The Grace of Change

Meditating with Chocolate

So here we are with Valentine’s Day chocolate erupting everywhere, and you’re wondering how to sashay that fine line between deprivation (ick!) and overindulgence.

Have I got a treat for you! Here’s a way of – get this – meditating with chocolate. Ladies, how good can that get?

The exercise — or play, as I like to think of it — is to develop mindfulness, awareness of the present moment without judgment. Mindfulness is one of the cornerstones of pleasure, deepening our capacity for it in all its forms. After all, if we’re stressing about the meeting tomorrow, or beating ourselves up for forgetting to return that phone call, how can we relish the grace and pleasure of this moment?

Mindfulness is traditionally developed through meditation. I say, how about developing mindfulness and cultivating pleasure at the same great time?

Feral Nuns

I was reading John Tarrant’s excellent book on Zen Buddhism this morning in bed, luxuriously naked and wrapped in our down comforter, and sipping the latte that David had made for me (how good a start to the work day is that?).

Tarrant wrote about Tommy Dorsey, a performing drag queen in San Francisco in the 80’s who became Issan, a monk, and later the abbot of a Zen center in the Castro District, the heart of the lavish gay scene. ( Issan said, “I still wear a skirt, but I gave up the heels.”) With a heart as big as the city, and a fierce commitment to service, he cared for guys with AIDS while keeping his wild and passionate off-the wall spirit. Tarrant described Issan as a “feral monk.”

That’s it, I thought as I read that, the top of my head blowing off. That’s what I am.