So tonight I am sitting in an oversized bathrobe in an Embassy Suites hotel suite. It is a lovely suite and the bathrobe is huge! I rolled up the sleeves and am using them as a wrist rest while I type on my laptop. LOL I am wearing an ergonomic bathrobe! That's quite a selling point for Embassy Suites, don't you think?
Early this evening I had a great workout in the fitness room. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer while watching a movie on TV, on a screen, ON the elliptical trainer! All I had to do was plug in my headphones. Every hotel should have Precor cardio equipment with the TV built in. This hotel has a recumbent bike, two treadmills and an elliptical. They also have a good amount of strength training equipment in the gym and free fitness videos on the TV! What a great hotel for travel. I'm telling everyone I know.
One really great thing about my 45 minutes on the elliptical is that it wasn't brutal for me! I was very sweaty and had a good heart rate reading on my monitor, working out in my zone, but I didn't feel like I was going to die. I felt great! The last time I was on one about seven years ago, I couldn't stay on more than 15 minutes. I am very pleased with my progress since December. I would have never hoped to be comfortable on the elliptical. (Picture me jumping up and down with glee...)
Shunryu Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind says "When you practice zazen, just practice zazen."
I am usually good at doing only one thing at a time, but today was a multi-tasking day and did I have issues! I was in way too big a hurry to start with. It was my goal to get to my hotel by 3:00 in the afternoon, which means I would have had to leave by 11:30 or noon. I left at 1:45. I did not prepare well yesterday and was in a big hurry to get everything packed and to get myself on the road. So, how did this impact (i.e. impair) my ability to be calm and effective? I packed too much stuff, I aimed for my pocket with my extra key for the petsitter and drove away with the key having fallen on the living room floor (I had to go back home, wasting precious time to find the key and drive it to the petsitter's office), I didn't get my lunch packed correctly for tomorrow's retreat because all I got at the store was fruit for the monks (a donation), I forgot my mp3 and cell phone chargers, and that's all I know so far. But the WORST part was that I was so frazzled I had breathing problems and my heart was beating out of control.
This was not necessary. All I had to do was think one thing at a time.
Normally when I go somewhere I make a list and check things off, packing 3 or 4 days in advance. (Granted, I did this on a 2 day notice, but still - 2 DAYS! I had time.)
But the issue is more than just being prepared. When we do only one thing at a time, we are focused on that one thing. Then we can usually do it well and be more productive. Ultimately, we get more done. This is something I have to remember. Why? Mindfulness.
When we do one thing at a time, we can choose to do it mindfully. I've found the best way to learn to be mindful is to meditate. After 32 years my mind still wanders; that's its job. But I have the power to choose to refocus on the task at hand, in meditation or out in the world.
(One note: When Suzuki makes this comment, he isn't actually talking about mindfulness, he is talking about pure practice in the context of right effort. Which is another great topic for a different day. But, when I read that passage today, I thought of mindfulness, probably because it was the lesson I needed today.)
I am looking forward to tomorrow's daylong meditation retreat with Ajahn Amaro at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. I'm sure I'll get a whole lotta mindfulness!
In gassho,
Jun-ri
P.S. Thanks so much to all of you who read my last post and let me know I am loved. I love you, too!
Early this evening I had a great workout in the fitness room. I did 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer while watching a movie on TV, on a screen, ON the elliptical trainer! All I had to do was plug in my headphones. Every hotel should have Precor cardio equipment with the TV built in. This hotel has a recumbent bike, two treadmills and an elliptical. They also have a good amount of strength training equipment in the gym and free fitness videos on the TV! What a great hotel for travel. I'm telling everyone I know.
One really great thing about my 45 minutes on the elliptical is that it wasn't brutal for me! I was very sweaty and had a good heart rate reading on my monitor, working out in my zone, but I didn't feel like I was going to die. I felt great! The last time I was on one about seven years ago, I couldn't stay on more than 15 minutes. I am very pleased with my progress since December. I would have never hoped to be comfortable on the elliptical. (Picture me jumping up and down with glee...)
Shunryu Suzuki in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind says "When you practice zazen, just practice zazen."
I am usually good at doing only one thing at a time, but today was a multi-tasking day and did I have issues! I was in way too big a hurry to start with. It was my goal to get to my hotel by 3:00 in the afternoon, which means I would have had to leave by 11:30 or noon. I left at 1:45. I did not prepare well yesterday and was in a big hurry to get everything packed and to get myself on the road. So, how did this impact (i.e. impair) my ability to be calm and effective? I packed too much stuff, I aimed for my pocket with my extra key for the petsitter and drove away with the key having fallen on the living room floor (I had to go back home, wasting precious time to find the key and drive it to the petsitter's office), I didn't get my lunch packed correctly for tomorrow's retreat because all I got at the store was fruit for the monks (a donation), I forgot my mp3 and cell phone chargers, and that's all I know so far. But the WORST part was that I was so frazzled I had breathing problems and my heart was beating out of control.
This was not necessary. All I had to do was think one thing at a time.
Normally when I go somewhere I make a list and check things off, packing 3 or 4 days in advance. (Granted, I did this on a 2 day notice, but still - 2 DAYS! I had time.)
But the issue is more than just being prepared. When we do only one thing at a time, we are focused on that one thing. Then we can usually do it well and be more productive. Ultimately, we get more done. This is something I have to remember. Why? Mindfulness.
When we do one thing at a time, we can choose to do it mindfully. I've found the best way to learn to be mindful is to meditate. After 32 years my mind still wanders; that's its job. But I have the power to choose to refocus on the task at hand, in meditation or out in the world.
(One note: When Suzuki makes this comment, he isn't actually talking about mindfulness, he is talking about pure practice in the context of right effort. Which is another great topic for a different day. But, when I read that passage today, I thought of mindfulness, probably because it was the lesson I needed today.)
I am looking forward to tomorrow's daylong meditation retreat with Ajahn Amaro at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. I'm sure I'll get a whole lotta mindfulness!
In gassho,
Jun-ri
P.S. Thanks so much to all of you who read my last post and let me know I am loved. I love you, too!
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