Jojo

[Jojo]

I really feel this, Nicole! Been there and also, my adult kids sometimes still live in this chaos so I don’t know if your theory actually holds water! All I can say is, hang in there, they usually leave, and you can gloriously tidy until your heart flows over with tears of missing them in your gorgeously clean space! Seriously, though, I am sorry your upbringing was so uptight. Seems like you’re allowing a lot more room for your kids to unfurl in their own way. Sending you patience:)

[Jojo]

Hello friends in our special Sangha!
I am really enjoying reading the various replies to different topics and getting to know people through their writing which I love.

I wanted to share a little about my ritual which is pretty simple and serves me as an unfussy way to simply sit. I am a maximalist by nature and distilling the ritual down into very do-able elements makes me able to sit almost daily. If I miss a day I feel bad for 7 seconds and then move on. Learned this tip from Susan who was relaying the words of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (I think). It works for me.

I have a little corner under a bookshelf in our upstairs den. It’s like a little cave and i sort of crawl onto my zafu and zabuton and wrap my cozy meditation shawl around me. I acquired it in Crested Butte CO many years ago and have been meditating with it for years –it feels like a hug when I wrap it around me. Nice way to start, with a hug. Then I reach over to the small shrine table and take a sniff of Bergamot essential oil. This warms me with floral scent that cues me, “it’s time to meditate”. The olfactory experience is yummy and physical. I light two tea lights and the cave is immediately warmed with intention and light. On the table in a beautiful tray are several special things; a huge chunk of rose quartz(heart chakra) with a smaller faceted Garnet(root chakra) on top that I sometimes hold if I need to settle down. I also have a beautiful Amethyst and a soft round Amazonite stone(heart chakra). I also have a pinecone from the Giant Sequoia tree in my neighborhood forest park who has taught me a lot. I am a crystal lover, a plant mama, a tarot reader, and these witchy parts of me come into my Buddhist meditation practice easily, eagerly, and pump up the jams spiritually speaking!

I have a beautiful red sandalwood Mala I got at Drala Mountain this summer, and keep it wrapped around the Bergamot. I have a teeny bell sat on a clove pillow I bought in Bali. It makes the cutest little ring. Also a fierce little Japanese ceramic incense holder, a monster of some sort. I have a photo of my mom and stepfather, a picture of the Dalai Lama, and a rotating image of one Buddha statue or another, usually postcards, but sometimes a photograph of a statue I have seen in person. I have many of these so it keeps the scene fresh. Incense and candles lit, oils sniffed, and bell rung, I am ready to go. I chant the 4 Dharmas of Gampopa and then the Heart Sutra (this is quickly becoming memorized, as I learned in the forest yesterday and started to recite it. I have a ways to go.) Then I meditate on the 4 Reminders (this practice is new, from our 30 Days of Dharma and i LOVE it) and then sit for 10-20 minutes, usually with Susan’s daily recordings. Then I dedicate the merit and boom, enlightenment. Hah. Just kidding:) I do feel refreshed though. I am really grateful to the 3 Jewels offered here in Open Heart Project that have taught me a lot about the power of Ritual. See you all soon!

[Jojo]

Hello friends on the 30-days of Dharma journey!

I am Jojo Brody, a mixed media artist(jewelry, painting, collage) living in Portland Oregon. I’m a cat mom, a dancer, gardener, and mama bear to 3 adult humans, not listed in order of importance.

I am so happy to be here with you, deepening my meditation practice (which is feeling much stronger since joining OHP) and receiving daily insights and clarifications on the many intricate aspects of Dharma, being a householder Buddhist and magic making in my everyday life. May my practice be of service in some way to some others, fingers crossed.

I have been with OHP for almost a year and am very grateful to have been able to attend my first retreat in August at Drala Mountain with Susan and Michael Carroll. I am in an OHP circle, an OHP book club that doesn’t seem to want to disband at the end of each book, and I join in on other OHP offerings regularly. These many layers of participation on the Dharma path within a wonderful sangha and with trusted spiritual teacher/friends guiding us have enhanced my sense of well-being and connectedness even during these whackadilly times we live in! Thank you all for being here.

[Jojo]

Hi meditators and friends on the path to self-knowing,
I am Jo Brody, long time resident of Portland Oregon by way of Taos, NM and before that, Massachusetts).
How beautiful it is to finally have a loose and lovely Sangha! Thank you universe for leading me to Susan and to you all.
I am so grateful to have found the centering, challenging and juicy practice of drawing, painting, (and art-making in nearly every media) 15 years ago in my mid- 40’s and my love for the practice is abiding.
I have been meditating off and on for years but it’s been a challenge to make it a daily practice and that is something I hope to change and learn to devote myself to it with the same dedication I have to my art practice.
This short course on Inexplicable Magic (I am a sucker for magic of any kind!) has been helping my practice become more regular and I love the foundational, practical focus of the work especially here at the beginning.

Three beloved books: (I love seeing everyone else’s answers to all these prompts but especially to these final two questions):
-Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act(i am listening to it)
-Thich Nhat Hanh’s No Mud No Lotus(I have most of his books but this one is really helpful right now)
-All of Jean Shinoda Bolen’s books but I have read Crossing to Avalon at least three times
Three beloved recordings:
-My son Eliot’s cover of Dylan’s Ring Them Bells
-Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life esp. Love’s in Need of Love Today
-Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece(all of his records but this one will come to my desert island)
Looking forward to “meeting” more of you soon!

• This reply was modified 11 months ago by Jojo.

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