage at 12:38

· · · silence, 1 minute

14:08 Whatever sort of a day you've had, now is a chance to cultivate an easeful, pleasurable, abiding in the body and inner well-being. And if the body's feeling not great, there's some discomfort or pain or restlessness or some emotion that's really a tough one, can you include this also with a great tenderness? Report an error in the passage at 14:08 Highlight the passage at 14:08

14:43 Great tenderness and self-compassion, like, oh, honey, really sore knee tonight, or, oh, honey, just a lot of grief for you, cat's dying, or whatever's happening for you. It's not feeling like easy well-being. Include that. The Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

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15:38 absolute key is to relax, soften and relax, gently within yourself. Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

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16:27 Having a sense that all is well, all is well. Sayadaw Tejaniya, who did actually suffer from depression at times, said his image for himself was it was like pouring honey all over yourself. I think not literally, that would be sticky, but just imagine beautiful gold and sunshine or honey soaking into you and helping you be at ease. Report an error in the passage at 16:27 Highlight the passage at 16:27

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17:32 The last part of this meditation, whatever soft, kind, gentle, tender feeling you've mustered, mustered up for yourself, now we're going to radiate it out, Report an error in the passage at 17:32 Highlight the passage at 17:32

17:51 spaciously, out into the room, out to each other, out to the people in our neighbourhood, in our city, in our world. Any bit of graciousness or any bit of kindness or tenderness can be shared, can be shared outward, not bounded by skin and skull, not bounded by me, me want good for me, but just a beautiful feeling of loving kindness that all beings need. Report an error in the passage at 17:51 Highlight the passage at 17:51

18:40 There's someone special, someone who knows. Very ill or just died or having an operation or just in a lot of trouble mentally, whatever. You can send some to them in particular. Breathing Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

20:12 into the heart, no one to be. Breathing into the heart, nothing to do. Breathing into the heart, just being. Report an error in the passage at 20:12 Highlight the passage at 20:12

20:27 Breathing into the heart, being aware in this moment just as it is. Perfect just as it is. Perfect just as you are. Relax and soften, soften and relax. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

· · · silence, 4 minutes

24:31 Alrighty, so my talk tonight is about gratitude in a Buddhist context. I'll just begin by saying that the Buddha emphasized the central importance of mental actions, that it was important to take responsibility for our own mental well-being. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

24:53 The present moment can be improved and be turned into the path to the end of suffering. This is always available and the task will always be that by improving your mind state it will lead to your liberation. Report an error in the passage at 24:53 Highlight the passage at 24:53

25:15 The present moment and your mind state is always under construction cause and effect so Report an error in the passage at 25:15 Highlight the passage at 25:15

25:28 it comes under the path of right mindfulness part of the eighth. Noble Eightfold Path is to develop skillful mind states and abandon unskillful ones. Therefore, gratitude. Report an error in the passage at 25:28 Highlight the passage at 25:28

25:47 So the Buddha also told us that the unskillful basis for unhappiness is greed, hatred and delusion. Lopa, dosa and moha. Or you might say lopa taṇhā. Just words for craving. Wanting, not wanting, and delusion. And I think that complaint, negativity, criticism, self-criticism, judgment of others, wanting things and people to be different is unskillful mind state. Report an error in the passage at 25:47 Highlight the passage at 25:47

26:25 And I know all about it. We all know all about it. We all live in a world where There's grief, hatred and ignorance and there's also old age suffering that not meaning to be too gloomy because there's also teapots and turtles and little babies and sunsets and beautiful friendships and dharma teachings and ice cream and many, many wonderful, beautiful, enjoyable, pleasant, pleasurable things. Report an error in the passage at 26:25 Highlight the passage at 26:25

26:55 But we're still, as Leonard Cohen put it, we're in a boat that's going out to sea and sinking. And if you didn't, Believe this, you're probably in the wrong zone because that's what the Buddha was telling us. So what do we make of this? How do we make something of this for ourself? So I think that gratitude is a deep, holy, humble, important practice that we can all do because let's just start with this. Report an error in the passage at 26:55 Highlight the passage at 26:55

