October 2013 Newsletter

Hello, Everyone,

I recently came across a poem I wrote as part of a homework exercise for the MBSR clinic on Meditation. The exercise was intended to improve students’ attention level and continual focus on what one is experiencing in each moment. The method/medium of expression was left entirely to each student’s discretion, whether through poetry, a story, or a drawing that captivated the imagination and intrigue in his / her day. To set the background for what I wrote, let’s go to the scene that most inspired awe in me one particular chilling evening.

I taught an MBSR Clinic in Chicopee, Massachusetts the state most legendary for its dark and “witchy” tales. The class was at my cousin’s house; often I arrived early, and waited in my car for the appointed class time. It was already dark at 5 pm on that eerie October night; with my car window open, I could smell the musty, windblown leaves, followed by occasional whiffs of someone’s dinner drifting through the night air. What an engaging scene! I thought that, if I mindfully pay attention to what I am experiencing in this moment, surely a flood of sounds, smells, and visuals would emerge, creating a vivid, enticing picture in words THERE was my inspiration for the homework assignment that had eluded me!!
The wind picked up, and leaves began falling wildly, flowing across a bright street lamp, unfolding in my spirit as a vibrant (and somewhat spooky) poem:

BEING HALLOWEEN

Sitting in my car with the window open, I’m early this
evening — waiting on time itself.
I notice this soft orange glow from a nearby streetlamp
casting shadows on a leaf- ridden pavement of an autumn
crisp night.
Nearby jack-o-lanterns, having taken their seat,
are waiting anxiously for the fun to begin.
A cry in the distance from an alley cat, adds only to
the anticipation to things to come.
Suddenly, pounding footsteps startle me from behind,
only to be runners out for their evening jaunt.
They slowly faded into the black mist of night from whence
they came.

And I ask myself
Am I Being Halloween

Daniel Lamontagne
Oct 1999

Another gentleman taking the course wrote about a flower growing in concrete on a bridge,a truly creative way to spend the hours he was stuck in traffic on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
It was quite the story of perseverance, strength and willpower discovered within this little flower, who was given such a difficult place to bloom but did, nonetheless!
It’s amazing to learn that, when you don’t pay attention to the moment,things are there but unnoticed; the rhythm and beauty of life itself is passing you by you are too caught up in the mundane preoccupations we seem to honor most: cell phones, worries we cannot control,all the things that “space us out.” Paying genuine attention, developing a greater sense of awareness, requires focusing the mind fully on the moment, and becomes the most vital fabric of life, for it’s the only moment of its kind you will ever again be given. Live it well!

Keep your practice going; meditate daily; your awareness will surely blossom.

Happy Halloween
Easy on the candy!
Daniel

Thought For the Day

“When you see ordinary situations with extraordinary insight, it is like discovering a jewel in rubbish.” Chogyan Trungpa
“What they undertook to do They brought to pass; All things hang like a drop of dew Upon a blade of grass” W.B. Yeats

“There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” Epiticus

Lite Thought

“Doing nothing is very hard to do; you never know when you are finished.”

“Enjoy life; there is plenty of time to be dead.”

“Facebook should have a limit on how many times you can change your
relationship status. After 3 it should default to “Unstable”

Workshops

I will be having a Consciousness Connected Breathwork workshop on Saturday October 12 and 26th from 1-3pm at Evergreen Yoga Center 1514 Overton Park

Meditation Talk

Whole Foods on Tuesday Night October 17th at 7-8 p.m.

Retreats / Workshops:

Meditation Mindfulness & Connecting with Nature, St Columba Retreat Center, Memphis November 22-24th 2013 (See attachment for details)

Melbourne, Florida January 4-9 Workshop Aquarian Dreams Contact Cheri (321) 729-949 or www.aquariandreams.com

Blessings
DANIEL

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