You Should ..

[thelerner]

You Should..

 

Do a simple emptiness meditation for 1 - 2 hours before bed.

 

Eat more veggies, less meat.

may I recommend learning to make a quick gaspacho

 

Get an account at heifer.org and make animal sacrifices when times are good.

 

Watch more sunsets.

 

..

 

not be told what to do by others.

[evZENy]

You Should..

...

not be told what to do by others.

 

:-)

 

BTW, the guys from Heifer.org at the Green Festival didn't know about the religious symbolism of the Red Heifer - the only time I actually have heard the word used!

[Tabula Rasa]

You Should..

 

not be told what to do by others.

 

Who are these others, lol, I will keep my eyes peeled for them (ouch)!

 

Thanks for the beautiful suggestions, thelerner.

[Trixter Streetcat]

Meditation is truly and surely the ultimate, supreme tool for consciousness expansion.

 

To get in tune with nature, creation and the whole, it is useful to tune to the lunar calendar.

 

Your basic duty is to do what you're supposed to do in the best possible way. Work hard, follow your dharma, always for the advancement of the soul, yours and others, and without ever harming anything or anyone.

 

Learn about the world around you.

 

Eat well. Keep mind and body in activity. Work to purify you nervous system.

 

Pass on the knowledge.

[Squatting Monkey]

Pass on the knowledge.

 

Without asking for anything in return.

[goldisheavy]

What would happen if people didn't take the "shoulds" so seriously? I predict two effects:

 

- People proposing shoulds would not be criticized, as it would be implicitly understood that it's a suggestion, and an opinion, and not a commandment or an imperative. People would be a lot more free in stating their preferred shoulds, without fearing the reprisal from the disgruntled should-followers who followed some shoulds stupidly and have become angry when the results failed to meet the expectations.

 

- People hearing the shoulds would not be offended and nor would they feel prodded.

 

Perhaps there is a third effect:

 

- Bosses would find it a lot harder to control their employees using fear/threats. This may be good and fun. I would like to see this. Needless to say, the so-called "masters" would lose their special touch over the so-called "students" too. There'd be fewer cults, it would be harder to gather people into groups. Organized religion would take a hit. Two party system would collapse and become a 100 party system. People would be more like cats than dogs.

Edited June 11, 2009 by goldisheavy

[Aetherous]

You should...

 

1) Keep in mind that you know very little.

2) Stop blathering.

3) Value the dejected.

[TheSongsofDistantEarth]

-Carefully select your practice(s) and maintain a simple regimen that you do without fail, and go

deeply into it, for a long time, until you sesnse you have gotten all you can out of it. Avoid 'energetic

indigestion' by doing too many practices, or jumping from one thing to the next 'in thing'.

[thelerner]

I wonder to what extent the following thoughts are contradictory. If they are, I'm still happy to hold them both.

 

Thought 1. You should downgrade wants into preferences. Meaning if you want something, and life is in many ways a series of wants, understand that to have it or not is a preference between vanilla ice cream and chocolate ice cream. Either one is fine. You can have a preference, but work to understand, either one is fine. Move on with a settled mind.

 

Thought 2. 'Shoulds' are important because shoulds can turn into Musts. What I mean is, the most accomplished people seem to be those who developed the Musts; things they had to do, regularly no matter how they felt. They surrendered to the long term practice. We want to accomplish great things, but we feel like sitting on our butts and wasting time on the internet.

 

Those with the true Musts, sit the 10,000 hours, practice daily for decades.

 

It feels like the two are in opposition. Perhaps the thread that links them is surrender? and with surrender comes grace?

 

 

Michael