One week into it.Good to start the day without touching a keyboard for the first hour. Sit with a cup of joe in the left hand and the neck of a dog under the right hand. On a rock on the beach or a chair on the porch. For most of an hour. Start with nothing on the mind. Before your cup is empty your mind will be full. Challenges become Opportunities. Pre-prioritized.
Coffee. Dog. Camera. All of these externals are deal-breakers as far as meditation.
But hey - this break with old habits, nine days old, is an evolving process. I am on a path which feels, at this point, a well-chosen one.
New friends were joking recently as to whether I am in the "Growers' Club". Maybe I should try on growing as a concept. Not sure.
If they pass that law in California, there will be many in the growers club. If asked years ago if I supported that proposition, I would have whole-heartedly agreed. But now, I'm not so sure it's a good idea, though I still have a soft spot.........
ReplyDeleteAnd.....I feel like I need to break the same habit of being magnetically drawn to the keyboard the moment I come downstairs in the morning. Saying good morning to the dog is a good first step.
ReplyDeleteOnly dialogue was missing, Baydog. Your presence is treasured. Blessings...
ReplyDeleteThis is the only moment of the day when I have time. Money doesn't buy everything, but wealth does provide the inestimable margin of time. No man ever has enough of anything, arguably. The point is to get to a place in life where one does not fear of having insufficient time. I am not there.
ReplyDeleteI took a significant portion of my workday to write a couple of snarky pages pertaining to Fleet politics. I took pride in it, and I did a good, edgy job. Not for general consumption, I entitled it "Internal Document" and sent it off to two guys who are a little more influential than I. One loved it; the other cautioned against 'too much irony'. Waiting for me in my email was a document from a 3rd party which confirmed exactly what I had anticipated in my missive. I felt totally vindicated. The time and care I took was well spent.
I am at peace. I'm not surprised as to how little I care about the outcome of the two issues I addressed. I say that because I have recently had an opportunity to look back at the fights I had when I was a kid growing up and later. Some I won; some I lost. But the fights I grieve over, lose sleep over, lost self-esteem over, are the fights I avoided. Those are the fights which stunted my growth as a man and as a human being.
We were joking a few days ago. Someone said that the first idea that comes to him is a bad idea: he always has a second thought. That doesn't work for me. I go with the first: do what the spirit says do, when the spirit says do it. If I get up in these early morning hours and attend this solemn cathedral and invest myself, I'll be going with the flow whenever I encounter it.
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero, Bro.
A close friend's daughter on the East Coast has been stricken with a heart attack. He is there with her now, and not far from his laptop, I am sure. I emailed him a shot of a sunrise, more beautiful than this one, trusting him to show it to Vicki. A terrible thing for guys my age to see their kids in medical trouble. She'll be in our prayers today. Both of them....
ReplyDeleteGod bless her. Hope it's not too late
ReplyDelete