There's so much I could put into an LJ entry, yet too many other ways to fill my time. But there's one theme that I find myself earnestly wanting to attempt articulating, wanting to leave myself a reminder that I've been seeing and pondering ( Read more... )

I didn't realize how much colder one gets, when one isn't eating!

During my first 7-day sesshin in October (an intensive, silent retreat with over 10 hours of sitting meditation each day), I grew increasingly cold throughout the week, but I assumed it was because a) I started to get a cold on Day 5 and b) I didn't have many warm clothes with me. ( Read more... )

Being in the NY/NJ area during this staff break at the Zen Center was a good idea for many reasons: it's easy to travel ROC->NYP by train, I'm seeing many dear friends, and it was unexpectedly good timing for my family. But in retrospect, as so often, I also doubt the wisdom of my decision! I've gone from structured days in a small city away from ( Read more... )

I intend to write a post about how life here at the Zen Center started easing in the second week, as well as the intensive, painful, silent sesshin weekend, but while I've been pondering how to begin that post, I want to capture this moment, this evening at the beginning of the 2-week staff summer break. I've almost spent a full month here ( Read more... )

It's now been 10 days I've been living at the Rochester Zen Center, so it occurred to me that it'd be a good time to look around, gather my thoughts and feelings, then write about my experience of the first week ( Read more... )

Last Friday I had a clearness committee, borrowing from the practice of Friends/Quakers. In the community of my closest friends here in Philadelphia (plus A), I came to internally-official decisions that I had already felt drawn towards... I will leave my job (not take a leave of absence), and I will pursue plans to spend time at the Rochester Zen ( Read more... )

I am amazed tonight, on the edge of what I can comprehend yet ready to embrace more, about my week and life and growth. I am in love with my relationships, and my intense emotions ( Read more... )

( Reflections on my parents' moderation of a fundamentalist church's impact, yet the possibility they strengthened its influence. )

I was physically at NEFFA over the weekend, but I wasn't there emotionally. I did a handful of dances (including my alter ego's ECD session and the medleys, of course!), but most of the time I hid and thought about other stuff ( Read more... )

The T and I got off to a bad start, this visit. I took the airport shuttle to Logan with Ted & Lynn and caught the Silver Line, but my journey to Boyleston St did not go smoothly. It pissed me off -- since I do not usually fail at public transit navigation! -- that I failed to find the SL4/5, so I had to go back into the T station to catch the Red ( Read more... )