Traditionally gathas are short 4 line poems that correspond to regular moments throughout the day. The idea  is to weave gathas together with daily action and breathing. For example, waking up in the morning, starting the car or finishing a meal, we can gently remind ourselves to quieten the mind and attend to that action. For example,

gathas

 

Thich Nhat Hanh offers instruction for using this kind of poem in our daily life: “As You silently recite the first line, breathe in; and as You silently recite the second line, breathe out. When the gatha is finished, continue your activity, and You will find that your mindfulness has increased.” You can find many more examples in the same blog post.

Today, pick an action you want do with greater attention, write a gatha poem for it.

If you would like a wee smile, we can oblige with humorous gathas from the New Yorker though these do not follow the strict 4 line form; do feel free to sprinkle humour in yours or  write more than 4 lines!

HT @cogdog for this find.

 

Tweet your response to @livedtime and be sure to include the hashtag #tds730



This Daily Stillness has been recycled from previously published ones:

#tds390 Write a Gatha Poem (Jul 24, 2016)

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