In Daily Life
In Daily Life
When we're learning anything, being really active in the learning process helps it to go much deeper than just receiving information passively.
Journal about walking the path with care
So the first thing we're suggesting is to start journaling. You might choose to write for, say, 10 to 15 minutes each day between the units. And that will help you to think about what the path means to you. Here are some ideas on what you could write about.
One idea for journaling would be to use the idea that Martine shared: that the different parts of the path are all about how we can be caring and careful. So you might like to write a little on...
- What it means for you to speak with care.
- What it means for you to act with care.
- How that attitude could express itself in your lifestyle choices.
This could be really helpful. See the notes on Martine's conception of the eightfold path for more prompts or download the workbook.
Journal about the relationships between parts of the eightfold path
You might also like to write in your journal about the relationship between the different elements of the eightfold path.
- How does taking care of how we speak affect our states of mind?
- How does taking care of our states of mind affect how we speak and how we act?
- How does the way in which we see things affect our intentions for how we live?
When we reflect on this, actually, we see that there are multiple connections between the different elements of the path. You may also find inspiration for journaling in the Reflect section.
Memorizing the eightfold path
It's really helpful to memorize the parts of the eightfold path. There are lots of ways you can do that. It can be quite fun to make a poster. You might get a big piece of paper, get some colored pens, and write them all out. Then you could put that on your wall and look at it from time to time. The reason this is really helpful is that it becomes a tool for reflection. Once we've memorized the path, we can start to think, "Well, how does this apply to my life? How does this apply to the difficult situation I find myself in?"
Here's one final idea. You don't need to do this as well but some people like to make a PowerPoint presentation. Make a slide or two. Make the eightfold path your own. Get some images that represent the path for you, take some photos or find images on the internet. Again, this brings the learning to life. What are the images and symbols that really support your understanding of this?
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So we hope these ideas are useful and help you to actively engage with what we're learning.