Sunflower

To love to Floss - A mother's teaching on meditation

To love to Floss - A mother's teaching on meditation

by Liliana Caughman

Big day, big interview.
A woman now but still calling Mom for advice -- always.
Nervous.
Hopeful.
Mind flying through years of memories,
projections to the future
meddlings in the past
connections, skills developed, insecurities.
Confidence wavering sinosodially
Up and down
peaking, panicking, falling.
Nothing's flat.
or even.

Voice on the phone of tucked-in-on-a-rainy-day-home-sick
Voice of healing kisses on scraped knees
Smell of fresh baked cookies

I'm ready for a pump-up,
number 1 fan's supersticious traditions

...
And she asks me I've been flossing.
...

Not as much as I could be, I say.
[She knows that's a stretch]

We'll you'd better start, she continues,
People won't notice if you don't
but they'll notice if you do.
You'll be free from the built up crap.
Reach the uncomfortable places inbetween.
Grow stronger, thicker flesh.
Massage your body's natural defenses
protect yourself from nesting invaders.
It's not about your teeth, she reminds,
you have beautiful teeth.

I'm conviced.
I start flossing.
I'm hired.

People sense when one takes time to care for the Self.
The Self takes care when it's tended to.
Remember to love to floss to meditate.

-Liliana Caughman

Light Years Away

I don't have that peace

I don't have the stillness they blog about

It takes years to get that

Once I'm able to fix this

Once I'm able to change this

Then I will be able to

Just breathe 

Right now

As you read this

You haven't fixed anything

You haven't changed anything

Welcome,

You've arrived

Preface to "Meditation: Waking Up to Life"

Here's a reading of the Preface to my book Meditation: Waking Up to Life.

Follow Your Breath

Follow your breath today
Follow your feet today
Be mindful today
Be easy
Be simple
Allow truth to come
and give it away

Quantum Ejection

Last night I dreamed
   of a wildly beautiful
   sunset against a view
   of the Golden Gate Bridge
   though the window

As the sun went down
   I saw pulses of golden
   light rise from the horizon.
   So amazing that I was 
   calling friends on the
   phone to have them
   look.
   The pulses 
   of golden light sometimes
   stopped and then started
   again. 

After a few episodes of
   quantum ejection of
   light at the horizon,
   I noticed bright streams
   of particles coming up
   I felt joy and love

o

walk around in circles
and you'll return to the beginning
and you'll return to the end
it isnt life and death
it isnt a snake eating its tail
its a circle
displaced
lost
wandering
empty
alone
thinking its the end
only returning to the beginning
doesnt it end?
end?
it doesnt

Fly

As dusk unzips the night, night unzips the dawn.

Spacetime

Movement through 
Einsteinian spacetime 
leaving mystical 
traces of reality

Rainbow Stairway

This morning, a rainbow in the stairway.

Pin

My mind is like a pinwheel. Constantly spinning. There are always gusts. I put up walls to block the element to no avail. The wind won't die down. So it continues to spin, catching the wind.

Watch Tower

You sit watching cars like a dog. Not really paying attention to the model or color.
You sit watching people like an ornithologist. Not really paying attention to the person as much as their simple actions.

Why not watch your thoughts?

Not paying attention to model or color.
Not paying attention to other people or their actions.

There is no fee for watching the mind.
You don't have to 'pay' attention.
You simply watch where your attention goes
And let it play without attachment.

I chose to play today
Not pay.

Cross Words

A white page seems so daunting. It looks back at you saying, "You have to write perfectly! You are only as good as your words. You will be judged accordingly." That's a lot of pressure from a blank box. Many people end up just looking at it blankly; blank as the box it feels it cannot fill. It's the mind reflecting itself though, trying to grasp onto the ego which says it must be the best. It's the ego which wants to be fed. It's the ego which traps us in our little boxes. Yet, this can change so quickly. Look at it differently. It's now a blank canvas, not a glaring box. Don't be trapped in the expectations of a white box. Free your mind and write.

Bob Dylan on the air

Bob Dylan on
   the air
Me on the ground
   a lifetime
   waiting for 
   take off
Could die before
   I succeed
   before I
   learn to read
   the wisdom
   in my own
   heart.