Since you posted about that person who was trying to go without complaining, I have been trying to be more conscious of that myself. Today I failed miserably and did a lot of complaining in my head. Tomorrow, I shall begin again!
My understanding of mindfulness isn't that you never feel bad. You're actually supposed to acknowledge that you feel bad!
My zendo in the US put on a screening of a biopic of Shunryu Suzuki, and at one point the topic of his wife's death came up. They had been close and he mourned her a lot, and someone asked him about how that could be coupled with mindfulness and attachment leads to suffering, etc. His reply was something that he wept when his wife died, but without Zen "my tears would have had roots."
IF you connect that to complaining, I suppose the difference between mindfulness and complaining is that complaining has roots. Which is I guess a very non-specific and woo answer, but something to chew on. (A slightly more concrete answer is that mindfulness fights against the "meta" feeling: the feeling bad about feeling bad. Maybe?)
That's how I understand mindfulness too. I think for me, it's learning to appreciate and be mindful of some of the little boring things in life - which I know is a good part of te challenge about being mindful. It's still a work in progress for me, obviously.
He was a very good sport. He is paid to be that way of course, but there times (that didn't all make to air) where he appeared genuinely blown away and having fun. The best one I saw was when there was an impromptu court on the field and he was given an award of arms and the right to be known as Lord Richard the Mercer - complete with a beautifully calligraphed and illuminated scroll. He was really tickled.
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Since you posted about that person who was trying to go without complaining, I have been trying to be more conscious of that myself. Today I failed miserably and did a lot of complaining in my head. Tomorrow, I shall begin again!
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My zendo in the US put on a screening of a biopic of Shunryu Suzuki, and at one point the topic of his wife's death came up. They had been close and he mourned her a lot, and someone asked him about how that could be coupled with mindfulness and attachment leads to suffering, etc. His reply was something that he wept when his wife died, but without Zen "my tears would have had roots."
IF you connect that to complaining, I suppose the difference between mindfulness and complaining is that complaining has roots. Which is I guess a very non-specific and woo answer, but something to chew on. (A slightly more concrete answer is that mindfulness fights against the "meta" feeling: the feeling bad about feeling bad. Maybe?)
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thanks for the link. It worked great! he was having too much fun with all the dancing. He seemed a very good sport, at least on the air.
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He was a very good sport. He is paid to be that way of course, but there times (that didn't all make to air) where he appeared genuinely blown away and having fun. The best one I saw was when there was an impromptu court on the field and he was given an award of arms and the right to be known as Lord Richard the Mercer - complete with a beautifully calligraphed and illuminated scroll. He was really tickled.
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That's great to hear. Some of these guys are right jerks off camera.
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