NOTE ABIDING

A PERSONAL PURE MIND PRACTICE

Grounding, PURE MIND, true inner noting, and gentle emotional companionship

The note tells the truth.
Abiding leaves the truth neither alone nor hurried.

A gentle, receptive practice shaped by direct experience, more than thirty years of meditation, and training in Healing Touch and Reiki.

The Experience That Revealed Note Abiding

This afternoon, a phrase repeated from a deep place: “I need love.” It may have come from an unconscious layer, a younger or burdened part, the body-mind, or simply the honest awareness of the present moment. Its exact source does not have to be proved before it can be received with respect.

You first returned to the room. You looked at ordinary things and named them simply: tree, sky, grass, green, blue. This outward orientation helped establish present-time safety. You then contacted the inner resource before approaching the difficult place: “PURE MIND.”

Only then did you listen for what was truly present. The answer was not a theory. It was immediate and simple: sadness and despair. You repeated those notes quietly, as an offering, without trying to make them go away. Coughing and sighing followed. With continued gentle noting, lightness appeared, and eventually joy arose.

Present room.
PURE MIND.
Sadness and despair.
Gentle abiding.
Joy may arise; joy is not demanded.

GENTLE REMINDER  This was a clear example of Note Abiding. The important movement was not that sadness was replaced by joy. Sadness and despair were first given truthful, non-forcing companionship. Joy was a fruit of the practice, not an assignment placed upon the body.

What Note Abiding Is

Note Abiding is the practice of arriving in present safety, receiving PURE MIND as a trustworthy inner resource, and then softly naming the truest experience that is available while remaining gently present with it.

The note may be one word – “sadness” – or a short sentence – “There is sadness.” Abiding means staying in caring relationship with the note without analyzing it, arguing with it, forcing it to release, or rushing to add a solution.

Note what is true. Abide without demand.

The Two Parts of the Name

Note.

To note is to name what is actually present in a few honest words. A note is shorter than a story. It does not explain who caused the feeling, what it means, or how long it will last. It simply brings an inner experience into conscious, compassionate relationship.

Abiding.

To abide is to remain gently near. It is continuity of care. The experience does not have to disappear before it deserves presence. Abiding also includes the freedom to step back, return to the room, or stop. Remaining wisely is different from enduring overwhelm.

What Note Abiding Is Not

  1. It is not a command to relax, release, forgive, or become joyful.
  2. It is not a search for the deepest wound or the strongest emotion.
  3. It is not a way to rehearse the story connected with anger, fear, or grief.
  4. It is not proof that every cough, sigh, tear, or tremor has one emotional cause.
  5. It is not a substitute for medical care, professional support, practical safety, or a needed boundary.
  6. It is not a failure when the emotion remains unchanged.

The Message: “I Need Love”

The repeated phrase “I need love” deserves to be heard before it is translated. It may express longing for tenderness, protection, belonging, reassurance, companionship, understanding, rest, prayer, or a loving relationship with oneself. It may also arise when pain, fatigue, loneliness, illness, or family strain has exceeded the amount of care presently being felt.

You do not need to decide whether it came from the unconscious. The useful question is simpler: Does this phrase name something true that needs kind attention now?

I need love.
There is a need for love.
There is longing for love.
This longing may be here within PURE MIND.

Each form has a slightly different use. “I need love” preserves the direct voice of the deeper experience. “There is a need for love” creates a little more space. “There is longing for love” may feel softer and less urgent. None is universally wiser. Use the phrase that feels most truthful and receivable in the body.

A Special Practice for the Need for Love

  1. Look around and name three ordinary things. Feel the support beneath you.
  2. Receive PURE MIND. Repeat “PURE MIND” once to three times and allow only the genuine softening that is available.
  3. Hear the exact message. Let the phrase be heard once without correction: “I need love.”
  4. Choose the kindest note. Remain with the direct phrase, or gently shift to “There is longing for love.”
  5. Repeat the note slowly, with a pause after each repetition. Do not answer it too quickly.
  6. Ask for one loving response. When the body feels ready, ask: “What form of love is needed now?” The answer may be rest, touch, prayer, food, warmth, contact with someone trustworthy, protection, or no further action.
  7. Return to the room and choose one small, ordinary act of care.

GENTLE REMINDER  The loving response is not required to remove the longing. Sometimes the first act of love is simply that Ross listens and does not turn away from Ross.

Four Ways to Make a True Note

1. The single-word note

Use one word when language itself feels tiring: “fear,” “sadness,” “anger,” “joy,” or “love.” The note is repeated softly and then followed by silence.

2. The impersonal note

Use “There is…” when a little distance is helpful: “There is fear.” This says that fear is present without saying that fear is the whole of Ross.

