zanshin

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I don't think it's necessarily unloving to feel sadness or anger. I love nature, couple weeks ago we went canoeing and the river was just trashed; I did feel sad and angry. So I picked up a few things in my bag which objectively not really changing anything, but I'll still go back and do it again. If we see others suffering maybe it makes us mad and that fires us up to get off our butt and help out. Simply being nice and pleasant when inside you really don't like what's going on is not loving, it usually ends up being passive aggressiveness. I think a little self love and boundaries are healthy too. Might not be a good choice to scream and swear at random jerks who spit on the sidewalk, too many jerks, gotta feel love for your vocal cords don't overstrain them.

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http://kesdjan.com/exercises/ec.html Interesting, trying to understand Gurdjieff and considering. Seem more similar to locus of control in psychology than to introspection. So Gurdjieff's idea is to work from internal locus of control through external considering.

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The district my mom teaches in, unofficially, over the past couple decades, has been the school in their county that has been very accomodative of taking kids with physical or learning disabilities and trying to meet their needs. With the right wing educational initiatives, the school administration is really trying to get away from doing this, can't afford it and then the kids with problems drag down the scores and funding even worse.

I don't know that it's the fault of any of that. A problem with linking teacher merit pay to test performance is it's a huge disincentive to any teacher wanting to work in a poor district. It's really hard to help kids learn and test well without parent and community support. In our current system wealthy districts can pass a levy and get tablets for all; poor ones have not enough outdated books. Throwing money only to the groups that show performance and can do well on standardized tests isn't going to solve anything either, just makes the disparity worse.

I think it's good, but you have to ease into it and do it slow, not to extreme pain. Horse stance hurts, full lotus hurts, barefoot running hurts. The whole cycle of doing what you can and then continually later getting back up to do it again and gradually more and better, yeah it hurts, but quitting hurts more.

Chalk and slate ould probably be the most environmentally friendly one. I think there is an advantage to engaging the kinesthetic system by going thru the motions of writing when you are trying to learn certain things. I was optimistic that when they put all our documentation on computer it would make it better and smoother for us in health care, a few aspects may be better, but mostly the slow, snotty, glitchy computers make it pretty frustrating.

Interesting and from my experience, true. Oh my, having babies does rewire your brain!

I think I posted this before, I got sick almost immediately after practicing qigong in a hospital. I worked there and was just hanging out waiting for a patient so used the time to practice. Nothing too serious or long lasting, but I would recommend caution in bad or low energy places. Did have an interesting experience sitting out meditating and looking up at the stars sitting on what we think might be an Indian mound on my parents' property. First drumming and music, then stars shifting and turning into people and animals, then everything caught on fire, but it wasn't scary, then the shaman or someone told me a few things and afterward I felt pretty happy and peaceful.

I like it and it does sound right. So, we've been enlightened before and we will be again. In the meantime, food and sex and beer do make a nice way to pass the time.

Who? Not trying to disparage 20-somethings seeking enlightenment in general, thread made me wonder about the statistics. I am sure enlightened people do not care about statistics.

What's the youngest anyone has become enlightened at? Never mind that we might not even know what enlightened means, well I don't. But as far as teachers and masters it seems like under 30 might be pretty unusual. Maybe some of the more extreme ascetic practices may be going against nature before body completely mature and hormones stabilized.

So you're standing at a crossroads and you have to go somewhere, because everything in life moves and changes. Even rocks shift and weather. I think maybe your logic and intuition are telling you which way to go, but you're hesitating from fear and of course empathy. It takes integrity, strength and mental toughness to move forward to follow the path that's right for you. Can be kinder to move and let other find their own path than to stay and not so secretly harbor unhappiness, resentment and ilusions.

yay! Go end of the world! Will be out in woods camping on this day. Last year I was camping on whatever day in May the bible guy prophesied as the end of the world (not that I was getting prepared, another coincidence). Hope whenever it comes, I'm sitting out fishing when it happens.

I think a peaceful world would have to be a world of hermits and introverts, maybe just a nice dog for companionship. Social living breeds competition and everyonse self image becomes about perception of others; people don't know who they are except in relation to other people and can't walk away from competition. Being alone is an underrated life skill.

I read an article by this guy in a psychology magazine in a waiting room once, very interesting. I think this was the guy, perhaps I will get his book, unless I forget about it again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss-Howe_generational_theory Your nomadic pal,

I remember when generation X was more of a buzzword, something was on in the media about socially irresponsible slackers. My grandma rolled her eyes and said they said all those same things about her age group when they were young and that the kids would be fine. She was part of the Silent Generation, everything is cyclical.

Sort of a coincidence in reading this, I do feel like my body is humming or vibrating today, even a little tinnitus. Health seems okay, ate breakfast, walked and exercised a little. Can't quite shake it off; it's becoming a little annoying.

I only ever want something light first thing in the morning. Hated all traditional hearty breakfast foods when I was a kid, til I got to college and figured out they taste really good around 2 am.

Rather die while I'm living than live when I'm dead.

Why do you want to back money with a nonrenewable resource (gold and silver)? Mostly mined by underpaid workers living under poor conditions in oppressive societies.