Tools for Today: Are You Sure?



Tools for Today - Are you sure?
Great exercise for cleaning up erroneous perception...

I awoke early this a.m. with the burning desire to hold and meditate with my precious and powerful black obsidian shaman's stone. and then... I couldn't... find it!

Panicked inside, anxiety began to arise as I remembered that my enormous 10-month old lab-mix had "eaten" (or at least torn open and played with) a gemstone pouch that once held a couple of my stones. Had the black obsidian been inside? and was the stone, too large to swallow, now somewhere hidden or lost in the house, buried deep inside a secret corner or cushion as my dear lab often does with her treasures? or worse, had she carried it outside and lost it, as she loves to find rocks and carries them in and outside of the home in her large mouth?

Oh how I needed my special obsidian piece this morning. To help me with my morning meditation on peace.

I called upon my (our) beloved friend "Tony". St. Anthony, finder of lost things. He has never, and I mean NEVER, let me down with this. From run away dogs to parking spaces to just about anything precious that you just can't find but need, like keys or a treasured piece of jewelry, Toney comes 'round with some kind of inner prompting that always, always, leads me to what I am searching for, and more than once brought our previous dog Jersey directly home after a worrisome backyard escape.

This morning, I needed my precious obsidian stone.

I asked Tony to help with the simple words of calling: "Tony, Tony, please come 'round. Something's lost and must be found. Help me find my black obsidian today. And to let trust replace worry along the way."

I said to myself, Alexa, don't worry. You'll have all day to find it. It will turn up. Tony will show you. Trust. My impatient and insatiable need to fix it now stirred inside me. I had images of turning over every seat cushion, looking under each bed, and still, something said, "trust. don't worry. it is not lost."

And then, without needing the whole day to do it at all, I felt myself somehow led into my office. There I found a large carry-bag that I had recently taken on a trip to Florida. Inside of the bag... was the medicine pouch that contained 2 of my favorite and most helpful stones. Which included, of course, my gorgeous black obsidian.

It had only taken minutes. Maybe less. And I breathed a grateful sigh of joy and laughter.

I sat down on my knees and thanked dear Tony, the amazing and quite delightful magical Saint who had helped me. Again.

And then I remembered this teaching. Which I also love. It is the theme I am working with today. It is the Buddhist practice called "Are you sure?" ("Are you sure your stone is lost forever?") And it can be applied not only to everyday experiences in life, but also on the deeper places where we continue to heal and recover.

Here is that practice in a nutshell:

Tools for Today - Are you sure?

Great exercise for cleaning up erroneous perception...

Looking Deeply into Perceptions—Are You Sure?

Then we meditate on our perceptions. The Buddha observed, The person who suffers most in this world is the person with many wrong perceptions…. And most of our perceptions are erroneous. We see a snake in the dark and we panic, but when our friend shines a light on it, we see that it is only a rope. We have to know which wrong perceptions cause us to suffer.

Please calligraph the sentence, “Are you sure?” on a piece of paper and tape it to your wall. Love meditation helps us to learn to look with clarity and serenity in order to improve the way we perceive.

- Thich Nhat Hahn

I knew that black obsidian was my go-to stone for protection. From many energetic aspects. But in finding this picture today, I am not somehow surprised to see.. that it is also a fabulous stone for clearing up erroneous perception. Having been guided, this is the real lesson for me today.

Namaste ~*~

photo: Buddha om amulet obsidian - cross cultural protection, peace, perception ...
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