Hump day, mid week, Wednesday arrives and it is time for the weekly gathering in the Mehta Family home. Truth be told the community created here is on going beyond the weekly evening gatherings that have occurred for the past 12+ years. We arrive and enter the meditation setting in silence. We are physically coming together once again and the ripple affect of this community is far reaching up north and south, east and west on the San Francisco Peninsula, across the United States and internationally via physical connection, electronic medium and phone. After meditation and the reading of the weekly inspiration, and during the serving of the shared meal, the connectiveness, familiarity and love is evident among those attending for the first, second or gazillionth time!
This particular Wednesday we - me single mom from the San Francisco bay area, Kaz visiting professor from Japan, and Eva student on break from school in New Mexico - carpool to the midweek gathering of our community. The drive is host to a pleasant exchange that curiously, though not by design, is related to the reading for the week. We speak about academic writing, about job interviews, about public speaking, about meditative dance, about confidence and self esteem and ironically the underlying thread ties back to the idea of being present in the moment and allowing for a quiet reflection and acceptance of self and clarity of choice.
The three of us share our struggles and our growing in the recent weeks with self acceptance and love. Just as the author writes about being, “free of the should’s and must have’s” as part of achieving “natural fulfillment“. I don’t know that any of us is “there” in terms of fulfillment, though we are on our way by being aware of and practicing the acceptance of self as we are and where we are at this moment in our individual lives and taking time for quiet nonjudgmental reflection.
Following meditation and during our group sharing this evening, I thought about the drive and the conversation we shared. Simple conversation that it was and then here in communion with 40 other people is the evidence of the beautiful ripple affect of this Wednesday meditation in the Mehta home. All of us coming together in loving acceptance, in an environment that allows for plain and simple sharing of thought and feeling, just as the three of us had done in the four door sedan driving down highway 101!
Gangaji writes, “When we see how much is wrong or harmful in our thinking and our and others' actions, we can be overwhelmed by the tasks revealed. This overwhelm can result in giving up and reverting to cynicism or in strengthening our resolve to work even harder. To think and do more. “ The conversation on the drive and around the circle, revealed that the power of pausing or stopping, taking time to allow for quiet reflection, and taking time to listen to each other can and does provide for clarity of thought enabling better choice making. Also for me, this weekly communion of family and friends provides an avenue for practicing this valuable action of meditative quiet that creates a peaceful heart, brings peace of mind and clarity to our individual and collective thoughts.
On Sep 3, 2009 susan bradley wrote :
Hump day, mid week, Wednesday arrives and it is time for the weekly gathering in the Mehta Family home. Truth be told the community created here is on going beyond the weekly evening gatherings that have occurred for the past 12+ years. We arrive and enter the meditation setting in silence. We are physically coming together once again and the ripple affect of this community is far reaching up north and south, east and west on the San Francisco Peninsula, across the United States and internationally via physical connection, electronic medium and phone. After meditation and the reading of the weekly inspiration, and during the serving of the shared meal, the connectiveness, familiarity and love is evident among those attending for the first, second or gazillionth time!