Posts Tagged ‘On My Shelf’

3 Good Things


27 May

Hola!  I hope this finds you well.  My week has been stellar.  More on that in another post.  For now I wanted to give a quick “Hell’s yes!” for a suggestion I took from the Action for Happiness website and Martin Seligman, Ph. D, the father of positive psychology.

The suggestion is simply this – For one week, at the end of the day take 5 minutes to get out your journal (or a piece of paper, or a text document, if that’s what you have or prefer) and write down three good things from your day.  Then take a moment and jot down a line, or two, about why each of those is a good thing.  That’s it.  Dr. Seligman asks that we try this for a week and see what the results are  for our general level of happiness.

I don’t know what your result will be, but if it’s even remotely like mine, Do It!  NOW!

Here endith the preaching.  ;)

Cheers!

PS – If you haven’t read Authentic Happiness by Dr. Seligman, I highly recommend it.  You can pick it up here.

Keeping Clear Of The One True Way School


05 Mar

I just finished reading The Mother of God by Luna Tarlo.  Fascinating tale of an incredibly courageous woman and her struggle to free herself from guru-disciple bondage to her son, American Guru Andrew Cohen.

It brought to mind a distinction I consider myself very lucky to have been given.  It came by way of both my Tai Chi Sifu William Chin and my Aikido Sensei James Friedman.  It has to do with the idea of their being One True Way to practice/accomplish/pursue X (whatever X happens to be), and it goes a little something like this – there isn’t one.

Sifu used to make jokes about Tai Chi and Kung Fu teachers who would suggest, or outright state, that a given technique or style was the best.  He also maintained that a basic approach to studying martial arts was to acknowledge that there are a finite number of ways in which a human body can move, and therefore it could be studied while also maintaining that all fighting was far too fluid to think there was any one perfect way to approach the issue.  He used to say that anyone could take anyone else out, it was just a matter of odds.  In some cases the odds were incredibly long, but there was always a chance some random event could change things.

My Sensei James Friedman, along with his Sensei Kato Hiroshi, are both more explicit in the matter.  At Suginami the prevailing opinion is that if any martial artist says there is one way to do a technique, they’re wrong.  The effect is that our eyes are very open to see they ways that visiting instructors do things.  As the manager I have personally been told by several guest instructors, and their assistants, that the students at Suginami “catch on” to things that the visiting instructors are doing that are stylistically different to how we do them better than the majority of schools they visit.  There is an openness to experimentation at the school that goes a long way to strengthening the practice.

My Mother also always encouraged me to question things, even when that lead to bad disagreements between us.

I take this attitude into all my interactions, and when I see the doctrine of the One True Way bubble up, it sets off red flags.  As illustrated by The Mother of God, I think this is a great spiritual life preserver to have in my personal life tool-kit.

Different methods answer different questions at different times for different people.  Diversity is a big part of this whole life thing, and attempting to stuff events into a one-size-fits all homogenized solution never seems to quite work out.  So, when learning the next cool thing, keep a grain of salt handy and don’t fall victim to One True Way thinking.  At the very least that will keep you a free-thinker.

If, on the other hand, there is an actual guaranteed solution to life’s travails out there, please, please, please let me know!

You Are A God. Act Like One!


21 Feb

You are a God.  Act like one! -~ Timothy Leary

That quote figures heavily in the last two Timothy Leary books I read, quite recently.  (Just finished one last night.) Start Your Own Religion & Your Brain Is God.Highly recommended, assuming you can stomach Timothy’s grammatically a loose style (which some I know can’t.)

The other quote Timothy is best known for is – “Drop out.  Turn on.  Tune in.”

Getting a better grip on that quote has been useful for me lately as you may have noticed I am on a re-program your routines, work with re-configuring habits, we are all essentially programmed kick.  Here’s how it seems to me today:

