silent thunder

I'm sure the feeling was mutual mate.

I love this pic. Years ago, I realized that consuming mass news was turning me into a news thing. Regular Media Fasting for the win. If what we eat is important to overall health... then what we consume with our mind, is utterly crucial. Conume media with care.

Sustained fever above 103 is dangerous. I don't mind a low grade fever to percolate, but high fever is dangerous, particularly in younger humans whose bodies don't self regulate as well as adults.

QFT reference for the win!

I find the current atmosphere is still rather tame compared to early Bums activity. Ebb and Flow, Rise and Fall. The Bums'll shift again soon enough. Storms can't sustain indefinitely. Folks are all extra twitchy from the extreme conditions present. This prompts more extreme reactions, both beneficial and petty. My son nailed it when he was four. "dad, remember. we gotta give extra love to the mad people. they need it most."

Nice to know you're paying attention and trying to keeping score. Everyone needs a hobby. Not claiming i have it, (it's not a badge) We're operating on the assumption that they have it, to be proactive against possible spread. peace.

For me it's not about the specific words used, or even using words. It's more a state of being... magnifying and resonating authentic deep gratitude. My son and I also played a game when he was a toddler, to help train him in this process. We'd think of as many possible aspects of the chain of connection from seeds, to our table in how our food got to us. I'd start and thank the farmers who planted the seeds. He'd thank the sun and the rain. I'd thank the harvesters, he'd thank the truck drivers. I'd thank the road repair folks, he'd thank the company that made the tires on the trucks. We'd see how far down the rabbit hole of detailed connections and thanks we could get... Sometimes Mom would have to force us to start eating before it got cold. Then we'd just play in between mouthfuls, til the meal was done. (20 min after meal was done, he'd pipe up). thank you to little buggers digesting my food! We haven't played in years... thanks for the reminder. I'm going to start it up at lunch again.

vitality and rejuvination @Spotless. My son has a low fever that wanes each evening about 10pm, breaks in the morning and then, waxes in the afternoon through the evening again. Five days. Three with a light cough. My wife has intermittent low grade fever. No fatigue, no breathing issues, no other symptoms. I had a sore throat for 20 hours three days ago and a tinge of nasal drip the following day. But these are my symptoms when they share a cold or flu between them these last 10 years now. No other symptoms for me so far. No reports of illness in our neighborhood. Buuuuuut my son's school is predominately (85%) asian, many immigrant families who travel routinely. School closed two weeks ago, so we are assuming it's covid, given the time window and the perniciousness of the viability on surfaces and communicability, so channeling the hawk spirit attentiveness to any changes in breathing. Monitoring temps every half hour, if it rises to 101.5 we treat with acetominophen. Lungs sound good on both of them. We work the five organ circuit twice a day. Good food, good rest, keeping spirits high. We're all of us rather introvertish these last few years, so this shelter in place is more like our yearly family retreat on Mt Hood in Oregon... just us and the forest. Only here, we're in our temple home. One cat, one lap. That's our house. Good music, constant laughter, excellent food and a bit of dancing. Thrive!

moon and tides ebb and flow always rise with fall dao does not travel in one direction the action of dao is a bellows inexaustible gossamer evanescent within every action every motion there is a point of stillness from which the action arises about which it pivots and to which... it returns stillness, inexhaustible patience wisdom vision endurance vitality dao bums, always shifting you prove its worth with every contributed minute of presence and serve it with every word, typed or read. all contributions serve, as in cultivation all is grist for the mill. even untruth, serves truth, when inevitably revealed as untrue. all presence and contributions are noted and appreciated straw dogs...

I just deleted a similar post I made in this thread yesterday after thinking on it for a while. Glad I caught yours though, it brought a laugh.

No thanks... think I'll just have a pint.

your seagull reminded me of Emu's with arms.

wow mate. Thank you for that window into your world. Such gems! That just cascaded through my being like a bell ringing. thank you for sharing...

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I keep hearing how shitty Dao Bums is... by people who keep coming here every day for hours, to post repeatedly how shitty Dao Bums is...

Someone say Food Porn? Almazan Kitchen! breakfast second breakfast

Tupac is dead, I should know... i'm him. Now get back to work fuckers, the economy ain't gonna keep itself rollin'.

Stillness arises as the extremes of conditions play out. Palpable resonance of being and a very quiet mind aside from last evening, but that storm, like all storms could not sustain for long. It blew itself out in a few hours and simple raw being returned. Reminded consistently that this is not happening to me, or us, but through us. And this sheltering in place does not have to suck. We've been having such a great time, listening to music, audio books, playing games. Some amazing intimacy. Dancing is up, in our house 300%, gaming is up 1100% over this time last year. Steady stream of satsangs and comedians playing on youtube. My son is utterly thriving at home school. He's knocking out his work in 3 hours, with no distractions. Straight A's and more free time. He also started a private conversation with his science teacher after he did some research into the properties of light last night. Teacher is gobsmacked but loving it. I've made a new friend this morning. Holly. She works in a hospital and texted me by mistake this morning, ranting (and rightly so) about how the administration is treating her staff during this epidemic. She was profusely apologetic when she realized, but it was I who apologized on their behalf, and reached out and offered to listen to any rants, anything to repay my gratitude for what she's doing for everyone by being who she is, in the job she's in. It really floored her, so we've now been chatting back and forth, when she can and have struck a connection. She gets to burn steam in a safe place and the support and my description of how sincerely we are treating this, she shared with others there and said it's helped change the atmosphere there, for now anyway. We're sheltering in place, but not cut off. It's more like we're in retreat, not isolating.

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In between posts here, and a dancing break with my gal... I've been having a conversation with Holly. Holly texted me this morning to rant about the administration at her hospital and their treatment of staff during this... I don't know Holly. She texted me by mistake. When she realized it was a wrong number she apologized profusely, but I said, 'aw hell no! no apology needed. Rant to me all you need to, I can take it and I'll gladly be your pressure release. What you folks are dealing with... etc etc, you get the drift' So we've been conversing on and off (when she can) over the morning. I've been listening to her experience in the wards, with patients and dealing with heartless asmins on the frontline of this... and in return, I'm sharing with her, some heartfelt love and appreciation and also sharing how dedicatedly and sincerrely my family are taking this, in staying home, eating well and keeping our spirits up to keep from getting sick and to keep from spreading it. She's been sharing the conversation with others and there's a connection just in this simple exchange, she says, that has affected the mood in her entire wing. Reach out folks, when there's an opportunity. Energy spent nurturing returns magnitudes greater than it went out. Sharing grief diminshes grief. Sharing love, maginifies it. From Holly and not-so-silent thunder... much love Bums!

Nice Reference! As for me, perhaps my most relished realization was when it finally became conscious... that I'd stopped taking the universe personally. Life is no longer a runaway river, sweeping poor little me along. It's more akin to dancing now when life unravels. Or to swimming in a strong current river. The river is still carrying me along, but i'm no longer a victim of it, i'm actively engaged while personally withdrawn. It's a mean foundation for some serious stillness and bliss of clarity. One of the most resonant Taoist tenets for me is this one: which just keeps getting more resonant as i age. The Sage is in the world, but not of it.