A Little More

I was looking through a meditation journal from one of my retreats in Thailand the other day and I found something that made me smile – a vibrant little note scrawled in my journal about something I’d realized – something important at the time, that had to be written down or my head would burst.

It made me smile when I read it, because it encapsulated the peculiar naiveté that settles over one’s heart like fairy dust when one shuts oneself in a hut and meditates for a month or two. It’s like, cynicism and hopelessness fall away – the mind sees possibilities which seem so obvious in the peace of the monastery, and which, when one brings them out into the harsh light of this pounding, crashing, brutal world we live in, become child-like, even silly.

And though these hopeful little notes and head explosions make me smile when I read them later on, I often feel a little sadness as well, because I wish life was as simple and innocent as the naked, beautiful mind I meet within myself in the monastery, who I love so much.

The journal note I made said:

 “I’ve figured out the solution to all of our (humanities) problems!  It came in a flash and is encapsulated in one simple phrase: ‘Always give just a little more than you take.’

Just imagine if, in everything they did, everybody in the world gave just a fraction more than they took – a minute more work than they’re paid for, a dollar more than is asked for or earned, their place in the queue, a little more food on some one else’s plate than our own, a spontaneous smile, a greeting to a stranger, a small gift that has no reason. To clean up a little of someone else’s mess, wash someone else’s dishes; fix something broken by someone else.

It doesn’t have to be much. We always think that a gift has to be a big deal, but that’s only because we don’t have a habit of giving – so when we give, we give too much.  If we gave just a little all the time, everything would change. It’d be a slow spreading explosion of good-will that would feed on itself.  It’d be amazing!”

Hmmm … wouldn’t it be wonderful.

Happy New Year to all. May it be filled with insight and inspiration – the best year of all, for everybody.

love Roger XXX

______________________________________________________

‘BEING STILL – MEDITATION THAT MAKES SENSE’, Roger’s new book, is available now.

______________________________________________________

‘BEING STILL’ is available on Amazon as a paperback ……………. AUD $26.40 (incl. GST)

‘BEING STILL’ is also available as a Kindle ebook ………………………………………..AUD $11.99

‘BEING STILL’ the audiobook (including all exercises) ………………………………. AUD $25.00

(The audiobook includes all the exercises, as well as ebooks of Being Still, to fit any device.)