Life Less Literary

After a break of a few weeks, I went to another lunchtime meditation at the Sheffield Buddhist Centre. I’d been to three previous sessions, Richard had taken the first one and then another guy (with adopted & un-rememberable buddhist name) took the next two sessions while Richard was on a retreat. I very nearly didn’t go today - after three sessions, it was beginning to seem much of a muchness, and although I knew I would get more out of it by repeated practice, I couldn’t really be arsed. So glad that I did - I don’t know whether it’s because Richard was ultra-refreshed after his retreat, or if the other guy just wasn’t much cop, but somehow the whole session just exuded energy.

We started with quite a long talk on ideas surrounding meditation - it was all stuff I knew already, but phrased in such a way as to prompt further introspection and discoveries from me. Richard talked about how meditation was about settling into yourself, just letting yourself exist, being content with what you found there, whether it be good, bad or indifferent. He mention a few days ago, when it had started raining after several days of glorious sunshine, and he’d thought to himself “this is England” - the same feeling as when, getting off an aeroplane, you smell the air and know that you’re home, for good or bad. I felt that so vividly (although to be honest I get a similar feeling when I step off a plane into a North African evening), there’s a song of Arthur’s “Where I Come From”, I dunno whether the lyrics really mean anything much (Arthur always denies that his songs have meaning, although they often feel to me very much like they do) but this particular song, there’s a certain kind of rainy/sunny inspirational wrapped-up mood I sometimes get into when this song just pumps through my head:

London loves us all
Feels warm against the cold for trying hard
Still no place like this, uh-huh
Speaks so honestly
Words imported cross the sea
Say nothing!
Still no place this this, uh-huh

Dries her tired eyes
With the flag of England, still she cries
Still no place this this, uh-huh
Singing Empire songs
That tune a verse too long for anyone
Still no place this this, uh-huh

A place where I can do no wrong
That’s how it is where I come from
Our smiles are short our winters long
That’s how it is where I come from

[and some more stuff like that…]

After the talk, we did some exercise - really gentle stretching stuff, after 20 minutes’ inspiring pep-talk it felt really good. And finally, we meditated for 25 minutes. Throughout the meditation Richard told us to focus on parts of our body, starting with the soles of our feet, working up to our scalps before returning to our hearts. In each part, we were to think about kindness and openness. By the end of it, my heart was bursting with kindness and openness, I felt full of love and good thoughts. I floated back home.

The blissed-out feeling seemed to tail off fairly soon, but I must’ve kept enough of it in me because the rest of the day was very peaceful and mindful of others. I picked up Rowan and Lola, made some dinner for Gill (with Lola assisting), and looked after the kids while Gill went to the gym, and I managed to find time to do painting with the kids, give Lola a bath (she was covered in paint head to toe), clean the bath out, mop the kitchen floor (also covered with paint)… and feel really good about it, especially after Gill praised me for being wonderful!

Dinner was gorgeous too, though very simple… perhaps because it was made with love and kindness. I made some polenta and then left it to solidify, made a tomato salad (the amazing Sicilian pumpkin-shaped tomatoes that I raved about this time last year are BACK in Beanies! They’re called Delizia and they are… delicious) - I halved the tomatoes, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, crumbled on some feta cheese (soaked for a while to de-salinate it) and covered the whole lot with olive oil and a bit of paprika. I also made a green salad - mixed baby leaves, watercress, cucumber and avocado with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. So… slices of polenta with the two salads (and a little more olive oil), and that was it. Oh, and gingery-almondy rhubarb crumble and custard for pudding. Mmmmm.