Other things I/we did on vacation:
- completed a cool 1000 piece puzzle with a supprize ending. (Maybe I'll bring it to a family gathering)
- ate over-priced but decent food
- made food in our hotel room using only a microwave for heat source for more reasonably priced food
- washed dishes in our hotel room while trying not to gunk up the sink
- finished season 2 of Wheel of Time
- dictated holiday cards while feeling very sick
- filled about half a paper shopping bag with used tissues
- watched the sun rise and set on beautiful cliff faces outside our lodge room windows
During the first night of being really sick, I had an interesting experience, as I wasn't able to get comfortable enough to sleep, and didn't have any pills that could help. I was mostly focusing on a mantra and other spiritual focuses, and that was actually quite nice. I only slept an hour or two at the end of the night, but I rested ok, and was in good spirits the next day. It seems like a good sign. It's easy to be focused on spirituality when everything is supportive of it, but if you can continue to focus on it when things are less conductive, that's perhaps a sign that the habit of focus has started to go deeper. I think that is happening in my life. It is a conscious intention. I would like to spiritualize everything in my life.
There's a nice quote from Tom Brown Jr. talking about his Native American teacher he called Grandfather, that goes something like, 'each step he took was a prayer on the earth' and I feel like that is a good attitude to have with life. We have ordinary things we have to do, day to day, to upkeep our lives, our jobs, etc. But those things can be done as an act of devotion and spiritualized. Then one's entire day can eventually be a walking meditation or prayer, regardless of the mundane obligations one has. I'd like to get there.
When I was doing my vision quest... I guess it was two summers ago, at this point, I noticed how easy it was to connect into a deep spiritual awareness, and thought about how that just wasn't possible in the hubbub of everyday life, away from nature and busy with stuff to do. But one of the realizations I had was the namasmarana I do (Namasmarana means basically, remembrance of the name, and looks like repetition of a mantra/name of god, either silently or out loud) was for me the equivalent of a vision quest for the world. It's a way to take the forest with me. Maybe you've heard the term, 'head in the forest, feet in the world.' I think this is a way to do that for me. I've been trying to integrate that practice into my life so that it's automatic, but it hasn't stuck. I think I am making progress towards it though, as I reflect now.
Next blog, I'll be back in the academic game. I really hope I can take some of the lessons learned over the last semester, to work smarter, doing a bit less unnecessary work, and doing my work with a little less care/slowness. I still want to do a good job, but I also have other things than school that are important to me, that I want to give some of my time. Hopefully with some reflection and strategy, I can limit the amount of time I'm spending on school work without negatively affecting my grades or learning outcomes.
OK, the cat is meowing at me for dinner so that's my cue to go. Take care and walk in beauty,
-Isaac
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