3. The tentative note

Use “may be here” when certainty or closeness feels too strong: “Sadness may be here.” Tentative language protects choice and allows the experience to describe itself.

4. The direct inner message

Use the exact sentence when it carries living truth: “I need love,” “I feel alone,” or “I am tired.” A direct message does not have to be made impersonal if doing so would weaken its honesty. After it is heard, an impersonal form may create additional space.

How Note Abiding Works

Note Abiding is best understood as a personal contemplative process, not as a medical mechanism or a guaranteed treatment. Its wisdom can be described through seven gentle movements.

1. The present room comes before the inner world

Naming light, colour, sound, support, place, and date helps distinguish this room from past events or imagined danger. The senses say, “This is where I am now.” The practice begins outside the difficulty so the difficulty does not become the whole field.

2. PURE MIND is contacted before the difficult place

PURE MIND is not used to suppress the emotion. It establishes a spacious, non-condemning field in which the emotion can be known. The resource is received before the wound is approached.

3. The true note turns vague suffering into relationship

A low or unsettled mood can feel like an undivided cloud. The words “sadness and despair” give the experience a gentle outline. Naming does not solve it; naming lets it become known rather than remaining alone, hidden, or fused with identity.

4. Brevity interrupts unnecessary story

A short note does not invite a long argument about the past, the future, blame, or personal failure. It keeps attention close to lived experience: sadness, tightness, anger, longing, joy. The mind is given less material with which to intensify suffering.

5. Repetition becomes a caring offering

The note may be repeated slowly until it feels fully heard. The intention is not hypnosis, persuasion, or thought substitution. Each repetition says, “This too may be known. This too does not have to be abandoned.”

6. The body is allowed to answer in its own language

A sigh, cough, tear, yawn, warmth, trembling, change of posture, deeper breath, softness, stillness, or no noticeable response may follow. These responses can be witnessed without being produced or assigned a certain meaning.

7. Integration is measured by relationship, not intensity

The practice is helpful when there is a little more room, kindness, clarity, dignity, choice, or capacity for the next wise action. Dramatic release and joy are not required. Sometimes the result is simply, “I can be with this without leaving myself.”

Resource before wound.
Truth before interpretation.
Choice before depth.
Integration before repetition.

The Core Note Abiding Practice

Use this practice for approximately three to ten minutes. It may be shortened at any point. On a difficult day, arriving in the room and receiving PURE MIND may be the complete practice.

  1. Begin with the present room. Keep the eyes open at first. Notice light, colour, sound, and the present date. Name three to five ordinary sights: “tree, sky, grass, green, blue.”
  2. Feel support. Notice the chair, couch, floor, clothing, feet, or hands. Let the body register what is physically holding it now. Do not force relaxation.
  3. Establish PURE MIND first. Say “PURE MIND” slowly one to three times. Receive whatever genuine softening, lightness, quiet, or spaciousness is available. Nothing special has to happen.
  4. Listen for what is true. Ask inwardly, “What is the truest simple note now?” Do not search the whole history. Accept one word, a short phrase, “not knowing,” or silence.
  5. Name only what is manageable. Say “sadness,” “there is fear,” “anger may be here,” or the exact inner message. If several feelings belong together, use a short pair such as “sadness and despair.”
  6. Repeat as an offering. Repeat the note quietly. Pause after each repetition. Let the words touch the experience without pushing it. If repetition becomes mechanical or more activating, stop repeating and return to the room.
  7. Abide in silence. After several notes, become quiet. Keep part of attention with support or PURE MIND. The practice is not to stare at the emotion, but to let it be accompanied within a larger field.
  8. Witness the response. Allow sighing, coughing, tears, movement, stillness, lightness, or no change. Reduce effort whenever a bodily response begins. Do not encourage more.
  9. Close deliberately. Look around again. Name the place and date. Move the feet and hands. Ask, “What is the next warm and wise step?” Then choose one ordinary action.

Here.
PURE MIND.
What is true?
There is ____.
Nothing has to be forced.
What is the next warm and wise step?

The Rhythm of Repetition

A helpful rhythm is one note followed by one natural pause:

Sadness.
[pause]
Sadness.
[pause]
Despair.
[pause and listen]

There is no correct number of repetitions. Continue only while the phrase feels alive, truthful, and settling enough to receive. When the note begins to feel harsh, compulsive, numb, or exhausting, return to PURE MIND or close the practice.

When PURE MIND Feels Strong

If PURE MIND brings immediate joy or lightness, receive it without using it to bypass the emotion. You may remain in PURE MIND for a while, then ask gently whether a small note still wishes to be heard. Safety first does not mean difficulty must be entered. The body may answer, “Not today.”