27:27 We are incredibly privileged just to be alive, just to be here. Like, what sort of a miracle is that? And I remember Prakriti Pala, what would a dharma? He had lots of the stories from the forest Thai tradition. And one of them, I've got it wrong. I was trying to get it right today and I should have Googled it, but let's go with me here. It is something like this. You'll have heard it before. It's also told in the Zen tradition that if you imagine like 10,000 oceans and in that, the 10,000 oceans, there's one rubber ring with a hole in it. Report an error in the passage at 27:27 Highlight the passage at 27:27

28:04 Flowing around in the 10,000 oceans and under the sea there's a turtle and every thousand years it comes up and the chances of it coming up through the hole, that's the chances that you got here. Like basically the story is saying it's an incredible chance that you are here in this incarnation and we don't have to go too far into rebirth and those things. Report an error in the passage at 28:04 Highlight the passage at 28:04

28:29 You may not believe in that but... I think the basic point is the same, even if you're very scientific. What are the chances? What if your mother hadn't gone to the dance? What if your father hadn't asked her to dance? And what if they hadn't decided they were going to fall in love and have babies? You wouldn't be here. And what if there'd been a disaster at the hospital and the doctor had got it wrong? Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

28:52 You wouldn't be here. Like a thousand million conditions have come together that you were born. And not only that. And this is not to diminish if you've had a horrible life at all, if you've had trauma and horrible things in your life. I have also. We live in absolute privilege. If we're sitting here tonight with clothes and we've had some food and we've got shelter, and if we get sick, we can go to the doctor, we're better off than 75 % of the world's population. Report an error in the passage at 28:52 Highlight the passage at 28:52

29:25 We have that level of privilege to just be here. I watched a documentary the other night. I couldn't actually watch that much of it, but it was about the big, where landfill goes in Indonesia. These huge mountains of landfill and 8,000 people live around the base of those mountains of landfill and they live off the landfill. Report an error in the passage at 29:25 Highlight the passage at 29:25

29:50 Not only do they go there every day, the adults and some of the kids to get the rubbish and sell it, the plastics and the glass and the things that can be sold. That's their dinner. They go home and that's what they eat with their family. And if the methane gets too bad, they're poisoned and die. So, again, pretty privileged, aren't we? Report an error in the passage at 29:50 Highlight the passage at 29:50

30:12 Really, we are. And yet, do we get up every morning and know that in the depths of our bones? No, we probably don't. We probably get up and have, like, almond knees sore and that guy next to us is noisy. I'm not saying, but... We can make complaint very easily. The mind can always find something to go on about it. And it doesn't bring us any happiness. Report an error in the passage at 30:12 Highlight the passage at 30:12

30:39 I loved it a few weeks ago. We had the young monk. I call everyone under 50 young. He's possibly in his 40s. He was talking about unskillful mind states. And he did this as a gesture. Like, why would you have unskillful mind states? Because it's like doing this. Like basically like whacking yourself. Report an error in the passage at 30:39 Highlight the passage at 30:39

30:56 And it's the same with letting your mind go into negativity. Because actually, scientifically, we're slightly wired for that. The amygdala, back in the day, we had to look out for danger and things that were going wrong because like a tiger might be coming at you or that guy in the tribe might be about to take your life or something. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:15 So you had to have that going on in your brain. And it's sort of a training, especially if you do have depression or anxiety or any of those things. To get them. That can be scientifically measured, apparently. Neuroscience says that people who are really depressed, you can see, it's not this, I'm oversimplifying it, but like channels in the brain that are being widened. Report an error in the passage at 31:15 Highlight the passage at 31:15

31:39 If you're in trauma, they can noticeably see this. But then in people who have a healthier biosystem and a healthier mental thing and are watching funny shows and have lovely grandchildren, it's a... It's a different looking brain channel-y thing. That was terribly explained. But my point is, we do have, the Buddha said this, and also neuroscience, is that we do have the chance to improve things, to not live like, oh, complain, complain, complain, because there'll always be something. Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

32:12 And so I think in dharma terms, gratitude is hand in hand with some other Brahma-Bhahari type things, like contentment, mettā. greater compassion. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:26 Compassion, equanimity, acceptance and ease. Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:35 So I'm going to break having to think of anything to say to you for a moment. And I'm just going to read to you a little bit out of this book. So this is my new book and it's The Time of Living Graciously 1. So the Year of Love and Kindness 1 looked like that. And now it's got a little 20 that's coming out in February, which is in my books. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

