I was not able to go to the Washington, DC event for Global Mala Day because I am scheduled to do my regular volunteer work. I did, however, include the focus of this call for a unified, intentional offering in my morning meditation and asana practice.
Do join in, remembering to celebrate yourself as part of the community however and whatever your offering. Be mindful of your body and energy as you choose a practice to be sure that the repetition of 108 will serve rather than deplete.
But the camera did.
The past several days in DC have been perfect for walking. The mornings, for me, require a winter coat and gloves and a hat or scarf. At the warmest part of the day, the air is refreshingly cool, and I can shed some layers. In spring and fall, there is little I want to do more than take long walks. And so I take to the sidewalks even more than the usual walk to work, to the Farmers’ market, to the metro, to visit with friends, to teach, to go to the nursery or the grocery store, to go to the bank and post office, to go get a massage. I make no effort to be efficient and consolidate errands; every errand is an excuse to take a walk. I add a block or seven onto an errand walk. I walk and think and then my attention is seized by the beauty of the color and the light. I have to pause and drink it in.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
As the child of Depression era parents, I was taught to use every bit of the food that we bought. I was an impoverished scholarship student for the first eight years I lived on my own. I also started paying attention to environmental issues early on; in high school, I worked to bring awareness of energy and water consumption and recycling in connection with the earliest Earth Days. Having gotten into the habit of being resourceful and creative with food early on, I never got out of the habit–though many of my law school and better off friends thought I was weird or cheap.
With the recession continuing (and only likely to deepen dreadfully for my lifetime given the tenor of the debt negotiations) and thankfully growing interest in being kinder to our environment, it is becoming fashionable to be more mindful of waste of any kind. Here is a great article on how to savor more of your food and diminish your trash output (which, by the way, also lowers your carbon footprint.)
