thelerner

Any interesting plans for June?

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What you guys working on in June?  Anything strange or new?

 

 

I'm gonna take a step back meditation wise.  Simplify, work on breathing exercises.  Particularly those on a youtube Breathing Mantra.  They have some nice 30 minute practices with tones.  Start with the tri sets of 7-7-7 (in, out, hold)and see how high I can get comfortably.  And they have quad sets of x-x-x-x, In, hold, out, hold.. 30 minutes w/ nice spiritual music going.  Maybe supplement with my old Silent Grounds tones that were x,x or 1,4,2 rhythm, ie 6in, 24hold, 12 out.  At one point I'd worked up to 10in, 40, hold, 20 out.  

 

Such breathing practice is a bit of crutch, in that real meditation isn't listening to things outside.  Yet good breathing makes for better meditation, so why not refresh myself; see if I can get back to longer breath cycles of a minute or so.

 

I want to work on strength.  I've been turning into a Covid potato.  So, at least 100 (easy) pushups a day and a 100 squats, maybe 50 squats if done w/ kettlebell.  Maybe one day of rest, if I've done 6 days in a row. That along with long walks.  With pushups I should build up to 200 (easy countertop) pushups in two weeks, but not if I don't start.   

 

Lastly, I want to raise some mushrooms.  The mundane, like oysters, and the exotic.  Supplies coming.

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After finishing a long program of mundane, job-related study, I want to get back to finishing a novel I'm writing and planning another one.

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I'll go into a Daoism and qigong bookworm phase. Even if not to take on physical practices, just beefing up on terminology, concepts, culture, context, perspective, appreciation. Hope I can be of help to other seekers someday. Hoarding the pdf collection https://www.thedaobums.com/topic/49954-jun-yu-xian-repository/ (How are you doing by the way @OverseerFeatheredImmortal!) Yang Jwing-Ming stuff is usually pretty solid. Also this looks neat: https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/Occult_Library/Taoism/Louis Komjathy - Handbooks for Daoist Practice/

 

 

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I will be working on surrender.

 

After a three year hibernation, a surrender to the growing desire for regular daily praxis is arising again... I've begun surrendering to it for some weeks now.  Going to revisit Wang Liping's sitting process as well as Zhou Ting-Jue's Qi Gong system.

 

I also want to get back in the saddle and resume cycling regularly.

Get the kid in on it.  I miss that. 

 

And our city's been transforming an old railway line into a biking/walking path, which cleverly doubles as a Butterfly Migration corridor, planted as it is with supporting gorgeous flowering shrubs, so it's a stunning ride... In concert with Redondo Beach, Hawthorne and Gardena, it will eventually link up to the coastal path that runs 26 miles up to Malibu, all off street.  I love cycling, but street cycling with our drivers and level of traffic is no longer pleasant or relaxing.  We could eventually bike up to Wheeler Gorge and go bicycle camping...

 

I'm going to surrender to the desire for a media fast soon, and take a break from all screens.  They usually last a month but one of them went over a year, so who knows.

 

All i know is that I've consumed more news in the last four months as in the previous 11 years combined and its influence is palpable.  Surrendering to the inner voice beggin me to reduce consumption of media's and random stranger's thoughts and allow space for silence, and for my own thoughts and those close to me to be witnessed.  It's noisy of late.  The mud settles when i stop stirring the water.

 

If Hollywood doesn't resume soon, (no hints from my contacts of approaching prep work and our department always kicks in weeks before Production/Camera does) so it looks like June and July will be dark.  My gut says a few productions may begin in August, but who knows.  I left the Morning Show in mid January.  So I've had my fill of sitting meditation, screen time, books and movies.

 

So when the hours open up...

 

To Warm up, I have a kit/puzzle I picked up for my son's 12th birthday.  He's 14 now.  It's a working To Scale replica of one of Da Vinci's catapult designs.  It had no gravity for him then, but once he sees me digging into it, he may well want to help.  He'll at least, I trust, want to test it out on some targets strewn about the living room once finished.  This will be knocked out in a couple hours one afternoon soon.  That will be good some good shite...

 

But that short project will be the lead in that should leave my space and tools prepped and ready for the real project.  Which is an accurate, 9-10th century replica model of a Viking Longship in scale.  The research is done.  I have all the blueprints I need and some of the patterns already drawn out on paper.  Thinking I'll work in cardboard first, to work kinks out of the patterns, then use those for the wooden final model.  It should have full funtion when completed.  Rope system, folding mast mount and sail/rudder/oars, storage areas.  When painted and finished it should be a nice piece to give a grandchild one day. 

 

And while that's going on, it's back to Flutterby's. 

