Hey everyone!
Welcome back to another semester. I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break!
As I reflect on the New Year and this coming semester I can’t help but feel that we continuously find ourselves navigating a world of uncertainty, anxiety, even fear and hostility. And as soon as we come back to a sense of normalcy we are right back into the fray. I don’t say this to be pessimistic but just a statement of how I, and possibly you, are feeling.
However, I often find that our feelings are fleeting and not always true – especially if we use our awareness and intelligence to look deeper. Connecting with our feelings can help us go deeper – but getting caught up in them we can also get lost.
Navigating ourselves through these challenging times requires us to use our awareness and intelligence to look deeper and see the bigger picture.
When we do so we can see there is also a lot to be hopeful for, to be proud of, to enjoy, to find meaning and purpose in.
This awareness and intelligence requires the mind to be balanced, clear, calm, collected. And therefore, we need to tend to our mind and take care of it. Our mind is such a precious and powerful thing. It can wreck havoc on us or bring us the greatest joy.
Meditation is one way of tending to the mind but there are also other ways. Taking care of your body is a way of taking care of the mind. Slowing down and taking mindful pauses throughout the day is tending to the mind. Being grateful, kind, and compassionate to yourself and others takes care of your own mind. Deciding to take a break or go for a walk when you are overwhelmed with school work is a way to take care of your mind.
Whether you find yourself coming to our meditation sessions this semester or not, please find some way of tending to your mind and fostering a deeper awareness and intelligence.
I am so grateful to all the generous meditation instructors we have in this club that take their time to be of so much benefit to our community. They are the reason we can offer so many regular meditation sessions throughout the week. I am also grateful to everyone that joins our sessions or hopes to be joining us for meditation this semester.
Be kind to yourself and others,
Jason S. Tsukahara