32:57 For those of you who don't know me and my writing, There is sort of a cunning blend of Buddhism, which is my main thing in this life. Like it's my deep passion and love and not superpower, but it's what I believe in the most is the dharma. And then humor, also good. Personal growth, I've had to do a lot. And just a bit of brigidiness. Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:24 So yeah, humor, personal growth and dharma come into it. So this book is... For people who are growing older, and it's about growing older. And the chapter is called Give Thanks. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:38 If the only prayer you said in your whole life was thank you, that would suffice. And this quote is attributed to Meister Eckhart. Report an error in the passage at 33:38 Highlight the passage at 33:38

33:48 As you grow older, you can become more fully yourself or someone grumpy whom you do not much like. That's the task. It doesn't sound that hard, does it, to love the life we have. To be contented, to come to terms with things as they are, not as we'd prefer them to be. To truly love this life as it is, to accept ourselves just as we are, to be happy just as it is. Report an error in the passage at 33:48 Highlight the passage at 33:48

34:22 As someone who gives it her best shot, I can vouch for it to be challenging. It's simple, but not easy. It's a daily dance of dramas, devils, dilemmas and doubts. But in the end, it's the only game in town. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:41 Luckily, you don't have to figure it all out. Best, in fact, to stop trying to figure it out. Figure it all out. Just meet each moment as cheerfully and wisely as you can. It's probably the key sentence. Just meet each moment. As cheerfully and wisely as you can. Your ducks are not in a row. They were never in a row. They will never be in a row. Report an error in the passage at 34:41 Highlight the passage at 34:41

35:12 One toppled over. One is paddling too fast. One got eaten by a turtle and one flew away years ago. Just get through each day with as much presence and ease as you can, fostering a kind acceptance of reality and a sweet surrender to the way things are. Report an error in the passage at 35:12 Highlight the passage at 35:12

35:34 We cannot fix the broken moments, but we can have a heart big enough to hold them. We can use our kindest voice, wear our best scarf and zippy earrings, saving nothing for later. One chance, one meeting, as the Zen saying goes. Don't hold back, not be still waiting to start enjoying yourself. Now is the only time you have. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

36:06 Your now will run out. This reconciliation with reality involves including sorrow, pain, loss, and all the less palatable stuff. To be okay with it all, to practice what Tara Brach calls radical acceptance, means to truly include everything. Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:30 As my friend, writer Pearl Besseman says, trying to be present in the moment is especially hard When the moment makes unreasonable demands, yet this too is Buddha. Joyful enthusiasm can be cultivated. Friends and gurus can help us, but in the end we must do the work ourselves. Appreciate this precious life just as it is. Report an error in the passage at 36:30 Highlight the passage at 36:30

37:01 There is no wiser option. How many times have we been told this by how many wise ones? But do we always do it? Not always. For me, gratitude is the key. Every day, especially on the hardest day. To be alive is a miracle. Most of my difficulties are first world problems which I make up for myself. This is not to diminish the fact that living in an aging body is a challenge, that pain is a challenge, or that melancholy is real. Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:40 But when I put my arms around my foolishness, my failures and my fears, it brings ease. It brings freedom. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

37:51 Here it is, my actual life, full of interesting things. A painting of a teacup, roasted tomatoes, dogs at the park, the shadow of a dragonfly, swans pecking away on the grass, their peculiar necks. Report an error in the passage at 37:51 Highlight the passage at 37:51

38:09 There is a commonly told story in which Zen Master Sono taught a profound method of enlightenment. She advised everyone to say many times a day under every condition, thank you for everything. I have no complaint whatsoever. I'll just read that again. Profound method of enlightenment. She advised everyone to say many times a day under every condition, thank you for everything. Report an error in the passage at 38:09 Highlight the passage at 38:09

38:39 I have no complaint whatsoever. Report an error in the passage at 38:39 Highlight the passage at 38:39

38:47 Yes. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

38:50 So as I said before, this is very easy to say. Anyone can talk that, but walking it is the trick. So I'll just give a kind of humble example from my own life. I've got something in there with my knee. I'm 72 years old. I've always had a bit of arthritis, sore knee. Recently, I got like a really, really, really sore knee and I happen to have been dogged. Report an error in the passage at 38:50 Highlight the passage at 38:50

