Free The Lotus Still Blooms by Joan Gattuso Page B

creating an ocean of suffering.
    Think of your consciousness as a vast field into which many seeds have been sown. Good and wholesome seeds are already present in your field from the beginning of time. Unwholesome seeds have been scattered by two factors—your past and your present attachments. With every thought you think, with every breath you take, with every feeling you have, you are watering these seeds. You must learn to be mindful of what seeds you are watering. Ask: Are these the seeds that I want to grow? Do I want more feelings of hurt in my life? If no, then you have the power to stop watering seeds of hurt. Ask: Do I want more supportive friendships in my life? If yes, then be sure to water those seeds of loving and supportive friendship.
    2. Helping unwholesome seeds that have arisen to return to store consciousness . We work with any of these seeds that are in our lives and stop watering them by withdrawing all our attention through our thoughts about them. We release the unwholesome seeds to the Holy Spirit, to Buddha or to bodhisattvas and consciously choose not to nurture them. This takes an enormous amount of effort and diligence. We must learn to say, “I will not give this my energy, my time or any of my attention.” When done successfully, we can certainly call it “noble effort.”
    3. Finding ways to water wholesome seeds in our store consciousness . These are the seeds that have not yet borne fruit but that have been there since the beginning of time. We do this by knowing these good seeds are within us. We focus on what we do want, and it expands. We consciously water these seeds that are loaded with potential, and in time they begin to sprout and bloom. Even when you don’t see the sprouting of the seeds, when they are still “underground,” it is important to continue to nurture and water them, just as you would a garden after planting seeds that produce beautiful flowers or succulent vegetables. When the tiny green growth of a tomato plant begins to sprout, you would not stomp on it, exclaiming, “This isn’t what I expected! That’s not a tomato!” Rather, you would know it was an early stage that was absolutely necessary for the full expression of the fruit of the tomato to come forth. So, too, we must continue to water those seeds of our spiritual potential until they are sufficiently matured to rise into full expression.
    4. Water wholesome seeds that have already arisen, so that they may continue to develop further . In this Right Effort practice we focus on the manifest good, whereas in step 3 we were focusing on the potential good. Here we witness the sprout or even the full bloom, and we continue its nourishment through our thoughts, conversations, meditations, prayers and attention. We are clear in our focus. We hold the manifest good in our hearts and prayers. Our efforts are very good, and our diligence can be called “noble.” These seeds are ready to bloom into even fuller expression.
     
Unwholesome seeds are seeds of grievance, greed, lack, ignorance, judgment, attack thoughts, fear, anger, revenge, criticism, hurt, etc. We must train ourselves to refrain from watering them. In our watering of seeds we do not ignore or deny the unpleasantness of life. But we do learn to properly deal with what needs to be dealt with in our lives and then to cease. We must let go of the negatives in our lives rather than attempting to hold onto them by continuing to water their negative seeds.
    Wholesome seeds are seeds of love, peace, joy, loving-kindness, compassion, happiness, generosity, etc. These we must consciously water.
    Right Effort is asking: Where are you putting your energy? Then you put it only in areas you want to grow. Remember, what we focus on expands.What we give our mental and emotional attention to we attract more of in life. Right Effort says expand only the good.
    Where are you putting your attention in life? Put it only on that which you want more of in your