Life: mindfulness of sneezing

A pain dances in the head. Just behind the brow, by the eyes, near the ears, groans in the bones around the nose. Dancing. In the back now, now the neck. Ah, to the head again; pressure.

Such is life with a head cold. The world slows. Focus comes inward. Senses dull. Thoughts slow down. In the past an excuse to do nothing: surf the net, watch videos, drink O.J. and sip soup. Now an opportunity for mindfulness: watching thoughts (viññāṇa), letting them lethargically rise, and slowly drift onward. Sensations (vedanā) too, seemingly thick and unclear, sharpen and dance before the watchful mind.

Body (rūpa) is felt with all its heaviness; the lifeforce (jiva) which gives it buoyancy having grown weary. Gravity weighs the eyelids too, perhaps even the brain is sensed in its mass. All of the world’s obstacles are felt. Things once glided past now reach out to obstruct.

Volitions (sankhāra) drag me this way and that, sometimes halted with mindfulness, tiny moments of choice and awareness. But mostly I am carried along, a great ship in the sea of samsara, turning slowly sometimes. Perceptions (saññā) of it all organically bound and operating.

And…. Aaaaaa-Choo! What joyful practice autumn brings.