An Important Part of Practice

If one knows how to bring the teachings into one's own thought, all physical and verbal deeds can be made to accord with practice. If one does not know how to bring them into one's own thought, even though one might meditate, recite scriptures, or spend life in temples [or synagogues or churches], it will not help: thought is therefore important to practice.
-Dalai Lama

Can you bring your spiritual or life teachings into your own thought as a part of your practice, whatever that may be?

I practice peace...that is my mission in my life: to live in a state of peace.  Is peace always in my thoughts?  Nah.  I mean it is in me but I am not always connected to it because the veil between me and it, which is thought, is not always absorbing peace. Get that?

We don't want to get lost in thought or stuck in thought but while we are learning we do use thought. It is an important part of our practice.  Eventually we will hopefully transcend thought but for now it is a tool for our learning and our teaching.  We want the teachings to be in our thought veil until we need the veil no longer.

Slips

Keeping that peace in my thoughts is not always easy.  I slip up royally sometimes and find myself jumping into these reactive behaviours dominated by ego. I can consciously separate my life circumstances from my Life; I can find peace in the most trying of times and I can stay aware of what "I" am doing but... sometimes my verbal and physical deeds are not in accord with practice.

Example

After a few days away dealing with fairly big crisis' in which I staid peaceful and calm I came home last evening and slipped big time.  I was exhausted ( rationalizing I know but feel I have to lol).  I had not slept more than a couple hours a night since Tuesday night.  On top of the situation we were dealing with, I had been having pelvic pain which wakes me up, wipes me out and makes me irritable ( when I am not just allowing it to be which I really couldn't because I had too many other bigger things to deal with). Anyway, after a hot bath and napping through a movie on the couch I was really, really looking forward to bed last night 

The dogs had other plans for me.

My oldest dog, who can barely walk most days,  ran off before lock up and I had to chase her around the block in my PJs for thirty minutes.  When I finally got her in, another who had apparently eaten a half bottle of coconut oil earlier that day while we were still away, got sick all over my living room couch...(She is a large dog with a large stomach.  It went everywhere...in between the creases, the cushions, the backing, the springs.  Ugh!!! It pretty well ruined the couch. ) This is what my tired body and mind had to deal with when all it wanted was sleep.

All peace slipped from my thoughts and I went right into emotional reactivity as I began to clean up the mess.

Reacting instead of Practicing

I could hear myself saying, "OMG!  Are you kidding me?  All I want to do is sleep and now I have to deal with this!!!" Poor Don...he came out to help but it didn't go over very well. I was fit to be tied ( Dear partner: if your other half is sleepless, menopausal and in height of reactivity during such a situation...put the cloth down, back away  and just say, "Yes dear...I will be here if you need me." ...Don't walk completely away...no...no... that would not be good for you...let her see you so she can tell you what to do if she needs to.:) )

Anyway, for a few minutes I was whiny and loud and full of resistance for the present moment.  I was probably pretty scary.  All because  I was not carrying peace in to my thought stream.  I was forgetting my practice.  Sigh!!!! I slipped again.

Oh well, my healing, my recovery begins today then.  It is all good. 

All is well in my world.