Daily Meditation:

The means to study oneself is self-observation.
There is no other way and no one can do this work for us.
We must do it ourselves. - P.D. Ouspensky

Knowledge of the self is key. What do I do? How do I act? How do I react? How do I think? How does my thinking dictate my actions? How does my action dictate my thinking? Where am I inaccurate in my thinking? What evidence supports the conclusions of my thinking?

That is it again. My thinking leads me to a place that is typically negative and destructive. Reality says different. The reality of a situation is rarely what I make it out to be in my head. I must continue to learn to change my thinking. To develop a positive outcome and outlook in my head and experiences.

I have learned to think through situations. I am not learning to think about my thinking and adjust it according to.

The Gardes

These dudes were great. Funny as all get out. Half standup half band. I am not sure what I would call this style. I told Vince it was Punk Rock Jazz but really like surfer punk.

The company was grand as well...

The jazzaholics

Friday at the Blue Moon. Highly recommend these guys.

The Speak Easy

Daily Meditation:

There seem to two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify themselves with the ego, by realizing its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being. - Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei

Wanting to be something other then what we are. Wanting change. Desire of being something different and wishing we were. We can change our habits, our feelings, our outlook, with care and practice and desire. We can change our bodies and minds. Can we change our nature? The way we are fundamentally? Massive life changes do occur and change who we are and where we are going. Change is possible but not easy. So we still have the ego and the self and want it to be different and many times we do not change. why, because we continue to hold onto the self, continue to identify with the idea of who we are and not be the reality of who we are. So in letting go of the self completely we let go of the ego and expectations and opening within us at that moment is the possibility of change and being who we are.

It is in the letting go. Let go of old ideas. Let go of past hurts. Don't repeat them. Learn from them. Grow through them but let them go. Let them not dictate to us today how we walk through life. Let it pass. Do not pick up those stones and cast them over the shoulder again. Pick them up and drop them at your feet to pass on by.

Daily Meditation:

It is best if you stay in your intuition - if you rely on what you feel and,
even though it may not make logical sense, operate with trust.
Impatience is a trap for many of you because you feel you need to move somewhere. -Barbara Marciniak

Trust in the self and trust in the nature of who we are. I think when everything shook up like a giant snow globe my life became unattached. All round me floating in the ooze pieces of my life, pieces of me. Whereas once firmly planted no longer. I have stuff. Not a lot of stuff but most things I have contain a meaning. All that stuff which is not me but is of me got tossed about too. Missing now my place where I would sit. A quite wall with my objects, a soft pillow for the knees and one for sitting. I miss those. Now I have to reach. Reach for those things that used to be close at hand.

In that process I lost track of the self. That is with that major shift in life, my mind took a major shift as well. Everything that was known and comfortable and sure no longer existed. Whereas I could once I could find comfort. Today I am comfort. Once I stopped asking to know who I was. I am asking again and know. Once I could gather deep within and know the answers the questions. Those answers are here again like those fresh buds on a tree in winter. Beauty seen everywhere, blinders removed. Blinders self imposed in order to not want.

So things are still floating around me at times. Some things settle and others do not. I know now tho too that I do not have control over all of that, and really I do not want to control all of that today. Sure, I would like answers and comfort and no disharmony. And when I need them answers, comfort and harmony all come my way.

Daily Meditation:

There are moments when one feels free from one's own identification with human limitations and inadequacies. At such moments one imagines that one stands on some spot of a small planet, gazing in amazement at the cold yet profoundly moving beauty of the eternal, the unfathomable; life and death flow into one, and there is neither evolution nor destiny; only Being. - Albert Einstein
I do think Albert could flow with time. He did not control it but he was aware that time is just a construct and does not really exist. Again, drawn to the moment. It is not the future or the past or the precise time at a given location. It is simply a moment. Sit back and relax. Let the spirit come into you and flow out of you. Breathe deep. Steeping off the banks and into the stream of the universe.
I am tired. Time for a nap.

Mac

I am doing a conference for the OTA in Feburary. I will be in the Mac Lab. I have not used a Mac in a long while. I am wondering what will work and what will not work. It should be an interesting ride.

16 Lessons

I have been thinking about the 16 lessons. Today in the shower it really struck me. These lessons we are to learn as we walk through this life. It is said that each of us has our lessons to learn. As we walk along our path a lesson will appear before us much like a stone in the path. We pick up the stone, examine it, see it, absorb it into our beings. It is still a stone. We can drop that stone and learn from it or we can carry it around with us or we can cast that stone so we come across it again in the future. Thus sometimes we come to that same lesson over and over in our lives until we learn what it is we need from that lesson and can move on to the next.
It is said there are 16 lessons. Four lessons in each of the four directions. In each of the four stages of life. So there are really 64 lessons. More on this and the walking to come.

Daily Meditation:

If you live the sacred and despise the ordinary, you are still bobbing in the ocean of delusion. - Lin-Chi

This is a good extension of the wonderment of the ordinary. Looking closely at those things that are overlooked and small and ordinary we do see the delight the wonder the universe within them unfolding.

Reminded of the flower. Looking at the flower we see the flower. We see what we have been taught to perceive about the flower, then it is not really the flower we are seeing. It is said we have to removed from ourselves the perception or the idea of the flower and see it fresh and whole for the first time. See the wonder of smallest of things. Easy for me to dismiss the flower. To see it but not see it. Too miss the beauty in everyday life.

It is the ordinary that is sacred. Where is that saying, the sacred and the profane?

Daily Meditation:

Your life has the potential to be a wondrous journey, filled with exciting moments and astonishing experiences. It can be a thrilling ride if you are open to exploring all that is available to you. Adventure is the result of your willingness to live with a spirit of enthusiasm. - C. Carter-Scott

Life is a grand adventure. I forget that sometimes. Actually, I think maybe I did not know that for a very long time. Life just has been. Walking through. I think that may be why Life seems somewhat ordinary. Life as adventure is a thrill, a moment to moment slide on the ice. Life as life makes me wonder but allows for little other then the ordinary. And so changing my approach to life. Adventure. grand and new every day. Not that Hans Gurber will come into life everyday and create a new adventure but certainly even the smallest daily acts can lead to a life more interesting.