The Elephant of the Mind

If this elephant of mind is bound on all sides by the cord
of mindfulness,
All fear disappears and complete happiness comes.
All enemies: all the tigers, lions, elephants, bears
    serpents (of our emotions);
And all the keepers of hell; the demons and horrors,
And all these are bound by the mastery of the mind,
And all by the taming of the mind, all are subdued,
Because from the mind are derived all fears, and
    immeasurable sorrows.

From the SHANTIDEVA



 Practice, it takes practice… to take the action necessary to do the next right thing. Armchair spirituality might do well enough for philosophers and theologians but the spirituality of recovery has demands for action. Does action mean that I run around like a chicken with its head cut off? Or does it does it mean I take first the action of non-action? Navel gazing isn’t thought of as an action by most of us. How does sitting on my ass thinking about my problems do anything about them? However, I don’t ever sit on a cushion all day. I get up off my cushion and make breakfast and grocery lists, pay bills or make phone calls… I don’t do these things while I sit but while I sit I make contact with the Spirit that moves me through the day with compassion most of the time. Granted, this isn’t always done as well on some days as others but, most of the time, I can reach out and give my full attention to the next right thing because of the early morning few minutes I sit.