Freeing Tibet

I'm a bit slow in mentioning this, but the issue doesn't end when March 10th ends:

Loyalty?

Just a quick post - have a lot of thoughts bumping around in my head right now, but no cohesive order to them yet. However, I found an interesting link on lotusinthemud I thought was worth pointing out. Apparently, a Quaker teacher was fired for changing her loyalty oath to reflect her nonviolent spiritual views.

Random Pics from Date Night

The cat is away (well, in this case, the 3 kittens), so the mice have been at play - while the kiddos are with their grandparents this week, the other half and I have actually been getting in some grownup hang out time. Part of that was hanging at a mediocre chain bookstore after a movie. While da Man was checking out the Ubuntu, Unix and Debian books, I (of course) gravitated over to the anaemically stocked Buddhist selections. Here's part of what I saw - hoped y'all might find these two pics amusing:


Nothing big here - just thought it was funny to be told that the sitting on the floor I was doing wasn't necessary....

I sure hope someone out there understands why I find this one amusing - that magazine you see peeking out (the only "Buddhist brand" magazine this store carries, behind the title Nudes) is Shambhala Sun:

Tagged by Precious Metal - Very Belated!!!!

Sooo - way back in December I got tagged to do a meme by Precious Metal. Sounds like fun, I was just up to my eyeballs. Still am, but I'm moving the stuff around me a bit - making breathing room. Anyway, even though it's quite late - thought I'd participate....

The rules --

• Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
• Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.
• Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs
• Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I think I'm going to not tag other folks, as late as this is, and as many people as I've found who've already done this. However, here are my responses:

7 Random or Weird Things about Me

1. Spent a while working at a zoo when I was a lot younger - did many different jobs, many of them grunt jobs, so I can identify more kinds of poo than probably anyone you'll ever meet.
2. I am a Cold War Air Force brat - my Dad did "nuclear stuff" for a long time when I was a kid, and my birth in the Netherlands is directly related to that. You should see how much paperwork I have to take to the DMV to prove I'm an American citizen. ;P
3. I haven't been able to do it in years for lack of opportunity, but I was pretty good at Irish dancing. Used to go with a friend every Tuesday to dance at O'Flaherty's Irish Channel Pub in New Orleans (sadly closed down in 2005). I had a lot of friends and acquaintances that were tarot readers or street performers in the Quarter, and I once danced with a drunk clown in full Scottish formal dress (think kilt). His clown shoes kept crushing my feet. o.0
4. I spent more than half a decade living in England - I had a dear elderly friend who used to take me to see the vicar at St. Mary's church when we lived in Grundisburgh (roughly pronounced Grun-dis-bor-o). This late medieval church is the first one I ever attended services at and tends to be the one I use as a bench mark. ^_^
5. My oldest domain name is going on 13 years old.
6. I was stalked in an amusement park when I was 13.
7. I've taken to wearing wedding bands on both my ring fingers - a habit I picked up when I was living/studying in Austria for a little while, where folks wear their wedding rings on their right hands. Anyway, they're both simple thin gold bands and I feel more symmetrical this way....

Hmm - hope that works! Anyone who reads this and wants to participate - consider yourself tagged.

Oh wow ...

...I really missed the boat on this one. Talk about not being present....

Here's a lesson in impermanence, and in the need to stay connected.

There once was a man who had a major impact on my life. I don't know that he ever knew what a huge effect he had on me. He was a coffeehouse owner, a hobo, a poet, and a wonderful percolator of creativity and unity. It's hard to find words that haven't already been used to describe him, and better....

Suffice it to say that his slow, genuine life is something that both my husband and I honor in our lives. We mention him fairly frequently, and will continue to do so.

When I left New Orleans after college, I knew I was leaving an important and formative part of my life behind. I was also leaving a city and people I love behind, and I didn't know when I would be back. When we filled up at the gas station that day, I broke down and cried. I had to face impermanence head on, and just accept change.

Things change, time passes, people live and die. Bob Borsodi died, just as we all must. However, to learn that he was so racked with the pain of metastasized, fatal cancer that he leapt to his death from the Hale Boggs Bridge, into the Mississippi River...and not only that, that I missed his passing by more than four years....well, it's just given me food for thought. What a mindfulness bell.... I've got much to think about.....

A Cage Without a Bird -- Bob Borsodi

I have a dove that dwells

Within a cage without a door.

(I took the door off years ago.)

And pretty girls have asked,

Their minds full of externals,

"Is it safe?"

And how perhaps he needs a door

To protect him

Lest he sneak away somehow to the city outside

And be lost.

And compounding their request,

If he needs a mate

That he might want for friendship

In his prison without a gate.

Well, here it is.

The dove and I have achieved this rare liberty

Only after many years,

A tedious story of near disaster experiences,

Murky and dreary, too unkind to recall.

The surest safety

Comes from a source deep inside,

Deep inside the boney cage,

From a peaceful feeling there

Which I would do harm to explain.

And the sweetest friendship likewise

Comes from a free feeling there, deep inside,

That I would do harm to tame.

Yet peaceful and free

We do no harm to be.

A New Day...

...well, after a fashion, at least. Time for another, more concerted effort, on a lot of fronts, including everyday life.

For the moment - I found something interesting on lotusinthemud today:

facing our own boredom, impatience, and fears

Having an initial good look round is a good idea but pick'n'mix isn't Buddhist training:

If we do a little of one kind of practice and a little of another, the work we have done in one often doesn't continue to build as we change to the next. It is as if we were to dig many shallow wells instead of one deep one. In continually moving from one approach to another, we are never forced to face our own boredom, impatience, and fears. We are never brought face to face with ourselves. So we need to choose a way of practice that is deep and ancient and connected with our hearts, and then make a commitment to follow it as long as it takes to transform ourselves.

~ Jack Kornfield in A Path with Heart

So, interesting food for thought, and an interesting counterpoint/addition to The Buddhist Blog's latest post.

Thoughts

Hi all - long time no blog, eh?

No great insights here - just living life. Remaining mindful and aware can be a tremendous challenge in the day to day of a life with a marriage, kids, a budget.

I very much wish that some of the great Buddhist teachers had shared this life, and had commented on it. Even the Buddha stepped away from these visceral issues whilst he sought Understanding.

I love the path I've chosen. I love my marriage, my husband. I love my kids. I love my 2 cats and 1 dog. I love the challenge of my life - I am grateful that I have the opportunity to grow and learn so much. It's all very good, if challenging to my mindfulness, my peace of heart. I'm content with it all.