Signs Around Town
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- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Gardening | Meditation | Photos
Blossoms Around Town
Lunch time trip to the tropics (U.S. Botanical Garden)
- Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
What Do You See?
What do you see when you walk down the street or into a room? Do you see more or less depending on whether the surroundings are new to you or familiar? John Friend has said that when leading a class teachers need to be able simultaneously to see the whole room (and how everything and the students are in relationship to each other in the room), each student as a part of the whole and as a whole person, and the individual alignment of each student.
What it takes to do this is the ability to be completely soft, spacious, and open in our seeing (“open to grace”) and also well enough educated and experienced to appreciate and understand the details. I think that when we can see both the big picture and the details simultaneously, we have the greatest opportunity to experience the most of life, are more likely to be able to look for the good, and to make the most positive changes.
On A Bus
This morning I found myself on a bus instead of the train to New York because of the horrible accident on Tuesday.
While waiting for the bus, I was interviewed by local TV. They were interested in reactions of people whose travel plans were impacted by the accident.
This is roughly what I said:
This was a horrible tragedy that need not have happened. (I suppose it was for the best that I had not seen the news that a certain candidate for President was quoted as saying that we shouldn’t use a tragedy as an excuse to spend more money on things like safety lest I explain why we need better safety, more spending on mental health care, better treatment of employees, and more investment in infrastructure instead of lowering taxes for the wealthy, etc.) I said that the inconvenience meant nothing to me when I think of those who were on the train. I said that I wouldn’t stop taking the train. One accident would not change my commitment to using public transportation instead of the greater environmental impact of driving.
And I said I’d had a good experience with Amtrak customer service. I didn’t say it to the camera, but I expect part of my positive experience was my recognizing when I spoke with an agent that the customer service employees must be having an incredibly stressful time of it.
View from the bus, approaching Manhattan.
