That's the view of Cowan Park from my curbside seat at the Cowan Park Grocery and Cafe, where I have ensconced myself while Otis toils in her massage room. Although to be completely honest, I'm mostly in the shade of an umbrella.Yesterday was a splendid day. I took a little bike ride to pick up some hardware; it was sort, but it took almost exactly to the third-highest point in Seattle, just up the road a piece (and it is indeed up). It was a great workout getting there.
I used the hardware to finish fixing up Ruby the Scooter, which required me to first stop by O's in the afternoon to borrow Johnbai's drill. It was a nice surprise to find Dingo there gardening! With drill and hardware in hand, it was short work to re-install the grille.
Otis and I were going to make our inaugural ride after that, but I couldn't get the engine to turn over before the battery wore out. This is not uncommon after a long, dormant winter, but it was still a bit of a disappointment. I have charged the battery and we'll try it again today.
Johnbai himself showed up at our place in the evening to share some cupcakes, but I forgot to give him his drill back.
I also tried a zen experiment yesterday. One of the principal notions behind a zen approach is experiencing mindfulness by attending to only one thing at a time: if you are eating, just eat; if you are chopping wood, just chop wood; and so on. So, when I sat down to my top ramen for lunch, I didn't open a book or my laptop. I just sat and ate, and tried to be very conscious of the act of eating and of the food itself.
I found that the greatest barrier to attaining focus was a tendency to narrate the proceedings in my head. Instead of just experiencing an act, I am almost simultaneously analyzing it, editing it, and preparing it for communication to others. In other words, I was writing this blog entry at the same time I was eating the meal! It was most annoying, but I couldn't seem to stop, except for one moment, close to the start of the meal, when I heard the sound of the broth dripping from a pea pod and just experienced it without internal comment. of course, the more I tired to move toward that focus, the further away it slipped; I finally let my mind go and wound up writing a GURPS script in my head and missing part of the meal.
I would appear that I have some way to go on this journey.
This is for Soapy, so he can see all the stuff he's missing by not drinking.
2 comments:
Speaking as someone who also has a long, long way to go on this journey too, I think the problem may be wanting to be conscious of what you are doing. From what I have gathered from the books on zazen that I have been reading, mindfulness is not self-observation, it is just doing. If you are distracted by thoughts then you acknowledge the thought and go back to what you are doing. And if you what you are doing is sitting still in a certain posture, it can be hard not to be aware of the oddness of what you are doing.
You've read Zen and the Art of Archery? CPG scored with that new curb bulb. Perfect for outdoor seating.
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