Noble Eightfold Path

Just an afterthought from my previous post (Impatience, Unhappiness, Superfoods and Facebook), the journey I'm on consists of me following the Noble Eightfold Path:

"The Noble Eightfold Path (Sanskrit: āryāṣṭāṅgamārga) is one of the principal teachings of the Buddha, who described it as the way leading to the cessation of suffering (dukkha) and the achievement of self-awakening. It is used to develop insight into the true nature of phenomena (or reality) and to eradicate greed, hatred, and delusion. The Noble Eightfold Path is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths; the first element of the Noble Eightfold Path is, in turn, an understanding of the Four Noble Truths. It is also known as the Middle Path or Middle Way." (quote from Wikipedia)

The Dharma wheel

The Eightfold Path consists of:

1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

I find that the use of Facebook does not help with following this path as sometimes it can affect me too much and divert my from my true path and feelings. This is why I am refraining from using Facebook until I have got a better grasp and understanding of all these elements. Then, if I return to Facebook, I will be able to post and respond with the right frame of mind.

Impatience, Unhappiness, Superfoods and Facebook

I know my journey would never be easy and fast, but I'm starting to feel impatient that my destination seems a long way away, almost out of reach. One of my major obstacles in reaching Enlightenment is coping with my day to day life and the people I meet. Over the past week I have been finding it difficult to relax and accept what is happening, even my meditation isn't helping and I am struggling with that.

Recently, I have been letting friends, family and strangers upset me too much and this is bringing me down, almost to the point I was at the beginning of the year. I am going to have to be more disciplined when it comes to my meditation, as I have been a bit lapse with it lately and this is probably why I'm feeling so low. I am also not sleeping again and this is making me more tired through the day.

As a result of almost falling asleep in work and wanting to spend the entire weekend in bed, I am trying to overcome my lack of energy by improving my diet and eating more "Superfoods." I have bought a packet of Super-Formula +plus - a 100% natural food supplement consisting of vitamins, minerals and phytonurients. It's ingredients are organic pre-sprouted barley, organic barley grass, organic wheatgrass, Hawaiian spirulana pacifica and organic acerola. When mixed with oat milk (a drink I really enjoy over cereal as an alternative to cow's milk) it makes a horrible looking green drink, but it does actually taste better than what it looks. Lets hope it works.

I have also been posting on Facebook occasionally about how I feel and I also do like to leave comments in response to my 'friends' status updates or posts the leave. This is normally quite fun and relaxing, but as soon as you leave a comment someone disagrees with then it goes from being just a bit of fun to something more serious and even upsetting. I do enjoy posting messages and photos on Facebook and reading comments left by other people, it can also be a nice little tool to find out what's going on and arrange meeting with friends and associates. If used correctly it can be fun and informative. But lately I have felt it has been too much of a distraction along my path (the Noble Eightfold Path) as I  have been letting certain comments upset me too much, so as a result I have now deactivated my account.

Maybe in the future when I am more relaxed and at peace with myself and the world, I might reactivate my account. But at the moment I am having enough trouble coping with the 'real' world and I don't need any more hasle from the 'virtual' world of Facebook. "We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves", quote from Dalai Lama, also:

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.

As a result, I am going to focus on receiving happiness and peace when I meditate.

Peace and happiness to you all.
Stephen

Doubts and Uncertainties

The past week has been a strange week. After helping at the Self-Transcendence 24 Hour Track Race last weekend, I was feeling absolutely drained. I should have taken Monday off from work to recover, but I didn't realise I would feel that bad. I started having doubts by midweek as to whether this is the correct path for me and is it actually really making a difference. I was not able to meditate Monday or Tuesday, so this probably didn't help. Towards the end of the week, I was able to start meditating again, both mornings and evenings, and this has renewed my commitment to my journey.

Although I am starting to sleep better at night, I am still feeling very tired in the day time and I am lacking energy. This has been a problem when it comes to meditating, especially at night, as I feel myself falling asleep half way through it. Weekends are the worse for me. All I wanted to do on Saturday was just go back to bed and sleep. Even though I went out with my wife and son in the morning, I still felt very tired and could not enjoy it that much.

I am not going to the doctors again about this, all they seem to do is give you drugs and hope that it will work. I am now going to look at my diet and start eating 'superfoods' and hope that my energy reserves will increase. My main goal is to get back to my running as I think this is what I am missing.

Sunday was a better day. First I went to coffee and play at a St. Andrew's Church in Cardiff, where me and Bernadette can have a coffee and Rob has a selection of toys and games he could play with. He met up with 2 of his friends (twins) and they had a great time. We then went to a local little Café, the Wellfield Diner, for some food, and then on to Roath Park so Robert could have some fun in the playground. We also walked around the park amongst the trees collecting leaves for Robert to take to nursery with him on Monday.

After a wet and cloudy Saturday, the afternoon on Sunday turned out very nice, and spending a few hours in the park was very calming and relaxing. This time of year is wonderful, the trees are changing colour so what better way to spend it then in the park with the two most important people in my life.

After a bad start to the week, it finished on a high, and I feel renewed for what might lay ahead. My journey continues...

Next: Impatience, Unhappiness, Superfoods and Facebook