39:12 Dog and hen minding for my son's house. They've been away camping, school holidays here in Perth. And there were steps down and up, down and up to feed the chooks. Anyway, my knee got progressively worse to the point that when I packed up all my stuff and come home, agony basically, very, very sore knee to the point that I was in my car and I had to get out and buy fruit. Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:34 And I thought to myself. I can't do it. Like, it is so sore, I can't actually walk from here peacefully to the grocery shop to buy mandarins. I did, obviously. And you don't need to know that much more about my knee. The doctor today thinks it's a torn meniscus, and he was very helpful. He said, go away for two weeks, take painkillers. It'll either have fixed itself in two weeks, otherwise we'll get an MRI and send you to a, what are they called? Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

40:00 Bone doctor guy, osteo, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, I felt quite better when he said. Told me what pain meds to take. Two panadol osteo three times a day. Also, I've got a leg brace and I'm fine. But my point here is I had to watch my own mind because that could have been an encompassing, all-encompassing negative. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:22 I'm very unhappy. How did I do this? Why did I do this? How am I going to look after my grandchildren later in the week? Why do I have no one to look after me? What has happened to my many husbands? Kidding, I've only had two husbands. But yeah, the mind can easily go into, this is not good and I don't like it. And then there's a big narrative about it. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:44 Or I could just go, very simple, Brigid, just one step at a time. Today I can walk better. I did walk. As I was walking, I walked slowly. And I thought, well, focus on something that's not the pain in your knee, which is not that bad. I mean, it's bad. It goes from three out of 10 to nine out of 10. But the bad thing is my mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:44 Highlight the passage at 40:44

41:05 creating mischief and trouble and oh poor me and self-pity so why don't you just walk as slowly as you can and look at the flowers beautiful spring flowers in Perth at the moment all sorts of beautiful flowers blossomy trees and it was okay I could draw a circle around this is okay so I wouldn't have woken up and gone oh please could I have like a bad knee trouble and I've got to tell you guys if you're 40 this isn't going to mean anything to you But everyone I know of my age or older has got something. If it's not the knee, it's the feet. If it's not the feet, it's cancer. If it's not cancer, it's memory loss. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:41 Or they're dead or some other thing. So we're not going to escape. The Buddha was correct. Old age, sickness and death. So are we going to turn into what I call a person who's all about the isn't it awfuls? We all know that person. Oh, isn't it awful? It's just awful. And everything's awful. And there is a lot of stuff that is awful. Report an error in the passage at 41:41 Highlight the passage at 41:41

42:01 We could talk about that all night, about Gaza and Myanmar and the Sudan and the horrible man next door who bangs his door. There'll always be awful things. There will. This is the way it is. But does our mind need to dwell in the isn't it awfuls all the time? Because it won't do us any good and we will be a sad person and then we won't be much use to anyone else. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:26 Here's a Thich Nhat Hanh quote. If your daily life is full of hurrying noise or confusion it's easy to forget to be aware of the wholesome and supportive elements that are all around you such as the fresh air, the sun and the trees. I'm just going to read that again because it's so good. If your daily life is full of hurrying noise or confusion it's easy to forget to be aware of the wholesome and supportive elements that are all around you. Report an error in the passage at 42:26 Highlight the passage at 42:26

42:57 Such as the fresh air, the sun and the trees. And the lovely doctor who built me. And the girl in the cafe who gets up at 5am, she told me, and gets herself from Belmont to where I live and serves coffee all day. Never grumbles. She's a Filipino and she's doing a degree and she's just the most cheerful, lovely person. So many, many beautiful things to be glad of. Report an error in the passage at 42:57 Highlight the passage at 42:57

43:24 As well as the fresh air and the sun and the trees. Report an error in the passage at 43:24 Highlight the passage at 43:24

43:30 This is interesting. I'm going to throw this your way. When I gave the talk at the Buddhist Society, it was well received that people sat there quietly. But when I read this one quote, at the end, when question time came, one woman questioned it. I'll tell you the quote. It's an Eckhart Tolle quote. When you create a problem, you create pain. When you create a problem, you create pain. Report an error in the passage at 43:30 Highlight the passage at 43:30

