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Some Perspective

Thanks to my friend Dan Harper for sharing this quote from Alice Walker, along with his own cogent thoughts  This morning, when I was thinking about how to address some of my current challenges, I decided it was important for me to remember that one of the reasons I keep my job is to be able to cultivate generosity.  I went on-line and became a monthly, rather than an occasional donor, to “So Others Might Eat.”  I stayed with the emotion of how it feels as a small, middle-aged woman to walk, as I do a few times a week, past a homeless shelter on the way out of the office towards home.  I thought about what it would be like to be homeless and food insecure, especially in the unseasonable months.  I thought about how hard it is to be so many humans so crowded together.

I thought about how helpful the yoga and meditation practices have been for me to be present in the tangle of society.   Though after tonight’s class at Willow Street Yoga,  I will be teaching only one public class (the William Penn House class on Tuesday nights), I will be writing and practicing and studying and exploring.  One of the many intertwined threads leading me to limit my public teaching is to give me more time and space to pursue other creative outlets, even as I continue to deepen my explorations of the yoga and other practices and teachings.

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    Signs Around Town

    What do you dream of creating?
    Do your dreams include influencing the dreams of others individually?
    What about influencing our collective dreams?
    Is it possible to seek change while simultaneously letting go of control? (An aspect of the “actionless action” that the Bhagavad Gita teaches as a primary goal of the yoga.)

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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    Excellent Blog on Community Gardening in DC

    I was just led to this blog entry on community gardening in DC  from the DC Urban Gardeners‘ list serve’s daily digest.  The blog entry was originally posted last spring, but still has helpful information, and the service provided by the blogger looks interesting too.

    If you have been thinking about getting into a garden, now may be a better time to get on a waiting list than the start of the growing season.  Now is the time that novices have realized that they don’t take care of their plots, and they are better off supporting the local farmers’ markets.  If you cannot get into a garden, why not be the fantastic neighbor that starts a new garden?

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    On My Way Home

    I was grateful to be able to walk to my comfortable home with plenty of food and to notice the beauty, but still engage in discussion and action to address the current situation. I choose as my role models those who inspire me to think and work and engage more fully. What are the responsibilities that come with privilege–as much as one has (at this point I have more than most,whatever it took to be where I am)?

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    Lessons in Non-Attachment (Compliments of RIM)

    After 27 hours, plus or minus a few minutes–but who is counting–service was restored to my Blackberry this morning. The reason I had a Blackberry instead of an IPhone in the first instance was because I preferred CREDO (which donates a percentage of profits to causes I support) instead of giving money to political candidates I oppose as do Verizon and AT&T. CREDO now has Android-based phones, which offer all sorts of exciting features that are really quite mind-boggling, if I stop to think about it. I have never been one, though, to give up something that still works fine, just because I could get something newer and more exciting.

    It is interesting to see the articles and comments on the internet about the worldwide Blackberry outage. Much is being said about how this outage will tip users over the edge and send them out to buy another phone because of outrage because of the loss of service. Others note their attachment to the Blackberry and say they will get over the outage because of their attachment. Still others note that doing without email on one’s phone for a day or two is just not a big deal, and they, on their high horses, post mocking comments at the crackberry addicts.

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    The episode did leave me thinking about our dependence on technology and how that dependence has shifted both for the good and bad how we relate to our family and friends and the tens of millions with whom we are connected in the ether; how we are attached to our habits and our expected ways things should work, and whether we get stirred up when things don’t go according to plan, desire, or expectations; and how a steady practice of non-attachment can help us open to make the best of things.

    Yes, I looked at the latest phones offer out of curiosity, but no, I won’t be getting one just yet. My three-year old BB is working just fine for now.

    Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

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