Signs Around Town
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Afternoon Light
More contemplation on compassion and the interplay between compassion and judgment during and after a very busy day.
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Art and Culture | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation | Photos
Conversation With a Co-Worker
On seeing me snap a picture with my phone of our shared view of the highway, homeless shelter, tax court, and an array of office buildings apparently designed in the school of Mies Van Der Rohe gone terribly wrong, my next door office mate asked, “are you taking a picture of what you will be missing while you are in India?”
“No, I’m taking a picture of a heart-shaped cloud. When I’m having a day as stressful as the one I’m having, I like to remind myself that there’s always a heart-shaped cloud out there to put things in perspective.” I held up my phone so that she could see the photo, as sometimes people don’t see the heart shape until I’ve photographed it.
“That’s pretty cool,” she observed.
She’s going to water my plants when I’m gone, and I’ll look for a little something from India for her that will make a hard day at the office a bit easier to take–perhaps a murti of Ganesha (the elephant god who is said to be the remover of obstacles).
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Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Community and Family | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc) | Meditation
Working with Chaos
I’ve had more than one yoga/meditation teacher who has suggested that in order to make true spiritual shifts, it is necessary to pick one path (theirs) and stick to it. I agree with that up to a point. If we just stay on the surface of lots of different things, it will be hard to go deep.
Nonetheless, living in a multicultural nation of immigrants and working in a field where being open to diversity is in my mind a job requirement and having grown up with the multifarious influences of New York and both Jewish culture and Quaker practice, it would be hard to think that sticking to a single-sourced spiritual path could be possible for me. Better then, perhaps, to go deep by also looking broadly and openly.
In that regard, though I do not consider myself a Buddhist, I often find Buddhist teachings instructive. This article by Pema Chodron on working with chaos seems particularly useful for me today.
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Brrr. Looking Forward to “Indian Summer”
I’ve been working at home all day instead of at the office because of the icy, wet, and dank stuff that was coming out of the sky this morning. I am really looking forward to the warmth of “Indian summer” next week, though less so to the 30 hours plus or minus of travel it will take to get there.
Current long range forecast for Chennai (and we’ll be heading south from there) is for highs in the low 80s F, lows in the high 60s. Salwar, sari, and dhoti weather.
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State of the Garden
Oh for a cold frame. Later, I’ll get bundled up and harvest an armload of greens before the freezing rain starts. Snow would have been fine, but not freezing rain for tender greens.
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Clouds Were Playful Like That (Lila)
Clouds were playful in
The purpling twilight dancing
Shapes of light on dark.
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DOL Food Service Survey
If we don’t speak up for the change we believe in, it likely won’t happen.
And sometimes you get a free cup of coffee for speaking up, but that’s an incidental bonus.
