A Joyful Practice

Contemplating Contemplation (the “missing” post-practice post for Monday 2/9) February 9, 2026

“Happy Carnival!” to those who are celebrating! Many blessings to everyone, everywhere!!

Peace, ease, and contemplation throughout this “Season for Nonviolence” and all other seasons!!!

This is the “missing” (and backdated) post-practice post for Monday, February 9^th (with excerpts). In addition to the new content and excerpts, it includes some re-purposed content. The 2026 prompt question was, “What is something moving around in your mind (& heart) that may move you to change?” You can request an audio recording of this practice or a previous practice via a comment below or (for a slightly faster reply) you can email myra      (at) ajoyfulpractice.com.

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“Contemplation has long had an important role in spiritual practice. We’re encouraged to bring a wise and loving attention to our experience, gently investigating the nature of what’s happening in each moment with a sense of care and interest. For example, when we contemplate the dynamic nature of experience, we’re not trying to convince ourselves intellectually that things change; we’re actually softening into our direct experience and noticing that this breath arises and passes away. This sensation appears and dissolves. This emotion feels sticky or solid. We discern what thoughts seems useful and what thought do not seem useful.”

— quoted from a December 20, 2025, message to the Common Ground Meditation Center sangha by Shelly Graf

In addition to being one of the Co-Guiding Teachers at Common Ground Meditation Center, Shelly Graf has a background in clinical social work. I bring this up because it explains a little exchange we had during an informal meeting over tapas. This conversation happened years ago and, for the life of me, I don’t remember the subject of the meeting. However, in a passing moment, Shelly Graf taught me something about contemplation that has stuck with me to this day: It’s not just thinking.

“Contemplation”, which was the “Season for Nonviolence” principle for February 9^th (2026), comes in a variety of different flavors. It can be sitting with a concept (like contemplation, peace, ease, lovingkindness, etc.) and/or it can be the kind of contemplation Saint Ignatius of Loyola outlined in The Spiritual Exercises — which is similar to svādhyāya (“self-study”), the fourth niyama (internal “observation”) in the Yoga Philosophy, and which involves putting yourself in another person’s shoes/circumstances. However, no matter the form of contemplation, engaging in a contemplative practice can be transformative (i.e., bring about change).

And this is what Shelly pointed out to me all those years ago. In certain paradigms, contemplation is directly related to change.

“So where does change come from? And how do we recognize it when it happens?”

— Forest Whitaker, as “Happiness”, in the movie The Air I Breathe by Jieho Lee and Bob DeRosa

According to the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) developed by psychologists James O. Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente (et al) in 1977, there are six stages of change: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. You can think of them as: “not ready”, “ready”, “get set”, “go”, “pace yourself”, and “the finish line”. In the conversation with Shelly, I referenced “contemplating” something when, in fact, I was in the precontemplation stage — meaning, I hadn’t really gotten to a point where I was seriously considering making a change.

The TTM stages are just one (of five) of the model’s components (which include processes of change, levels of change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance). The overall model also includes what motivates (or triggers) change in behavior, as well as what may be a barrier to change, and what supports or hinders change. Research has shown that these stages are applicable in a lot of different situations where people want/need to change their behavior, including smoking (which I believe was the original research); weight management; stress management; depression; and adherence to prescription drug protocols.

Some TTM research has also been conducted around how people commute and how people could be encouraged to reduce their reliance on single occupant motor vehicles (especially those powered by fossil fuels). While some of the transportation research focused on  “pre-action” and “action” (versus the six stages) — and some defined the processes in different ways than the TTM — it is interesting to note how using this model (and these stages) on an individual level can be applied to social change.

“The only thing that I could say, in defense of my being on the [City] Council, is an old stupid woman who wasn‘t satisfied with those persons that were running to fill the unexpired term left on the Council in this district. I think that that‘s a slogan that I‘ve carried with me – If I don’t like what the other fellow‘s doing, I get up and do it myself.”

— Mrs. Juanita Jewel Craft (b. 1902), quoted from The Black Women Oral History Project, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (interview conducted by Mrs. Dorothy R. Robinson (on 01/20/1977)

Born in Round Rock, Texas on February 9, 1902, Juanita Jewel Craft (née Shanks) contemplated change… and then got others to contemplate change.

CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.

A Tree of Many Seasons (a special Black History note)

“First of all I want to congratulate you: You’ve been a fine audience, despite severe provocation.”

— quoted from Ed Sullivan’s remarks at the conclusion of The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964

CLICK ON THE EXCERPT TITLE BELOW FOR MORE.*

Faith on the Precipice of Change (the “missing” Sunday post w/excerpts)

“I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures and acknowledging unity with the universe of things was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.”

— quoted from the “What the Indian Means to America” in Land of the Spotted Eagle by Luther Standing Bear

There is no playlist for the Common Ground Meditation Center practices. 

*NOTE: Since there are several moveable feasts around this time of year, the second excerpt includes references to events that did not take place on February 9, 2026. It also features a playlist that I low-key referenced during this practice.

“A nimble mind can accept that it’s like this right now. We can notice how it feels to relate through a softer relationship with appreciation for the dance of experience arising in relationship to all things. We’re intimately contemplating the truth of the teachings through our own direct, embodied observation. And here we find the agency to learn and grow as we go along.”

— quoted from a December 20, 2025, message to the Common Ground Meditation Center sangha by Shelly Graf

If you are thinking about suicide, worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, you can dial 988 (in the US) or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call this TALK line if you are struggling with addiction or involved in an abusive relationship. The Lifeline network is free, confidential, and available to all 24/7. YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ANYTHING.

White Flag is an app, which I have not yet researched, but which may be helpful if you need peer-to-peer (non-professional) support.

If you are a young person in crisis, feeling suicidal, or in need of a safe and judgement-free place to talk, you can also click here to contact the TrevorLifeline (which is staffed 24/7 with trained counselors).

### “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” ~ James Baldwin ###