43:55 All it takes is a simple choice. A simple decision, I will create no more pain for myself, no more problems. Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

44:08 When you create a problem, you create pain. All it takes is a simple choice, a simple decision. I will create no more pain for myself, no more problems. We can chew on that later if you want. But I always, just tilting back to Thich Nhat Hanh, gratitude is always available. He says happiness is always available. Report an error in the passage at 44:08 Highlight the passage at 44:08

44:31 Help yourself. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:36 So just to tease it out a bit more, when we're having a cruel or angry thought and we replay it over and over again in our mind, we are creating toxic consciousness. This is also Thich Nhat Hanh. When we are noticing the beauty of the day or feeling grateful for our health and the love of those around us, we are consuming healthy consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

44:58 And here I love the little example. He goes, if you're having a no headache day, kiss the ground. Like. Maybe your knee is sore, but every other part of my body is just fine. And I'll have a lovely soup for my dinner. So there'll be always, where am I going to put my energy? When we're noticing the beauty of the day or feeling grateful for our health and the love of those around us, we are consuming healthy consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:24 And again, the truth of the matter is you can sit at the foot of the Buddha, but you have to take the medicine. And it's sort of... Like, not meaning to freak you out, but it's just 24-7 from now until you die. That's as long as you have to do it. No longer. Yeah, because it's a daily thing. The Buddha talked about existence with the three characteristics, in particular, unsatisfactoriness, as a broken wheel. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:55 He gives the metaphor, it's like a cart with a broken wheel. However hard you try and however many retreats you go on and however many Buddha books you read and however much therapy you get and whether you eat like a real pure vegan and everything, there'll still be trouble. It's still a broken wheel. Like things will happen. You can really try and get everything pretty nicely arranged so that there's no suffering for you, you, you. But... Report an error in the passage at 45:55 Highlight the passage at 45:55

46:21 There's a broken wheel and I find that really helpful. Like when something goes wrong, you lose something, you know, you put it in a safe place. No idea where the safe place is. Very frustrating. Am I getting dementia? Who knows? Perhaps I could worry about that. It's a broken wheel, Brigid. It's a broken wheel. Like you'll find the thing later or you won't. Report an error in the passage at 46:21 Highlight the passage at 46:21

46:41 It's not even personal. There'll be beautiful things happening and difficult things happening and don't take it so personally. Report an error in the passage at 46:41 Highlight the passage at 46:41

46:53 All the Buddhist teachers say the same thing in a different language. So this is Lama Zopa. Like molding dough in your hand, you can definitely turn your mind whichever way you want. And I think creativity can come into it. So you have to figure out, well, what does this mean to me? And it means different things to different people. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:13 So a lot of people, including myself, I have a gratitude journal. And every now and then, particularly when I'm feeling, you know, super depressed and crappy, sorry. I will get out the gratitude journal and I'll just write things down. And there's always something, however low you're feeling, there will be things that you can write down. Some people do it at night when they're just going to bed, going to sleep. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:34 They go, I think of four things I'm glad of today. Or you can draw it and you can do it to different areas. You can go, what am I grateful for about myself? What am I grateful for about my body? What am I grateful for about my current circumstances? Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

47:53 My friend, well, here's two little phrases that go with current circumstances. A friend of mine who is now dead, a Zen friend, who was a haiku poet. He said, it's not quite a classical haiku. Home from India, I kiss the water tap. Home from India, I kiss the water tap. So any day you could write down, I have water. And from that, and then. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:21 A friend of mine who I went to a Buddhist conference with recently who's very, she does watch a lot of news and she watches a lot of personal reports from Gaza and she's pretty involved in the Save the Palestine thing. She just says you could see it going on and you go, oh, I've had a bad haircut, poor old me. You go, meanwhile in Gaza, like how unhappy are you going to be that your coffee's cold in the cafe or that you blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 48:21 Highlight the passage at 48:21

48:51 Meanwhile, in Gaza, there are other people on this planet who are suffering a lot more than we are. This is a way like, I won't say hacks, but you've got to bring this practice alive for yourself. Is it a gratitude journal? Is it a little list before you go to sleep? Is it drawing? Is it just trying to think very awarely about your current circumstances and what there is to be glad of? Report an error in the passage at 48:51 Highlight the passage at 48:51

