Impermanence, Death, and Acceptance

[IshNavaya]

Today, I worked on the visualization of death and understanding impermanence. I have done it before, and I just want to share my joy at knowing that, over and over, the Dharma proves useful. Useful is not the right word. Completely spot on.

My sister was born premature with only one functioning kidney. She is in stage four of renal failure. It was confirmed last week. At first, I don't think I knew how to react. I knew she had problems, but I did not fully comprehend the situation until today.

I swept the floor and got comfortable. After meditation, I cried for about three minutes. A minute of breathing exercises and my mind was calm. My suffering is so small when compared with the combined suffering of all sentient beings. What a relief. What a gift.

I am completely content. My sister will die, my mother, father, and brother will die. I will die. My reaction to this is acceptance and peace. My ability to summon this reaction is improving, and knowing this causes great happiness.

The last year was really rough. Changing the habits and foibles of a lifetime, of several lifetimes, is hard sometimes, but I am really seeing the results of my intensified practice manifest in my life every single day, now.

It's weird, but I keep expecting something to shake me enough that I will lose my peace, and each time I find myself disturbed, I can regain calm fairly quickly. It's almost like I am developing a mental muscle memory, if that makes any sense. Does anyone else find their practice a way of life? Does it still delight you?

Peace.

[DarwidHalim]

It's weird, but I keep expecting something to shake me enough that I will lose my peace, and each time I find myself disturbed, I can regain calm fairly quickly.

People who try to be mindful will feel very disturb when they lost their mindfulness.
People try so hard to do this and don't do that, as if there is a real boundary that separating this and that.

If you can see that mindful and not mindful are actually having same nature, you will be relax and free from the worry whether you are mindful or not, simply because you can see their nature is same.
If you can see that doing this and don't doing that are actually having the same nature, you will go beyond doing this and don't doing that. You will be free from worry

You keep expecting something to shake you, because you think there is something that can shake you.

If you can see that something which is shaking you, something which is going to shake you, and something which is protecting you are having the same nature (which is fundamentally having no base), you will free from your worry about disturbance.

You will be just relax and open naturally without any efforts.

[IshNavaya]

That really makes sense. Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. Peace.

[5heaps]

if one is surprised when impermanence reveals itself, it means one is living with thoughts, feelings, emotions, ideas, which are contrary to the way things exist

this means most of ones efforts and identifications of things are being exhausted towards something that isnt there.
all those hopes, dreams, ways of coping, defense mechanisms, theories, are completely unnecessary because all that was needed was a subtraction of an ignorance not the addition of new strategies and data
may everyone possess the pristine mind that is noncontradictory with the way things are:(

i think you should listen to several of the Dalai Lama audio books spoken by Jeffrey Hopkins. the logic and practicality of impermanence and emptiness in those is impeccable
im talking about "The Path to Enlightenment ", "Becoming Enlightened ", "How to Practice", "Advice on Dying", "How to See Yourself as You Really Are (though this is a little bit more scholarly)"
love