Day 17

Day 16

Day 15

Day 14

Day 13

Day 12

There comes a time in life when you walk away from drama and the people who create it. You surround yourself with those who make you laugh, forget the bad & focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. Life's too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of LIFE . . . Getting back up is LIVING

I have given up drama, personal attacks, hatred and seek only to be loving and kind to all I meet.

Day 11

Day 10

It seems like I have gotten way behind in posting. So I will try to get caught up.

The 4th Mantra Steve describes closely goes with another resolution I have made. To be Kind and to show kindness to all. Sometimes easier said than done. You do not have to prove you are right each and everytime. Just be open to new thoughts and ideas. It doesn't mean you have to agree, but, it is kinder to agree to disagree and find common ground.

4. I will be kind, even when the impulse is to be right.

In the past, I have found myself in frequent arguments with my spouse or someone at work. It's not the problem today that it used to be, fortunately. And I think it has something to do with the practice of kindness, as well as the practice of meditation. I now realize, for example, when I've been in an argument in the past, it was nothing more than the ego in me feeling under threat and so lashing out or defending its illusory position or point of view. None of this is necessary and none of this is helpful. So, as someone once framed it, "If you have a choice of being right or being kind, practice choosing kind."







Day 9

More mantras for the New Year from Steve McSwain. I have underlined the words that mean something to me.

The 3rd Mantra:

3. I will practice forgiveness, starting with myself.

Recently, an obituary in the newspaper referred to the deceased as a person who "lived with no regrets." For me, however, I could not imagine such a life. I have many regrets. Today, I'm 55. I regret not having taken better care of my health. I wish I had quit smoking sooner. Exercising longer. Eating healthier. Spending more time, or better quality time, and attention with my children. I have other regrets that are too personal to share with you or anyone else. Sometimes, the regrets become overwhelming. So, I have to practice the art of forgiving myself. What you do to yourself, you do to others. What you do to others, you will also do to yourself. These two sentences alone are enough to meditate upon this entire day. If you cannot forgive others, let that be a clue there's something in you that you haven't forgiven. Mark Twain once said, "Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet shed on the heel that crushed it." Words have never been more beautiful.

Today was cold but clear. We both got a late start on the day. We worked on more packing of the office. Then we drove up to the Yuppy Puppy and picked up some boxes from Aquila. Then we just drove around looking at different areas of town where we might want to start looking for a place to lease or rent. I am favoring Browne's Addition and Michael is still sitting on the fence. It was getting dark and way colder, so we headed for home. All in all a nice day.





Day 8

I chose this picture because of the little frog. I thought it made it seem whimsical. I wondered, where is he leading her to?

A sad day. Democrat AZ Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot while at an open forum in front of a Safeway grocery store. Our political climate in this country has become so full of hate speech and so much of it incites violence. I'm not saying this is why this kid did this, but, you never know what pushes someone over that line that makes them act this way. I've been told we all serve a purpose. Was the purpose of her being shot was to end the hatred and come together to work together for the common good? This is more reason for me to leave negativity behind and try to find common ground with persons who share a completely different political or religious view than myself. I have always believed we all share common ground.

The 2nd Mantra:

I will be one with all that is.

Why? Because I am, in spite of the fact that the ego in me wants to regard itself as separate or, more accurately, distinct and different. The way some spiritual teachers put it is, "I am that; you are that; all this is that; and, that's all there is." What is meant by this is, since we are all the same, it would be helpful to practice seeing yourself not as separate from everyone and everything else but as one and the same. It is amazing what this sort of mindset does to your relationship to yourself, to others and to the environment. You are much more awake, alert and attentive to all things, as well as people, plants and animals. I used to love to hunt but I could no more hunt today, even as a sport, if I wanted to. I'm not saying this is the way it must be for all. But, for me, everything, as well as everyone, is becoming more and more sacred to me. I cannot help but feel the practice of meditation is changing my view of all things.

Today I worked in the office most of the day. Filing paperwork, throwing away unused items and packing the things we actually use. Still have a day's or less work to go and then we can take these boxes to storage and the items we are donating to Value Village.