  • Drop Out. We are each born (to a large degree) as tabula rasa into this world.  We bring nearly nothing with us except for a genetic inheritance, a boundless curiosity and a wide open capacity for experiencing.  Nearly immediately we are programmed with the habits, memes, meanings, understandings, morals, ethics, values, language and thoughts of the cultural milieu we arrive in.  Our ways become set & settled overtime with a set of reductions/rules on what is kosher and what is not.  (See what I did there?)  That becomes the life we find ourselves showing up to life as.  To Drop Out means to exit (temporarily at least) from the set of structures as much as we can (and is safe) in the moment.  We take a step outside the cultural norm to see what else could be, to re-open to night infinite possibility as evidenced by all the life-types we encounter on a daily basis.
  • Turn On.  In order to get the full opening that is sought in this mantra we need to open up our consciousness which has become calcified, cemented, restricted by our upbringing.  Different cultures (cults) throughout history have given different methods for doing this. Nearly without exception (I can’t think of one but I am not going to say it’s not possible) the method for the Turn On has involved some sacrament, or ritual or both.  Now sacrament in this context is usually taken to be something you ingest, or imbibe which alters consciousness (drugs) or signifies willingness for consciousness to be altered (the wafer.)  Really the word means to take an oath, fulfill an obligation or consecrate.  In this sense it is really a very short ritual.  Rituals, as distinct from sacraments, are then a series of actions or exercises meant to open up consciousness.  Timothy was specifically meaning medicines (drugs/psychedelics) that have been used for unknown ages by people looking to get out of their heads and into God’s.  (A short trip indeed in light of the first quote I mentioned.)  In any event, to Turn On means to take something, or some action (or series of actions) to expand consciousness.  Drugs are not the only thing that can affect this opening.  Prayer, meditation, exercise, chanting, drum circles, hyper-ventilation, fasting, and a bunch more I cannot think of right now are all tried and true methods for affecting neurological arrangement allowing for new forms to be explored.
  • Tune In.  The Turn On experience will provide the opportunity for insights, opening for new habits, re-formulations of convictions, changes in behavior.  These will happen slowly (generally) but they will happen.  The method for solidifying them and making them semi-permanent ways to be are to tune them in to your life.  Express them in your day to day existence and choices.  Tune In to what you “saw” while you were wide-eyed staring at a modest vase of flowers for three hours.  Equally important is the broadcasting of this new way of being to others.  Sharing amongst your pier-group/clan/family & friends/social setting, either implicitly, explicitly, or covertly, is a big part of the Tune In process.  We are social creatures, and we have always relied on each other to bring back reports from the greater realms of consciousness.  Just as “all the world’s a stage and we are merely players,” we can all play the role of shaman/psychonaut from time to time.  This allows new insights to be tested within the group framework for validity.

In this process we see what else is possible.  We explore what other social structures can be manifested.  We participate in our own creation story, rather than taking whole-sale the one that has been handed to us.

In this way we are God expressing as Gods.  We make the world how it is, in our own image, the image of how things are supposed to be we hold inside..  That part is completely obvious. Our societies, or behaviors, our moral conduct, our relationship to our environment (which we are never actually separate from) have all bee constructed by us either consciously or unconsciously.

The Jesus figure is purported to have said that, “the Kingdom of Heaven is within.”  It is my humble opinion that what was meant was that we have the capacity within us to make Heaven right where we are now.

At this moment, right now, we have the means to feed, house and care for every human being on the planet. We have the means, within a scant few years if we explore the technology, to forever end energy shortages.  We can extend education and well-being to every corner of this globe. We can care for all as a unified whole while allowing all to express their individuality.   We can do this.  Right now.  The reason we don’t is rooted in our habitual ways of seeing the world and our ingrained value systems. In other words, the only thing stopping us is us.

By letting in the idea that we are Gods and should act so, explored through the simple steps of Drop Out, Turn On, Tune In, we can re-shape the world as we would have it.

I say, why not go for it?

Carving Out What Is Not Needed


03 Jan

Here is the prompt from December 11th in the fabulous #reverb10 challenge.  This one comes from Sam Davidson:

11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

Okay, here’s my list -

  1. Shelves full of unread books
  2. Clutter
  3. Illness
  4. Regret
  5. T-shirts I never wear
  6. A broken A/C fan in my car
  7. Stagnant items on my to do list
  8. Yet another draft of my book (Hah!)
  9. An antiquated tracking system for the students at my dojo
  10. Frequent migraines
  11. Mindless Spite

Whew!  That was a tough list to come up with.  Looking at it I get very excited about having those things out of my life.  How would I go about eliminating them?