49:17 And then there's other people. You can do a meditation where you just, like a visual one, this is from Trudy Goodman, where you sit there and you just see visually all the people that you've ever known, including your primary school teacher and your first boyfriend and your last husband and your best brother's teacher, who love you. Report an error in the passage at 49:17 Highlight the passage at 49:17

49:35 And they're just all standing around you in a circle looking at you with loving eyes. So even if we think we're a bit of a lonely person and this... Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:45 I think most of us will be able to find plenty of people who love us and we can surround ourselves with gratitude for that. And for other people, it's gratitude for the dharma. Like I know that the people in my bohemian, lovely, interesting, really mentally disturbed family, their sufferings, bless them and I love them to bits, are more because they don't have a spiritual path. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

50:13 They have a bottle of wine or whatever. Not judging, not trying not to judge, but we have the dharma, so we have this medicine which works better than wine in the long term, I feel. Report an error in the passage at 50:13 Highlight the passage at 50:13

50:29 I'm allowed to say that because my parents both died through alcoholism, so therefore I have the right to say that wine probably isn't the correct path to ease your suffering. Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

50:40 And then there's nature. More and more, not just the research that says you could go forest bathing, but just to get out. To get out in it, to see a tree, to see a plant, even if you live in a little flat in a big city, there's always a sky. I live by a lake and I love walking around the lake because at the moment there's three signet swans and two lots of ducklings. Report an error in the passage at 50:40 Highlight the passage at 50:40

51:03 There were eight ducklings in one lot and seven or six in the other. Sadly, some of them get... Vanish, maybe eaten by turtles or foxes. But I love walking around the lake and I was lying on my bed going, oh, I've got a bad knee. I can't even walk around the lake. And then I thought, Brigid, you're lying here with some wheat packs looking out into trees. My granddadders call it my fairy palace. I live on the second floor and there's trees. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:28 Like, okay, you can grumble at your company around the lake or you can just like shuriate in the fact that it's evening and there's birdies out there and you get to look at trees. So nature is another place we can focus our gratitude vibes. Yes. So I think I will read you another little piece from the Year of Love and Kindness. Report an error in the passage at 51:28 Highlight the passage at 51:28

51:54 It's sort of saying the same stuff, but bear with me. This little chapter is called On Gratitude and Joy. Report an error in the passage at 51:54 Highlight the passage at 51:54

52:05 The amygdala part of the limbic system for the brain looks out for disaster, wiring us to expect the worst. A tiger might be coming at you any second now. This was once useful information, if a tiger was actually coming at you. But unfortunately, it can now mean we live anxiously and fearfully, anticipating dangers that do not exist. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:28 Positive mind states such as joy and gratitude can be cultivated. This is good to do, especially if low mood is your default position. Nourishing positive mind states can be a practice at any time in any moment. There is always something to appreciate, a flower, a smile, the aroma of your coffee. There is only one heroism in the world, to see the world as it is and love it, as the novelist Romaine Rowland wisely points out. Report an error in the passage at 52:28 Highlight the passage at 52:28

53:02 These are some of the things I am grateful for. My son, his wife, my granddaughters, my entire family actually. Vegetables, rice, swimming, reading, live music, chai with honey, sleep, movies, my friends, therapy, journaling, soft rugs, colorful clothing, gardens, living in a country that is not war-torn, jazz, Motown, rivers, curry, potatoes, mangoes. Report an error in the passage at 53:02 Highlight the passage at 53:02

53:32 Sparkly jewels, kimonos, bicycles, giraffes, yoga, my favourite cafe, libraries, books beside my bed, fabrics, threads, beads, paper paint. Do not underestimate the power of using a gratitude journal. Even at the end of the toughest day, you'll be surprised how much goodness you can find. If you don't connect with the idea or the word gratitude, find your own language. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

54:02 Find a word that resonates for you, such as contentment, joy or ease. List your blessings, bowing to the generosity of this precious life. Report an error in the passage at 54:02 Highlight the passage at 54:02

