zanshin

Oh, someone please say no. As a teenager I felt traumatized when my mom threw away old raggedy stuffed animals I didn't play with anymore. If she hadn't done it would probably still be in my bedroom. Even now I'd have a hard time throwing the poor headless stuffed monkey away feeling sorrow for it languishing in a landfill somewhere. Have gotten better at least at putting things I don't use anymore in a donation box, might be more appropriate to trash some of it, but I have a hard time with it if trashiness at all questionable, perhaps I could justify trying to be environmentally conscious, but I get silly and sentimental about inanimate objects.

Lighthouse keepers went mad too, because lenses were in a bath of mercury. Otherwise seems like it would have been a good job for a cultivator. I am swearing off lemming practices, otherwise interesting thread.

You are right about listening to the body. I still think cheeseburgers and fries taste good, but if I eat like that I feel like I barely have energy to get off the couch for the next few hours so rarely eat fast food now. Red wine of course is heart medicine, especially merlot It is easy to overeat depending on who lives with you, my kids are like locusts but they stay skinny, sometimes I will have snack with them when I don't need it. I looked anorexic back in college days- but I was not, I could eat like locust then. Now at 41 have to be a little more careful, when my pants get a little tight I eat less and exercise more, soon loose again. Being able to store fat was adaptive through much of history, in these days I am blessed to have high metabolism, but wouldn't have been a good peasant, when famine came I'd waste away and die pretty quick.

Not sure of statistics for men. Women usually start losing bone mass about age 30. First few years post menopause most rapid loss, can be up to 2%/year. Studies have shown with strenuous strength training program can actually gain a little over 1%/year instead of losing in those years. So, our bones are not set in stone, and our body does take energy to maintain bone mass. Most people overeat and also become more sedentary as they get older. Interesting question, if a person could keep caloric intake and activity level fairly constant throughout adult lifespan, how would weight change?

Desiring not to desire is desiring. Joining meditation journey to India or Thailand is desiring. Can not desiring come from desiring not desiring? Is an emotionless state where you pass others by with no feeling of compassion desirable? Always you make choices, what would you base a choice on that is not in some way desire?

credit emptiness sky is clear west wind is cold might rain tomorrow

My cat would knead my stomach and purr when I was pregnant.

Got stung by a bee once at a family get together (because I was barefoot). My uncle, who is beekeeper, smiled and told me that should be really good for me and that all the stings he gets keep his arthritis under control. I did feel really good and energetic the next day, although my foot still hurt.

Give in to it's flow or resist conformity go the other way

oh my, cannabis? we're going to have to produce a lot more food. Forget the farm, I want a quickymart franchise.

Wow, and the carshop told me I couldn't drive with out TREADS. Yeah, would guess Champaign county.

Considering buying a little farm, price is right, don't want to take mass majorities with me. I do agree more with the individual responsibilty side of it. You can teach a man to lead a horse to water, but it scares the fish- or some metaphor like that

in transit.

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plungering, he meant plungering. Good spelling and grammar is certainly not synonymous with intelligence, geez, I can spell and use some fancy words but...

Everywhere. People are smart in different ways. I sat with two old guys talking about the right way to build a basement the other day, could barely follow their conversation, but it was interesting and if I buy or build a house I'll have some idea how it should be now.

Love to you my brother for understanding things right even when the going is crappy. You're a hero- one of mine anyway.

burned hand, pending eviction worries, flu- that's three- so bad luck is done, free and clear for some good fortune. Wish you all the best.

Your piano playing sounds like state of flow which is a yang state, an adaptive rather than pathological trance that enhances performance. You become one with the piano and it's does flow seems automatic but past the cognitive stage. In the old texts this is martial application, mythic warrior stuff. Wu wei more yin state of mind (might encompass both). In yin state, mind is quiescent and receptive perhaps not egoless but ego sitting quietly. The mind reflects clearly but does not linger and add mind stuff to perception. This is a mind free of pathological trance. Like he talks about in the article, people easily slip into a light trance with enough awareness to get around, but awareness mostly off in the pathological trance, so mind stays mostly clouded. So free and healthy mind mostly in yin state, but of course you need capacity for both. (We know the sages could still kick butt when it became appropriate ). Mind has capacity to shift gear from yin to yang, in quiescent mind is potential for action, creation and destruction, but then mind must be able to return to clear and quiet stage once done.

Mind is the reflection of the moon on the water. Something Zen? Can't recall the source. Moon on the water is the "fake" moon, but if the water in calm and clear we see the "real" moon clearly, if water is choppy and troubled image of the "real" moon becomes ditorted.

Was wondering how brainwaves in state of flow compare to sleep and dreams. Might be sort of interesting site that I will look more at later. http://flowpsychology.com/2011/03/31/flow-of-alpha-brain-waves/ 'Night you bums, sweet dreams!

Now you are talking about state of flow or mind of no mind- I think. Let's go with the usual convention of dreams and reality, when do you experience this awareness? I've been there both places, don't know how to get there. Being analytical and labelling things never did it and doesn't seem like a place of any confusion. Talking about creativity of staying up all night to do a project with endless energy and ideas intuitively all comes together beautifully or an athlete in the game where time almost seems to slow and you can anticipate every move.

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