Look deeply to understand clearly
Listen deeply to truly love.

--Thich Nhat HanhThis year has been almost unimaginably rough so far. There are also some inescapable hard things ahead. I've checked with the Magic 8-Ball ("ask again later"), read the tea leaves (I don't know what each clump means, but the tea itself was good), and done some thinking ( Read more... )

Here at the beginning of the calendar year, I like to take some time to reflect on my current state of being and that of the world around me. This time around, I've actually been in a mild form of contemplation for a few weeks now, for a number of reasons, so I've done a bit more thinking about things than usual for this period ( Read more... )

Slowly but steadily, I'm catching up. Before it gets too far into the New Year, let's take a look back at the last one, shall we?

( 2012: the year in review )

It turns out that my small experiment with setting specific self-rewards for certain things has been very successful thus far. I think I'll keep it up for a while, and see where it leads ( Read more... )

The best course is to reject at once the first incitement to anger, to resist even its small beginnings, and to take pains to avoid falling into anger. For if it begins to lead us astray, the return to the safe path is difficult, since, if once we admit the emotion and by our own free will grant it any authority, reason becomes of no avail; after ( Read more... )

If we spend all our time just thinking about our future successes, we completely miss out on life, because life can only be found in the present moment.
-- from Peace is Every Breath, by Thich Nhat HanhI've been keeping this book on a stand by my bed and reading a meditation or two every morning when I wake up. Some of them I have found to be very ( Read more... )

I have spent most of today Doing Things around the house, particularly the upstairs. As a result, I now have a completely reorganized study with actual art on the walls, more art hung in the guest room and the upstairs bathroom, and ALL THE LAUNDRY put away where it should be. I think this is a pretty good start to the year, and it was a great ( Read more... )

It has been a very travel-filled start to this new year of 2012, as I've spent most of it making my way from the family home in TN back to my own home in Colorado. It would be ever so nice if someone would get around to inventing a teleporter of some sort, it really would; now that the flying car is a reality, maybe some brilliant physicist ( Read more... )

When I was writing last year's review entry, I mentioned that a psychic had predicted that 2011 would be a year of major change for me.

Let's see how that turned out, shall we?

( 2011: the year in review )

I'm really enjoying Thich Nhat Tranh's Peace Is Every Breath. The subtitle is "a practice for our busy lives," and it's very much what it says on the label. I try to read and think upon a section in the mornings before I dash off into the day. When I remember to, it's very helpful ( Read more... )