Amusing Musings

When I went to Chautauqua for the week and ended up with a severe upper respiratory infection, I never did get back into my physical exercise program. The amusing part? Last week, Solutions for Wellness sent me a congratulatory certificate of completion of their wellness program!

I still walk whenever I can and try to eat right. I've signed up for a 30 day e-course with Thich Nhat Hahn. And, I've loaded up my library book bags. I'm keeping tabs on my virtual bookshelf at Facebook. So far I can remember reading 1,525 books, am currently reading 5 books and want to read 296 more. Check out my Facebook page to see the specifics.

More musings....

I'm still not completely back to normal healthwise. My physical exercise program reflects that. Yesterday I walked our basset hound Zeke for almost 30 minutes. (Well, it was more pausing and snuffing that continuous walking, but it still counts.) Today I walked back to my main agency building and returned to the jail - at least 20 minutes of walking. (This doesn't count today's grocery shopping; that's walking and a bit of strength training since Bob's Big M insists on overloading the cloth bags I bring in rather than contribute to the plethora of plastic bags covering the earth.)

I watched the PBS rebroadcast of a 1986 performance of the Elixar of Love by Donizetti, featuring Luciano Pavaoatti in his prime. Even with the older video sound track and my non-enhanced bedroom television, it was very apparent that he could really sing. The notes appear to cascade from him effortlessly. He will be missed.

I serendipitously found a new spirituality website: SpiritualityandPractice.com. Although one of the courses with Thich Nhat Hahn offically began on September 10th, I signed up for the full forty day e-retreat. I already have a gatha to use on a daily basis, borrowed from one of the other sharers of the spiritual journey: "Chopping wood, drawing water. Walking with a mind of listening."

Amused at my musings...

or, a peek at my personal preoccupations:

I decided to segue slowly into another attempt at Week 8 of the Solutions for Wellness exercise program. Last night I took our basset, Zeke, for a 20 minute walk, well - it was more a 20 minute stop and snuff, but you get the idea. Tonight I went for another walk with Zeke, who almost took me off my feet when he spotted a predatory rabbit. That meant I got both aerobic and strength exercising at the same time!

I can't get into my Facebook virtual bookshelf to update the books I have finished and those I am currently reading. I'm continuing to listen to A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester and have found it to be extremely interesting. It's been slower going for Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson.

I'm giving some thought to doing a daily gratitude list as a spiritual practice. I wonder what would happen if I googled "gratitude list"? (Wow! displaying the results for 1 through 10 of approximately 2,270,000 pages!!)

Starting over, again.

Musings: Well, I now know what it takes to knock me off the exercise horse (so to speak). I was managing to stay active and exercise even while on vacation at Chautauqua, but when I came down with a bad upper respiratory virus while half-way through my week's vacation, I found myself taking it easy, resting, drinking plenty of fluids and no longer exercising. I'm still battling the lingering effects of the tenacious bug and have yet to begin exercising again. Housecleaning and going to work seemed more than enough to do.

Even though I did not continue with physical exercise, I did continue to exercise my mind and spirit. I read several books and listened to numerous podcasts of dharma talks. I did metta meditation and, once, having been inspired by Dr. Dharma Singh Kahlsa at Chautauqua, I found myself listening to a meditation (in song), Ek Onkar, Sat Nam, Siri Wahe Guru. I decided to galvanize myself and start blogging again, even though I'm not back at 100% yet.

For the mind: I'm listening to A Crack in the Edge of the World by Simon Winchester seemingly about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but actually an education in the advances of geology, plate techtonics, etc.

For the spirit: While surfing the web, I came across the following item from Buddhanet.net

The Game of Janken (Scissors, Paper, Rock)

Janken is perhaps the most popular game which the Japanese, young and old, play when deciding a trivial issue. It is played by thrusting forth the right hand simultaneously with the other player and extending or curling the fingers and thumb to represent the shape of scissors, paper, or rock. Scissors defeat paper because a pair of scissors can cut paper; rock beats scissors because scissors cannot cut rock; and paper defeats rock because it can be wrapped around a rock. This game conveys the profound Buddhist teaching of interdependence and relativeness.

I had no idea that this game had a Japanese ancestry nor did I even suspect it to be an explanation of the interdependence of Buddhism.