by Cindy Black on May 17, 2012
What is Natural Wisdom?
Natural wisdom prompts me to take a nap in the afternoon because I’m tired. My body, made up of billions of cells, has the ability to create, recycle, learn, improvise, heal, and inspire. All that is required of this inhabitant, known to me as “myself”, is to listen, feel and follow.
Natural wisdom is simple and available to everyone. It is there in every breath, all that is required is attention to it and the guts to follow it. Totally free and available, yet no one can give it to you.
Following natural wisdom has become a challenge for many of us steeped in western values. Western society produces research on mind blowing “new “realizations about the benefits of taking a walk, being happy, meditating, eating a fresh apple, allowing employees some creative license, letting children play without a schedule, allowing pets in nursing homes, holding infants, massaging elders, calling medical patients by name, allowing for sunlight in office buildings. Western science is also contemplating the notion that emotions and physical health may be linked.
Take a moment to consider these research ideas and how they influence your confidence in your own knowing.
Listen to the call, urges, feelings of your body, your cells, your heart speaking directly to you about your life. If you allowed yourself to respect your voice above all others what would happen? What choices about your life, your daily habits, and your way of living would you pursue?
by Cindy Black on April 23, 2012
I am not a parent, yet this book moved me deeply. Any experience can be used as a learning ground for spiritual development. Karen Maezen Miller shows how to take everyday experiences and transform them into profound learning. In addition to revealing Zen philosophy to my western mind, I gained a greater appreciation for the trials and tribulations my Mother had to go through in order to assure my entrance into this world, and into adulthood.
I contemplate often the catch 22 of parenthood – that there is absolutely no way to be perfect, to “get it right” all the time. I watch parents as they make their mistakes. I reflect on my own childhood and see now that the imperfections of my parents were part of what made them perfect parents for me. It was a combination of their strengths and weaknesses that helped form the person I have become.
Still, I often witness the guilt of parents. Only a parent can know what that is like:
“Certainly, all manner of events transpire in life, but where exactly does this thing called a mistake take place? Only in our mind – our judging, critical, labeling mind. The mind that provides the nonstop narrative to our lives, ‘There you go again. Can’t get it right. You’ll never do it. Big mistake.”
The author outlines many moments of her first year of Motherhood, revealing her inner experience of daily events, and then reflecting on the teachings of her Zen Teacher, Taizan Maezumi Roshi. She brings us through the workings of her mind as she contemplates Zen teachings, and then reveals the lesson:
“Life is full of fits and starts. Some things are easy; some are not. Some things go and some things stop. Do your work; then set it down. There are no failures. Forgive and forget yourself.”
Get your own copy of Momma Zen
Connect with Karen Maezen Miller at her blog, Cheerio Road.
What is Natural Wisdom?