As the world bears witness to horrendous war in Ukraine and other countries, countless human rights violations and more climate crisis consequences, it is as paramount as ever to retain the courage of heart and not lose your track and clarity of aspirations. You can support yourself by clearly reflecting on the Motivation and Dedication parts of your meditation practice.
A sense of clear presence
Our minds consist of endless series of thoughts and feelings fed by our experiences. If we become routinely exposed to overwhelming news which trigger one difficult emotion after another, such as sadness, anxiety or anger, it is normal to feel powerlessness and despair. Through identification with these feelings, we may become paralyzed and disconnected from our deeper aspirations that are so vital to all of us.
We will be highlighting progressive practices to better ground ourselves in physical presence in the coming weeks. We recommend applying these techniques in everyday activities, especially to help release strong feelings such as anxiety.
We first concentrate on Mindfulness of Breathing practices for the body. We bring attention to the body to relax and ground ourselves in physical presence. This guidance is detailed and subtle, so we recommend concentrating especially on the first three practices for a whole week. This will help establish grounding and integrate with other mindfulness techniques.
Motivation and Dedication
Imagine Clarity's resources gather around three pillars of meditation of equal importance: In the beginning, you generate the Motivation, why you meditate and feel important to focus your practice. For the Main Practice, you choose/practice the meditation you feel called to. Thirdly as a conclusion comes the Dedication. Why is it so important? The dedication aims to crystallize the benefits actualized through meditation, in the short term and for centuries to come. We recommend Matthieu Ricard's reflections on the role of dedication in your meditation practice.
Then always at the conclusion, like putting the seal, [comes] the dedication. It's to think, whatever goodness, whatever positivity—we call that merit, like a store of potential for further goodness—has been accumulated, as well as the wisdom that we have gained through doing this practice, may that be dedicated to further pursuing the path. May that be dedicated in the short term to alleviating all the suffering of sentient beings, to war, famines, inner conflict, sickness, every kind of suffering. In the long term, may that be dedicated to the ultimate enlightenment and freedom of all sentient beings.
That gives us momentum to what we have done; it continues it. And instead of a snowflake falling onto a hot stone, it becomes a snowflake falling into a big ocean. It will remain as long as the ocean remains. It's immune to disappearing. —Matthieu Ricard on Dedication
We invite you to join us in expressing our loving concern for all those in need, and consider how to alleviate some of their suffering in concrete ways. Even a little help can mean a lot. Get Full Access to All Programs
The team is here to help with your questions about the app and your practice.
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