Daily Reflection Sit

Making this contemplation foreground in our lives.

Why is it that we’ll promise to love someone else in sickness

These uplifting states of mind and heart offset the heaviness, cloudiness and negativity of illness

Our fickle minds can forget that health is impermanent and take for granted all that the body does. Illness reminds us that change is the only constant, and that we cannot control our bodies.

In Buddhism , illness is not viewed solely as loss or diminishment . Instead, it can reconstitute us.

We will all get sick while alive. No way to avoid it. But we can minimize the suffering by being mindful consumers for ourselves and compassionate beings towards ourselves and others. Know what heals or nourishes you and practice it.

Instead of feeling isolated in sickness, our connections may deepen within ourselves and with others if we are able to open to our shared vulnerability.

Let’s notice and appreciate that life is happening, that the body recovered many many times from illness, and that there is enough health in us for us to all be here today!

A few seconds at a time, with tenderness.

Elders are in short supply despite the greying of our modern society. We do not simply become elders by the sheer number of years we have lived on Planet Earth or because we are now parents or grandparents. Elders are grown.

This is an ongoing and gradual process, challenging for all of us.

How we can cherish the joys and gladnesses of life as well as honoring the losses and difficulties to sustain us in cultivating aliveness of spirit.

Welcoming the range of reactions we can have as we wake up to the truth that we and everyone we know is aging.

Let go of the concept, the preconceived notions and drop down into the raw felt experience of how it is. Then orient towards ease of wellbeing.

Reviewing past challenges with kindness.