When PURE MIND Feels Faint

Do not try harder. PURE MIND can mean simply the intention not to condemn what is here. Use external support – the room, the feet, the couch, a tree, daylight, or a trusted voice. A faint resource may still be enough for one small note; if not, stay with the outer world.

Practising With Difficult Emotions

For difficult states, work with a small and presently tolerable amount. The true note is more important than a beautiful phrase. Keep one anchor in the room and let the practice become shorter as intensity rises.

Fear

Fear needs present-time orientation and choice. Keep the eyes open if helpful. Feel the feet or chair and name what is visibly safe enough now. Note the emotion rather than entering the feared story.

Fear.
There is fear.
A little fear may be here.
This frightened body is within PURE MIND.

If images, memories, or predictions gather force, look outward and name colour, shape, sound, and date. The purpose is not to convince fear that nothing bad could ever happen. It is to help the present Ross know what is actually happening now and what protection is available.

Sadness

Sadness often asks to be felt with tenderness rather than explained. Let the note be soft and unhurried. Tears may come; numbness may remain. Both can be included.

Sadness.
There is sadness.
This sadness may be known.
PURE MIND is here; sadness does not have to be alone.

When sadness is mixed with longing, the more truthful note may be “sadness and needing love.” When it is mixed with exhaustion, the wise response may be rest rather than deeper meditation.

Despair

Despair requires especially careful pacing. Begin with stronger orientation and a shorter inward visit. Name only a fragment: “A little despair is here” or “There is heaviness.” Alternate every note with the room, support, PURE MIND, Jesus, Love, or contact with a trustworthy person.

Here. Now.
PURE MIND.
A little despair is here.
Back to the room.

WISE SAFETY  Do not use long, solitary repetition when despair is growing darker, more hopeless, or less safe. If despair becomes an urge to die, an urge to harm yourself, or an inability to remain safe, stop inward practice and contact a trusted person, clinician, crisis service, or emergency service immediately.

Anger

Anger may carry energy, protest, hurt, dignity, or a need for protection. Note the present emotion and body sensation without rehearsing the grievance or acting from the surge. Keep the feet grounded and the eyes open.

Anger.
There is anger.
Heat and pressure are here.
Anger may be known; harmful action is not required.

At the end, ask: “What is this anger trying to protect?” The answer may be a boundary, distance, clearer words, rest, dignity, or no immediate action. Note Abiding does not demand forgiveness. Protection, truth, and safety may come first.

Mixed Emotional States

Sometimes one word is incomplete. Use a simple pair when both experiences are truly present: “sadness and despair,” “fear and loneliness,” “anger and hurt,” or “love and grief.” In Note Abiding, the word “and” may simply join two true notes; it does not have to introduce a healing solution.

Practising With Joy, Love, and Happiness

Note Abiding is not only for suffering. Nourishing states also deserve conscious reception. Without gentle noting, joy may pass unnoticed, love may immediately become directed toward someone else, and happiness may be grasped or compared. Abiding allows the good to be received without possession.

Joy

When joy appears, do not make it prove that the practice worked. Note it as a living experience and allow the body to receive it. A smile, brightness, warmth, energy, or lightness may be present.

Joy.
There is joy.
Joy may be received.
May joy abide without being grasped.

Stay for three natural breaths or as long as joy remains gentle and grounded. If joy becomes overstimulating, feel the feet, look around, and let it settle into quiet appreciation.

Love

Love may be noted as tenderness, belonging, warmth, care, divine presence, or the intention not to abandon. It does not have to be an intense feeling. Sometimes Love is the quiet willingness to remain.

Love.
There is Love.
Love is here.
PURE MIND and Love are one living refuge.

When love feels present, first let some of it be received by Ross before sending it outward. This keeps love from becoming only service to others. Let the hands, chest, face, or whole body know: “This Love includes me.”

Happiness

Happiness can be noted in its ordinary forms: ease, interest, humour, contentment, relief, or quiet well-being. It does not have to be large. Note the specific quality that is true.

Happiness.
There is quiet happiness.
Contentment is here.
This moment is enough.

Savour without tightening around it. Happiness may change; receiving it does not require keeping it. The abiding quality is not the permanence of the feeling but the continuity of kind awareness.

When Joy Follows Sadness

If joy or lightness arises after noting sadness, despair, or fear, pause and receive it. Do not immediately return to the difficult state to produce another release. The practice may be complete. Joy can be honoured as the body’s present answer without claiming that all sadness has been removed.

Joy arose. Let joy be joy. Let the practice be complete.