For the books I would like to spend more time actually reading them.  There are a whole lot though on my shelves that fall into the broad, “would be good to read someday” category.  Those I should put onto a list (I already have an app on my iPhone for doing just that) and getting rid of them in the meantime.  I can always visit the library…

Clutter is a constant battle for me.  I am a pack-rat by nature.  Luckily for me I am also mostly an organized mess type of person.  I know what piles contain what scraps of information.  Still, after having read a book or two, and a few dozen blog posts on the subject I recognize the drain on my energy these piles cause.  I need to carve out time to carry through with the plan I have had for a while: drag out all the piles and sort through them, filing actually important information and trashing the rest.  I could also scan in any old documents I might need some day and shred and recycle the paper.

For the last few years I have been caught in a cycle of persistent illness.  I suspect that the cause is systemic and I have an appointment with my doctor to explore some possibilities.  I need to keep my eye on the prize and keep up with testing until the question is resolved.

Regret.  That is a big one.  I don’t tend to have many major regrets, but the few big ones and the plethora of small ones really stick in my craw.  The truth is that the past is no more.  In my opinion being rid of regret is a dual process of both accepting, and moving on from past miss-steps as well as developing a watchful eye on myself and my actions to lower the chance of the formation of future regrets.  Reportedly one of Miyomoto Musahsi’s epiphanies was when he wrote the admonition in his journal to do nothing he would then regret.  He knew that the level of vigilance needed to live such a life was nearly superhuman, but that such a life would be well worth living.  I happen to agree.

T-Shirts!!! I have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many.  Here’s an idea: Keep a separate shelf of the ones that come back from the laundry for two weeks and then dump the rest.  That would leave me with a maximum of 14 t-shirts.  More than enough!

A broken A/C fan in my car.  For the past year the fan settings on my car have steadily stopped working.  It now only works on 4, the maximum setting.  I drive in a wind tunnel.  The solution here is simple – take it to the shop!

Stagnant to do items. Another biggie for me!  The solution is simple enough; I need to drill in and actually get the existing items done and be better about saying no when my plate is full.

Yet another draft of my book. I’m up to 3 so far…. Aieee!  The easy answer is – finish it.  I have recently re-acquired a friend who is very enthusiastic about the work and has volunteered to be a proof-reader, editor and transcriptionist.  So cool!  I hope that will do the trick!

An antiquated tracking system for the students at my dojo. I manage the dojo I attend, Suginami Aikikai SF.  It’s a great place to train!  One of the issues we have been grappling with is the old system we have cobbled together to track our students.  It works, but it produces a lot of work that could be automated.  This year we have begun the process of transferring to a new system that our sister dojo in Seattle uses.  Exciting stuff.  All that needs doing is the doing.  That is going along fairly well, with some lag due to the season.  Still, it’s coming together!

Frequent migraines. I have been afflicted with migraines since I was 6. I am told that I am very lucky that they only recently gotten much worse and much more frequent.  I used to get them once or twice a year.  Now it’s about four times a month.  I am running through various treatments, so far not much has helped except for Migra-profen, an herbal remedy which abates a good chunk of the pain.

Mindless Spite.  ‘Nuff said.  ;)

Hmmm, how would getting rid of those 11 things effect my life?

Well, in a nuthsell it would be -

Frickin’ Awesome!!!!

Book Review: Hardcore Zen


07 Feb

I recently came to terms with two facts in my life:

  1. I read a lot and really, really, really have been wanting to write book reviews for my blog for YEARS now.
  2. I HATE writing book reviews.

What you see above is my solution.  I have officially joined the world of video bloggers thanks to my 3Gs iPhone and YouTube. I hope you enjoy it (and I hope I leanr how to make them better as I go along. ;) )

Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality by Brad Warner:

I outlined the heck out of this book.  Lots of good stuff in it.  Here are some quotes I found particularly yummy:

  • “… if words are true, who cares whether the guy who wrote them has Shiho (a term for transmission in Zen – ed.) or Divine Inspiration or the power to fly faster than a speeding bullet?”
  • “Nothing can be separated from everything else.”
  • “If the meaning of life, the universe, and everything could be put into a few definitive words that everyone on Earth could agree upon now and for all time, someone probably woulda figured them out and written them down. But, even if they did, it would still be someone else’s truth – not yours.”
  • “Emptiness is that condition which is free from our conceptions and perceptions.”
  • “The universe desires to perceive itself and to think about itself and you are born out of this desire.”

He also has a chapter with an awesome translation of The Great Heart of Wisdom Sutra and his very excellent commentary.

All in all, as I said in the vid, highly recommended stuff.

Let me know what you think of the vid in the comments and how I can improve them going forward. Thanks!

Travis Eneix

Dedicated to looking at the self.