54:19 So Mahagosananda, a very famous activist and spiritual person. If we cannot be happy despite our difficulties, what good is our spiritual practice? This is a very deep question. If we cannot be happy despite our difficulties, What good is our spiritual practice? Report an error in the passage at 54:19 Highlight the passage at 54:19

54:54 Ajahn Chah. Constantly watch over the mind as a parent watches over a child. Protect it from its own foolishness, teaching it what is right. So at any moment during the day, you can just go, what's going on now? And might be what's going on in the body. Oh, I'm really rushing. I'm really tense. I'm really sleepy, really hungry. There'll be something going on in the body. Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:19 You might just feel like, I feel good in my body right now. And then there'll be stuff going on in the mind as well. Where is my mind? Is it in the moment? Is it entangled in some difficulty, real or imagined? Is it gone off in a long train about how so-and-so shouldn't have done so-and-so to you? And we all do that. And you go, well, okay, I protect myself from my own foolishness. Report an error in the passage at 55:19 Highlight the passage at 55:19

55:45 I teach it what is right and you just go no percentage. If you're interested, there's a suture. I don't know what it is, but you could easily find it. We did a retreat here in Perth with Shiloh Catherine about the Buddhist five ways of dealing with unwholesome thinking. And the first one is to see it as unwholesome. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

56:03 Like if you go, what's my thinking? Okay, is that thinking helpful or wholesome? No, this is unskillful thinking. And it goes through, I can't remember them all, but the third one I think is distract yourself. And the final one is grit your teeth. But there are sort of some stages in between that. So yeah, we do have agency over our own thinking and it is a daily task. So if we think too about the second precept in Buddhism, to refrain from taking what is not offered or given. Report an error in the passage at 56:03 Highlight the passage at 56:03

56:36 So we often... We think of that in a very basic way, like don't steal stuff. Don't take things. Don't take other people's things. Don't be like doing bank robbery or fiddling your tax or, you know, taking your sister's jumper and not giving it back to her. So that's the very basic level of not stealing. But it can be very refined. It can be like, oh, if you're in a shop and you want to sample something, but you need to eat four samples, or would one be the right amount of samples? Report an error in the passage at 56:36 Highlight the passage at 56:36

57:08 It's not strictly stealing, but it's sort of greed. And then also in terms of what we're talking about, to encourage ourselves to have a sense of contentment, to be at peace with what we have, to not take more than we need, to be grateful for what we have. And I remember reading somewhere. I can't remember who it was, but it was a contemporary person in America. Reb Anderson, I think, said, the essence of Zen is to stop shopping. How much more stuff do you actually need? Report an error in the passage at 57:08 Highlight the passage at 57:08

57:42 People, including me, we've all got lots of clothes and lots of books and lots of knickknacks and lots of jewelry and lots of mugs, lots of tea towels. And then you go, and so shall I have for a hobby, going shopping and buying more things? Well, not necessarily, because... The planet probably doesn't need that. And that doesn't come from a sense of gratitude and contentment and stability. It comes from craving and it comes from wanting. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:12 And perhaps the world wouldn't be in quite such a mess if we didn't all keep buying stuff that we don't really need. Because the craving, the taṇhā, it never ceases. You all know this. Oh, if I only had. You know, if it was a new husband or a new car or new shoes or what do you want? There'll be something. Then you get the thing and you go, no, yeah, but now if I only had. Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:37 The pleasure wears off. It's not to say we can't have a new husband or a new car or a nice meal in a restaurant. We can have all these things and enjoy them. Enjoy them on the level of sensual pleasure and enjoyment and a peaceful. Appreciation of good things that come to us. But the wanting will keep on going if we're not fairly alert to that. And I just, I love my New Yorker cartoons and a recent one, it's a guy on the analyst's couch lying there and a guy saying to him, any other hobbies besides suffering? Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

59:10 That was a really good idea. Oh dear. Just reminding us like, is this my hobby, suffering? And what was in that? So now things say this is good enough to all that arises. Whatever you have or do in life, embrace it, have fun with it. So, yeah, that's pretty much what I did have to say. And maybe now we could open it up. If anyone would like to share something or ask something, that would be lovely. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10

59:45 And then we could at the end just close with a little gratitude meditation. Report an error in the passage at 59:45 Highlight the passage at 59:45