Day 7

Saying goodbye to all negativity. That is my second resolution. It is so easy to get sucked into someone else's negative energy. I want to stay positive and keep focused on all the good things life presents to me.

Mantra 1

I will practice meditation every day.




This is no longer difficult. But, in the early days of becoming a meditator, it was extremely difficult to shut down the mind with its propensity to chatter almost incessantly. With persistence, however, and with time, my mind began to slowly shut down whenever I entered a state of meditation. Today, I would no more consider starting the day without first meditating than I would to go through a day without eating. Meditation is to my innermost self what food and nourishment is to the outer self, the body. Pema Chodron, the Buddhist monk, said, "We don't sit in meditation to become good meditators; we sit in meditation to become more awake in our lives." It is in meditating on the following mantras that the miracle of inner transformation takes place. I become that which I imagine. Or, in the slightly altered words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The antecedent to every behavior is a mantra." You are what you think about. So practice meditating on the following and see what happens.

Day 6

Time for New Year Resolutions and thoughts about what I want to change my life habits to be.

This website helped with priorities.

A mantra is a sound, syllable or group of words which, when recited, are regarded as capable of producing spiritual transformation (or so says Wiki). Actually, mantra is a word common in the eastern world and is itself made up of two words: man meaning "mind," and tra meaning "instrument." So, a mantra is "an instrument of the mind."




In eastern religions, and to a lesser degree in the mystical traditions of Christianity, meditators use mantras to center themselves and so bring health and wholeness to the inner self (or, greater unity between the mind, body and spirit). Benedictine monks regularly use scripture in this fashion. For example, they might recite in meditation over and over again the words, "The Lord is my shepherd" (from the 23rd Psalm).



In my own experience, I have made it an every-morning practice to meditate and recite the following mantras. This is the first time, however, I've actually written them down. This was itself a wonderful discipline.



In many respects, a New Year's Resolution is a kind of mantra. But, like mantras, resolutions must be practiced daily if you're serious about them becoming your way of living. Which is why, my first mantra is...

See tomorrow's posting for the first mantra.

I've been thinking alot about Ted Williams. I think it is wonderful that a reporter stopped on the side of the road and listened to his story which has propelled him into the media spotlight as their new darling. I worry that all these people wanting to help him will treat him as a commodity rather than a person. I hope he enjoys his 15 minutes of fame while it lasts and can settle down to a real life once the media moves on and finds their next victim.

Day 5

I watched all the congress proceedings and felt a little ill by it all. Here we go again with the same old same old that got us in the trouble we are in now. Thank goodness Democrats held onto Senate. Our saving grace as along as they stick together so the republicans can't sick it to us.

Why are so many birds, fish, crabs, starfish and stingrays dying in their thousands?
Michael found this bible quote for me: "I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of earth." declares the Lord. When I heard that, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Scared me! Zephaniah 1:3. Will I be among the wicked ones?

I cancelled and rescheduled my doctor appointment for this morning. Did not want to drive to Deaconess on these icy roads early in the morning. The rescheduled appointment is at the north clinic which is much closer to home and with my Dr Lubbe, not with a physcian's assistant.

I'm feeling a little housebound again. But I have plenty of projects, tv and movies and other stuff to keep me busy.

Day 4

I have been reading since New Year's about all the bird and fish deaths. It makes me wonder what is going on. It is not like a few beached whales showing up on the shore. It's thousands of birds, fish, crabs and goodness knows what else. Why all over the world in a matter of days. Why isn't the media making a bigger deal of this. Fireworks? I don't think so. Google posted a world map of all the places where they found death to these creature. Take a look here.

Didn't get out of the house. Organized the bills and paid quite a few. Had Chris over for dinner which was nice.

Day 3

We made a start - took our first load over to storage.

Picked up my new cell phone from the mailbox place. It is so much better than my Blackberry. I can actually hear people and doesn't drop the call. I got it from Consumer Cellular. $20 per month with no contract. 425 minutes per month. I have been only using about 15 minutes per month. Not much of a phone talker.

Stopped at Ace Hardware and bought all the packing supplies we needed. They are so helpful there, always eager to show you where to find what you are looking for. Now that it is so hard for me to do alot of walking that is so nice.