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Isolation Resources

Posted Bob Bramwell

Self-isolation is very nearly the definition of individual retreat.  Here are some suggestions for activities you can practice, material you can study, and inspirational offerings to help you get the most our of this enforced retreat time.  We will update this page from time to time, so check back and see what’s new.  If you think of anything that you would like to share with the rest of us, please drop us a line, and Thank You to all who have already done so!

Online Interactive Sessions

… from MBMC:

We hope some of you can join us for one of our Zoom sessions.  Invitations will be emailed to everyone on our mailing list.

Starting in September we will be offering Zoom sessions on Sunday mornings only.  Sessions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday have been discontinued.

Those of you who wish to join in the Sunday morning 9am chants, here is the text so you can read along.

… from Elsewhere:

Online Dharma

Uplifting Items

Individual Offerings

“What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.”
By Lynn Ungar 3/11/20
 
this poem arrived via WisdomatWork.com
in spirit, Armand
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“The quieting of our mind is a political act.
The world does not need more oil or energy or food.
It needs less greed, less hatred, less ignorance.
Even if we have inwardly taken on the political bitterness
or cynicism that exists externally,
we can stop and begin to heal our own suffering,
our own fear, with compassion.
Through meditation and inner transformation,
we can learn to make our own hearts
a place of peace and integrity.  Each of us knows how to do this.
As Gandhi acknowledged,
“I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills.”
It is our inner nobility and steadiness that we must call on
in our personal and collective difficulties.”
— Jack Kornfield
_____________________________________
“When a system is far from equilibrium
small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos
have the capacity
to lift the entire system
to a higher order.”
— Illya Prigogine