Bodily Responses During Note Abiding

Your body often responds through coughing, sighing, contractions, or softening. Within Note Abiding, these are witnessed as bodily events that may accompany emotional movement. They do not have to be produced, prolonged, or interpreted as proof that a particular emotion has left a particular organ.

When a cough, sigh, tear, tremor, or movement begins

  1. Reduce effort. Stop repeating the note for a moment.
  2. Let breathing remain natural; sit upright if coughing becomes strong.
  3. Keep one part of attention in the room and one with bodily support.
  4. Say, “A response is happening. I do not have to produce more.”
  5. Notice whether there is relief, fatigue, activation, pain, breathlessness, softness, or no clear change.
  6. Close earlier if the body has done enough.

BODY WISDOM  A response may feel meaningful without having a certain explanation. A new, forceful, recurrent, or medically concerning cough should receive ordinary medical attention, especially with your health history. Stop and seek urgent help for severe breathing difficulty, chest pain or pressure, fainting, confusion, blue or grey lips, or significant coughing of blood.

Three Lengths of Practice

The 20-second refuge

See the room.
PURE MIND.
Sadness.
One pause.
Back to the room.

The 3-minute practice

  1. Name three things you see and feel the support beneath you.
  2. Repeat “PURE MIND” one to three times.
  3. Ask what is true and choose one short note.
  4. Repeat it slowly for several breaths, with pauses.
  5. Rest silently, witness any response, and close in the room.

The 10-minute practice

Use the complete core practice. Spend more time receiving the room and PURE MIND than entering the difficult state. Note only what is presently tolerable. Finish with movement, orientation, and an ordinary caring action.

Note Abiding Without Words

If words feel too effortful, let one hand represent PURE MIND or present support and let the other rest on a neutral part of the body. Notice the emotion as a felt tone without naming it. The silent recognition itself can be a note. Abiding is the gentle continuity of contact.

Safety, Choice, and Wise Stopping

The deepest rule of Note Abiding is that wisdom outranks the practice. Love includes protection, boundaries, medical care, professional support, and the freedom to stop. No emotion has to be entered because it is present.

Continue gently when

  1. you know where you are and can feel present support;
  2. the emotion is difficult but still manageable;
  3. the note feels truthful rather than coercive;
  4. you can shift attention between the feeling and the room;
  5. there is at least a little choice about continuing or stopping.

Shorten, orient, or stop when

  1. panic, unreality, collapse, flashback, or disorientation appears;
  2. repetition becomes compulsive, numb, harsh, or more despairing;
  3. the body says no through bracing, exhaustion, pain, dizziness, or breathlessness;
  4. there is present danger or a practical problem requiring action;
  5. you cannot maintain contact with the room and present date.

WARM BOUNDARY  Stopping is not failure. Returning to the room is Note Abiding in its protective form. The practice succeeds whenever kind, truthful, and wise presence is offered.

A Simple Reflection After Practice

Choose only two or three questions. The purpose is to notice relationship and integration, not to construct an elaborate explanation.

  1. What was the truest note?
  2. Did the note feel direct, impersonal, or tentative?
  3. What did PURE MIND feel like today, even faintly?
  4. What changed in the body, and what remained?
  5. Was there more kindness, room, clarity, dignity, or choice?
  6. What loving need became clearer?
  7. What is the next warm and wise action?

A One-Line Practice Record

Room -> PURE MIND -> true note -> bodily response -> next wise step

Example: “Tree, sky, green -> PURE MIND -> sadness and despair -> coughing, sighing, lightness -> rest and receive joy.”

The Master Note Abiding Summary

First, I arrive in the present room.
Then, I receive PURE MIND.
Next, I listen for the truest simple note.
I repeat it gently, without trying to change it.
I allow the body to respond in its own way.
I close with orientation and one warm, wise action.

The Shortest Complete Form

Here.
PURE MIND.
There is ____.
Abiding.

Closing Reflection

This afternoon’s movement from “I need love” to truthful noting, bodily response, lightness, and joy suggests a practice that is already living within you. Its power is its simplicity. You did not argue with despair. You did not order sadness to become joy. You first found the room, then PURE MIND, then the true note. The emotion was allowed to be known in a space that did not abandon it.

Note Abiding therefore gives your PURE MIND work a very gentle root practice. Before blessing, forgiveness, interpretation, or the sacred “and,” there can simply be this: a present room, a trustworthy resource, a true note, and caring presence that remains.

I need Love.
Love begins by listening.
PURE MIND receives what is true.
Today, Ross will not abandon Ross.

PERSONAL PRACTICE NOTE  This document is a personal contemplative practice guide. It does not diagnose the source of emotions or bodily symptoms and does not replace medical or mental-health care.

“There is LOVE”

Prepared personally for G. Ross Clark | August 2026

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