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Poetry as a Metric

image One of the sticks I use to measure just how excellent I am being to myself is how often I compose in my head (and jot down!) little bits of poetry. Getting it together to actually post here as a Sohbet is A+ gold-star life management.

What poetry actually measures for me is life-saturation of moments of stillness, time with a bit of quiet in my head. If you’ve been following me on twitter or paying any attention here, you’ll know there hasn’t been much coming out of me creatively. This is probably the most stressed I’ve ever been in my life (six hundred fifty one bad sectors on my hard drive was just the capper – I’m thumb-typing this whole post on my phone – twitch).

I had a lovely moment of stillness last week – before the cold, wet Autumn weather hit. I got to sit by a pond, enjoy the amber leaves and smile at the duck feeding in front of me. For the first time in weeks a wee little haiku stirred in my brain, which I subsequently forgot as I didn’t write it down.Read More »Poetry as a Metric

Meditation, How to Begin

I’ve had a number of people ask me of late how to get started in meditation, where to go, what you actually do, books to read. Rather than trying to squeeze answers into a tweet or fit advice in over the bustle of a dinner, I’m just going to sit down and gather all my thoughts and resources in one handy link (just for ya’ll, see I’m looking out for ya!).

Meditation isn’t really anything exotic, we’re hardwired to do it, though our current culture derails most of our natural tendencies. Pretty much every religion and philosophy has some sort of meditation, even if it doesn’t describe itself as such.

I think it was maybe the Dalai Lama said, start with the path that’s close to home (that feels very Tolkien-esqe eh?). If you’re at all connected to your own roots, be it Christian, Jewish, Hindu, whatever, start there (just google your religion + mediation, who knows what you’ll find). Maybe what’s close to home is more literal, like the yoga studio in your neighbourhood. Keep in mind if you’re looking for a group, a place to practice, you’re going to have to go there on a regular basis, you don’t want all that inner peace fried by the commute.

Regardless of the sect/philosophy you choose, in a group, what matters most is you feel an affinity for the people around you and the things they practice. Read More »Meditation, How to Begin

ToV 9 – MOAR peace? pfft!

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.

I was once out for a walk, back from the chiropractor I think, feeling all open and aligned. The sun was shining, a light breeze was blowing; it was, as Winnie the Pooh would have said, a hummy sort of day.  I was enjoying the moment, smiling, thinking: this, now THIS is a day.

Two young men in suits (on a summer afternoon!) see me from across the street, run over to greet me.

“How would you like to have more peace in your life?”

“Actually, I’m feeling pretty peaceful already, thanks.”

“Well, but you could be MORE peaceful.”Read More »ToV 9 – MOAR peace? pfft!

ToV 8 – humility and respect

If I was compiling a manual for living, this chapter would be in it. You should read it, ALL of it.

The lines I’ll pull from here are more general, but great paradigm shifts of humility, simplicity, allowing everything to just be.

…like water, which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.

*  *  *

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.

When you’re in the Tao, it’s easy to just do the thing that needs to be doing, you don’t need glory or to be doing the shiny stuff, you are content with the stuff others disdain due to lack of extrinsic reward. This doesn’t mean you have low self esteem and are happy to be crapped onRead More »ToV 8 – humility and respect

ToV 6 – you can use it any way you want

It [the Tao] is always present within you.
You can use it any way you want.

These words get me so excited!

People tend to think a spiritual life is a separate, special sort of life; that you have to be a yoga teacher, or life coach, or provide a home for wayward pigeons or some such. Not so! The Tao is ALWAYS present, no matter what you do.

I can remember talking with one of my spiritual mentors about his giving up a particular meditation and martial arts practice. He said: I don’t have to do that to be peaceful, I can be peaceful mowing the lawn. And that’s just it, it isn’t so much what you do as HOW you do it. Mindfulness and love can manifest in anything and everything you do. 

When I think about the people I most admire spiritually, you wouldn’t necessarily know them to be spiritual people on the surface.Read More »ToV 6 – you can use it any way you want