Anyone else watch Pema Chodron on the weekend? I didn’t actually take it in ‘live’, but watched a large chunk of it last night.

I lit up the entire apartment with candles, burned a whack of incense and settled in to my new meditation/office/television-watching/guest-room (not bad for a room that’s not much more than 100 sq ft. – my ‘office’ fits nicely in the closet).

I relaxed on piles of pillows on the floor, propped up my Macbook Air and had a very fine evening at the webinar.  It was fun just hangin’ out with Miz Chodron. I love how her humour bubbles up between moments of rather profound instruction.

She frequently referred to a book called Buddha’s Brain and the incredible plasticity and malleability of our brains. It is up to us to remain open and fluid to whatever is happening in our lives. The way, she said, to learn that trick is to meditate and simply watch our thinking. Eventually we will learn how to choose our responses, rather than just react while saying, “I can’t help it. That’s just the way I am.”

It was interesting to watch her answers during the Q & A. She didn’t let anyone get away with much; in the nicest possible way, she basically called them on their ‘stuff’ aka BS.

Gotta love that.

Buddha’s Brain is now on my reading list. I think I’ll watch some more of the sessions tonight. Hope the candles and incense don’t set off the fire alarm…