Commit To Sit
"The purpose of our sitting meditation is not to eliminate thoughts, but to adjust our relationship to our thoughts. "Not to activate thoughts" is an invitation to allow ourselves the compassion and gentleness to observe thoughts as they arise and allow them to pass without needing to follow them to some imagined conclusion."
(Painting by my friend Dylan Guy)
Tuesday
Dos Madres Press is dedicated to the belief that the small press is essential to the vitality of contemporary literature. This night they celebrated "In the Realms of the Mothers"
KGB Bar featured readings by David Katz (hidden behind the signing table), Rick Mullen (while beard) and R. Nemo Hill (not shown)
Julio Perea loved it
Me too
~*~
Wednesday
Looking out from the ATM enclosure of my Bank...
...then to the store to lay in supplies for the coming storm, then home to cook and rest.
~*~
Thursday
Poor 'Teddy' worrying about our future since I've subjected him to constant, alarming political news for the past many weeks.
After reminding us both to 'Be Here Now', we relaxed into the snow-slowed day, opened the front window, leaned out, took some deep breaths and gazed Westward.
Traditionally 'Throw back' on Face book is Thursdays, so I posted this vintage image of myself with "Kitty Does Too" by Vivienne, a 'Just Like You' book published in 1946.
"The purpose of our sitting meditation is not to eliminate thoughts, but to adjust our relationship to our thoughts. "Not to activate thoughts" is an invitation to allow ourselves the compassion and gentleness to observe thoughts as they arise and allow them to pass without needing to follow them to some imagined conclusion."
Tuesday
Dos Madres Press is dedicated to the belief that the small press is essential to the vitality of contemporary literature. This night they celebrated "In the Realms of the Mothers"
Me too
~*~
Wednesday
Looking out from the ATM enclosure of my Bank...
~*~
Thursday
Poor 'Teddy' worrying about our future since I've subjected him to constant, alarming political news for the past many weeks.
Some Good News - A federal appeals court has unanimously rejected a Trump administration request to allow its travel ban to take effect. The battle continues none the less but folks have an enlarged window of opportunity to get to safety and that made me glad.
~*~
Friday
The 10th of February dawning and news not arrived as yet. What fresh misery, what delights await today?
A single Mourning dove calls out of the darkness
somewhere out there in the building alley--
Oh how that sound sings of the past to me--
comforts at the same time fills with such sadness
Suddenly an answering call from not too far away
somewhere out there in the building alley--
Oh how that sound sings of the past to me--
comforts at the same time fills with such sadness
Suddenly an answering call from not too far away
then the call response in quick succession--
with pitch and subtlety of a conversation--
I am at home again though I never moved an inch
*
with pitch and subtlety of a conversation--
I am at home again though I never moved an inch
*
In the world outside these flimsy walls everything seems in jeopardy. Executive orders shoot out in the quick succession of machine gun fire, day and night spewing chaos and contention, fear and uncertainty. It's impossible to keep up, impossible to bear when the bully boys arrive and commence throwing chairs--who could? Slow down, concentrate and try to separate the tangled threads of all this destructive, thoughtless activity I tell myself and do that. My bed's become a therapist, a medicine that can not cure but does relieve the strain. We are mortal after all and the nervous system is very real. It can only sustain what's sustainable.
I need more practice.
~*~
LINKS
Dos MadresPress
The Event
Good News
1 comment:
there is nothing like the silence of snow in the city
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