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Message from the DirectorMeditation, Competence, Compassion, Creativity Tail of the Tiger exists so that people can discover personally how insight and discipline arising from mindfulness meditation and contemplation can enrich their everyday activities. Joining meditative and secular disciplines is a mutually beneficial process: life’s skills are enhanced by inner development, and spiritual growth deepens through exposure to the challenges of an engaged life. Tail of the Tiger’s motto—Meditation, Competence, Compassion, and Creativity—encapsulates the path of the engaged life. Meditation, the base without which the rest is buffeted by confusion, has a twofold thrust. By simply sitting with whatever arises, we become familiar with the workings of mind—thoughts, emotions, and feelings. We begin to recognize the patterns of mind that we involuntarily identify with, that we see as “me,” and to recognize that this inconsistent, conflicted hodgepodge of phenomena can hardly be described as a coherent entity. This recognition begins to unravel the Myth of Myself, which softens us and brings perspective and humor. We need not take all that mental chatter so seriously. The other aspect of meditation shows us something that, contrasted with the ever changing onslaught of thoughts and emotions, is true, consistent, and accessible. It is a simple sense of presence, of just being here, in a body, with sense perceptions. Presence is so simple, so subtle, that we may have missed it for most of our lives, having it peek through only in moments of tenderness or beauty. Meditation encourages us to notice that state and see how it’s always there behind the mental activities we’ve tended to identify with. An endless canvas on which our sense perceptions and other experiences are projected, it is what hears our thoughts, feels our emotions, perceives the experience of the world. Cutting through fixation on thoughts, opinions, and emotional upheavals, we cultivate the innate ability to rest in simple presence, and when we bring that into our life activities, we see situations and people more clearly, without the distortion of habitual mental busyness. We find we can actually hear what people say to us, enabling us to pick up subtle clues and remain present with whatever task is at hand, and so work directly with the raw materials of life without being led into useless sidetracks. To use Sakyong Mipham’s term for the dignified Tiger, we practice discernment, seeing what’s in front of us, exercising deliberateness and caution without being paranoid. When such attentiveness is at play, we act with skill and clarity. That’s what we mean by competence. Compassion, which people sometimes believe requires a more religious or ethical orientation, is really a natural outgrowth of mindfulness. Having seen how our own mind works, we see from their speech and actions how others are subject to the same kind of mental vicissitudes we’ve come to recognize in ourselves. Knowing how our mental states manifest in action toward others enables us to look behind the behavior of the abrasive person at the office, the person who won’t look us in the eye, the habitual schmoozer. Recognizing that we’re all on some level quite alike, we feel natural sympathy for others and are more willing to cut them some slack. Finally, creativity arises spontaneously from the fertile space of simple presence. Frequently associated with artists, composers, and scientists (to mention a few), creativity is a part of everyone’s life. Or at least it can be. What stands in its way is the usual speed and jumble of our thoughts, impenetrable and stale. Through meditation we ventilate our minds, learning how to take a deep breath and stop thinking habitually long enough to let a fresh idea emerge. Whether we are whipping up a delicious meal in the kitchen, planning a seminar, structuring a financial transaction, performing a piece of music for the hundredth time, or considering how to handle a difficult situation at work, resting in the space of presence allows creative insight to express itself. So if you’d like to marshal the resources of your whole being without renouncing what you do—whether it’s practicing yoga or practicing law, making deals or making music—check out what Tail of the Tiger has to offer. Contact: Patton Hyman patton_hyman@tailofthetiger.org
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