Book Genre: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, Self Help, Spirituality, Unfinished You can discern between thoughts, words, and actions that cause harm and those that do not, and you act accordingly. Why do you suffer? Is there a purpose to your pain? What about the amount of suffering you experience—is it fair, based on some understandable system of cause and effect, or is it simply arbitrary? Can you affect how much you suffer? If so, how?

Dancing with Life by Phillip Moffitt | Review | Spirituality

Dancing With Life is divided into four books—one for each of the Four Noble Truths—each containing three insights. The Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, who wrote the preface to Dancing with Life, writes that “. . . the lucid way in which Phillip has written about how to actualize the twelve insights is a real achievement.” The whole journey will consist of four workshops. You may also choose to have one to one sessions throughout the course. There is an invitation to complete a project of your own choosing. The project will enable you to feel specific benefits from this deeper dive into Movement Medicine. Moffitt brings to his role of dharma teacher a range of life experiences which include being a longtime student of yoga and Theravadin Buddhism, author, former editor-in-chief and chief executive of Esquire magazine, and board member for the C. G. Jung Institute. His long- standing interest in Jung, Helen Luke, and T. S. Eliot enriches his teaching with psychological insight.Most Sunday evenings find Phillip Moffitt teaching the dharma in Corte Madera, California, in a sangha he formed ten years ago. Dharma for Moffitt is alive and practical, not theoretical or abstract, and he anchors the teachings in everyday life examples. This beautiful book offers subtle and vast teachings on the mystery of the body and mind—combined with paintings by an Indian master that evoke deepening states of meditative awareness.” His approach, influenced by Western psychology and Buddhist philosophy, involves using a combination of mindfulness and intention. This can provide the foundation for a more authentic relationship with yourself and others, resulting in the ability to transform life’s many challenges into opportunities for growth. Awakening through the Nine Bodies is at once a vivid map connecting the vast territories of consciousness, a practical guide that can immediately be put to liberating use, the tale of a unique spiritual apprenticeship, transmission of a precious lineage that otherwise might be lost, a bridge between various yogic and Buddhist models, and an invigorating call to awaken.” Understanding who you really are involves overcoming misperceptions about who you are not. This transformation doesn’t happen simply by thinking about it once. It demands continued reflection and investigation. The following suggestions can help you cease being trapped in a false identity and begin to open up to new possibilities:

How Are You Dancing With Life? | Psychology Today

The Buddha asked himself such questions 2,500 years ago, and he came to the following realization: The path to happiness and a sense of well-being in this very life lies not in avoiding suffering but in using the conscious, embodied, direct experience of it as a vehicle to gain deep insight into the true nature of life and your own existence. Instead of being a reactionary slave to the inevitable pain, frustration, stress, and sorrow in your life, which the Buddha called dukkha, you can free your mind such that you have a sense of well-being even when dukkha is present, and you create the possibility of finding complete freedom. Why not dance with the constant vicissitudes of life in a manner that is joyful and liberated, rather than feeling like a victim or being flooded with fear and stress?Suggestion: Look at the chapters “Starting Over,” “Starting your Day with Clarity,” and “Knowing What’s Really Happening” and discuss how these three skills combine to support developing intentionality. The third theme is that of choice which empowers you to move from a reactive to a responsive mind. As you master these three areas, you gain clarity and lessen the emotional chaos in your life. The combined skills of mindfulness and intention described in this book represent an approach to transforming life’s many challenges into opportunities for growth. This approach constitutes the foundation for a more authentic relationship with yourself and others. As you apply these life skills you will feel more grounded and oriented in your life. My purpose in writing this book is to assist you in this process of learning how to live more skillfully. Moffitt wholeheartedly believes that it is mindfulness that allows us to set intentions through understanding what matters most (your values). Being grounded in intention and aligning one’s actions to those intentions “as best you are able is what provides integrity and unity in your life” (clarity). I’m enjoying reading Dancing with Life. I just recently finished the portion where you introduced the three ego-renunciation practices. They are now part of my daily recitation of the precepts, and more importantly a very fruitful and challenging practice when not on the cushion.”

Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and

Although the chapters on expectations and living with difficulty are in different parts of the book, there is a distinct relationship between them.

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Become a careful observer of your behavior and the mind states underlying that behavior. More than likely, you will start to notice a heretofore hidden separation between the seemingly solid identity that arises in a moment of strong emotion and your awareness that can observe your behavior and your mind states. Moffitt does this by penetrating the Buddha’s primary teaching—the Four Noble Truths—which is the basis for the book, and his ability to deconstruct and detail each of the Four Noble Truths feeds our capacity to become more mindful in our lives. Mindfulness is key, for it is mindfulness that enables us to respond rather than react. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-12-16 03:14:40 Bookplateleaf 0004 Boxid IA40314608 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier Become interested in the nature of your awareness itself. The capacity for awareness has a mirrorlike quality—it reflects what you like or dislike and what you identify with—but it is a neutral observer. Notice that your awareness does not become excited or afraid or identify with what you are feeling or thinking; it simply knows and reflects what is happening in your body and mind. Becoming acquainted with this awareness can provide much-needed comfort and stability when you get caught in emotional chaos.

Amanda Abbington’s warning to Strictly fans following exit

Dukkha, or unsatisfactoriness/suffering, is inevitable in our lives because we cannot control the arising of causes and conditions that surround us. However, we can choose how we choose to respond to dukkha, and how we respond is what Moffitt calls “dancing with life.” He reminds us that it is possible to respond to our suffering in a way whereby we are not defined by it; rather, suffering is simply part of our dance. Dancing with Life guides us in how to be a good dance partner, how to develop and hone our skills in this ongoing engagement that is life. Suggestion: In groups of three or four, take turns reporting your individual history with self-violence, whether it’s over-scheduling, self-criticism, or denying yourself opportunity. How would clarity of intention and mindfulness balance these tendencies? In addition to this in-depth investigation of the nature of consciousness, the book also includes a series of teachings in the form of twenty beautiful, mysterious illustrations that reveal the subtle aspects of consciousness along with instructions in how to use the illustrations in your meditation practice. Balyogi says he created these illustrations during a period of intense Samadhi when he had a series of revelations and visions about the structure of consciousness. I offer detailed interpretations of each illustration along with precise meditation instructions intended to guide one toward a particular state of consciousness. In the book’s introduction, Moffitt writes that while serving the dual roles of CEO and editor of Esquire he “felt exiled from my own heart.” You have an inner life in which love can flourish, even if your outer life is filled with challenges.The great challenge you face, like everyone else, is discovering your essence and then learning how to respond to life in light of this insight and wisdom. The central purpose of this book is to help you achieve this transformation in your life. But first you must learn to discern what is authentic, to separate it from the many false or episodic identities you have undoubtedly acquired in your struggle to find your way in life. For example, a false identity you may have adopted is one that needs to be in control of what happens to you. If things go well, you are pleased with yourself; if they don’t, you blame yourself. But it only takes a moment of reflection to realize that this is a false identity. First in discussion with my teacher, the Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, then by going to the original text, reading many commentaries, and researching for similar insights in modern depth psychology, I developed an integrated view of the Buddha’s teaching of the Twelve Insights of the Four Noble Truths, a vision that combined the practical and the mystical. I made the insights my primary focus for some years, and doing so changed both my own practice and what I teach. Thus Dancing with Life represents my experience of living the Buddha’s teachings in daily life. It builds upon the traditional teachings to offer a contemporary, integral view of how to live your life—one that asserts both the value of finding peace and joy within the context of your suffering and the possibility of purifying the mind so that it no longer collapses into suffering. You are not controlled by your views and opinions or the story of your past, but rather you have a “don’t know” mind that responds wisely to whatever you encounter in life.