It's Like This

Joy has been with me, ever since I wrote yesterday's post. Tonight, I could not resist continuing with Ajahn Sumedho, along the same theme of awareness as refuge - this time from his book Intuitive Awareness:

Awareness is your refuge: 

Awareness of the changingness of feelings, 

of attitudes, of moods, of material change 

and emotional change: 

Stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is 

indestructible. 

It’s not something that changes. 

It’s a refuge you can trust in. 

This refuge is not something that you create. 

It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal. 

It’s very practical and very simple, but 

easily overlooked or not noticed. 

When you’re mindful, 

you’re beginning to notice, 

it’s like this.

Still fragile mind needs to be constantly reminded. Earlier today, my husband asked, if I was still feeling giddy from 'the monk'. Then, I said yes. Tonight, with the interruption of an unpleasant email, I found myself slipping into anxiety, and much unpleasantness. Ajahn Sumedho was not completely forgotten though, and mind knew it was wavering off the path. T'was time to  refresh . . . and to learn once more, 'it's like this'. That knowledge is the ultimate refuge, the boundless safety that allows one to be one step removed from the fleeting disturbance.