Class 6 · Practice 6
Connection — Deep Noticing
Antidote to suffering
✦Opening Invitation
Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary will take care of itself.
— William Martin
💬 Sharing Your Wonder
- 1
What Wonder did you encounter?
- 2
What did you experience with Intentional Purposelessness?
- 3
What did you learn that might encourage others?
🔍 Deeper Inquiry
- 1
What obstacles or barriers did you encounter?
- 2
What did you notice about Intentional Purposelessness?
🌙Practice 6 — Connection: Deep Noticing
Core IntentionKeep in touch with the ways in which you are included in everything — connected, not separate. This is a wider meaning of connection than our usual view.
Begin with the common, everyday, ubiquitous objects around you that support your life:
- 1
Notice their usefulness. Note whether they ease your suffering in some way.
- 2
Experience their help in nourishing body and mind. Take in how they make things more convenient for you.
- 3
See if/how their beauty or form feeds you. Can you practice respect and appreciation for the comfort and relationship they offer you?
- 4
Can you get still enough to receive their support? Can you pace your life so you feel able to include and be included by everything?
- 5
Feel the connection between you and who/what relies on you for care — plant, pet, person. If you wish, make a few notes to share.
📓 Reflection Journal
What did you notice when you turned your attention toward the ordinary things in your life?