For years I've wanted to support Monarchs in their migration and host eggs, ever since my wife and I happened on a hibernating cluster of millions of them in a Eucalyptus grove while hiking in Big Sur one day years ago.  That was a transformative, peak experience that still resonates energetically and has fostered in me a deep and abiding connection.  Monarchs exhibit as a species, a very taoist immortality trait as I see it.  Each fourth or fifth generation of them, outlives the previous generations combined and makes the migration back to the nesting grounds in California, or Mexico, to a place they've never been, before laying the eggs for the next cycle of four/five generations to continue.  It would be the equivalent of me, living 320 (80x4) years and traveling back to the farm in Trøndelag Norway where my ancestor's came from, without ever having been there.  Not to mention the alchemy of creating a sack in which you literally liquify your own walking body and transform it into a new being capable of flight.  All with no training, teachers.  <woof!>

 

So last year I added Milkweed to our modest balcony garden, hoping to lure some Mama's to lay some eggs the old fashioned way.  I'd prefer not ordering eggs online.  We got a few visitors, but no eggs.  (maybe they're all up on the bike path! :wub: ) That plant didn't thrive either, but it seeded in two other pots lol.  My plan is to try again with a new plant and if we get any eggs, I'll encase the plant in a light screened cage to protect the little guys n gals and we'll get a chance to watch up close as they transition through their hatching and Chrysallis.

 

Final project gaining inertia in mind.  I've been drawn to revisit the DDJ again in depth, another intense immersion.   The last study I undertook 9 years ago, lasted almost a year and led to me to write my haiku version of the DDJ.  I'd like to commit a hand written version to present to my son as he enters High School and early manhood next year.

 

I'll take one verse at a time, and utterly immerse in it.  Through a dozen or more translations, I drop into each verse as fully as possible.  At one verse a day it is doable in under three months, but many verses have to gestate for days, sometimes weeks.  Or at least they did the last time.

 

I read, reread and reread countless times... that one verse.   Memorizing some of them and then carry that verse about with me as i go about my life, seeing life through the lense of that verse and uncovering how it applies and reflects in my daily life.  Until I arrive at a point where it synthesizes.

 

This was a life transformative in the extreme for me the last time around.  Led me to meeting Master Zhou and then Wang Liping, which also resulted in the healing of my years of crippled disability and internal pain and ill health.

 

It is also what led me here as during my research in finding as many translations as possible, I began lurking Marblehead's and Dawei's conversations here and eventually surrendered to the pull to join in the discussion.

 

So my projects are surrender.  To my impulses to act and to quiet down.

 

 

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I'm working on some web apps... I'll likely continue them. Continue my study of Vasistha's yoga and meditation in between.

Though I've been considering sometime whether I want to leave home and just wander for a bit; my first intentions were to go full Rambo, which isn't great and even worse with covid. Now my intentions are more so about moving out and setting up my own place. Wonder if I can find a nice place to fix up, that's secluded and silent.

Edited by Mithras
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Doing my best to act in sync with the times.  

 
A circumstance beyond our control,
The phone, the tv and the news of the world
Got in the house like a pigeon from hell, 
Threw sand in our eyes and descended like flies
Put us back on the train
Oh, back on the chain gang

The powers that be
That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they've done to you
But I'll die as I stand here today
Knowing that deep in my heart:
They'll fall to ruin one day
For making us part 

 

 

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When the proverbial S started to hit the proverbial F, I made two purchases I do not regret when the gyms closed: a Weider weight bench (i.e. Total Gym rip off) and a stationary bicycle. A modest investment ($200ish) with great returns. Also, I have found that riding a bicycle is great. I'm in Colorado, so I can ride on a trail for quite a ways. Sometimes it is good with an audiobook, a youtube video (listen only) or podcast. Sometimes it is good just to meditate in motion. 

 

3 hours ago, thelerner said:

I want to work on strength.  I've been turning into a Covid potato.  So, at least 100 (easy) pushups a day and a 100 squats, maybe 50 squats if done w/ kettlebell.  Maybe one day of rest, if I've done 6 days in a row. That along with long walks.  With pushups I should build up to 200 (easy countertop) pushups in two weeks, but not if I don't start.   

 

Edited by forestofemptiness
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I’ve been getting back to just sitting and sinking the mind back into the heart off late. Will continue with that. 

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2 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

That force us to live like we do
Bring me to my knees
When I see what they've done to you

For 20  38 years I thought it was- Bring me to Manny's .

I thought Manny was the bad guy in the song.

That he was incharge of the chain gang.   

 

Loved the video.  Come to think of it, Manny wasn't in it. 

Edited by thelerner
had to subtract 1,982 from 2,020, sadly used calculator
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I started building a bathroom so will continue with that . Its separate from the cabin, more a bathhouse. Its between some huge turpentine trees and palms , I have planted tree ferns and various sorts of palms and tropicals and ferns around it .  It sits up off the ground, half the walls are glass,  done the framing and roof, the plumbing and gas heater is in, got the insulation paper on, about to start some  wide and thinner ( 'board and baton' ) merbau  (  an ecological managed rainforest timber ) external cladding

 

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Waiting for the tiler to turn up .   Its one large wet room , just with a shower and    basin and taps . I got an oval shaped 'on the bench'  carved stone basin .  So June will be finishing off and fiddly bits .

 

Also A friend in the city has finished re building his old school Bonnie  ( triumph motorcycle) and wants to come up and stay and ride Waterfall Way with me  . Triumph and Enfield up the mountain.*  :)

 

My birthday on the solstice . That will do for 1 month .

 

*

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

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41 minutes ago, thelerner said:

For 20  38 years I thought it was- Bring me to Manny's .

I thought Manny was the bad guy in the song.

That he was incharge of the chain gang.   

 

Loved the video.  Come to think of it, Manny wasn't in it. 

 

Ah, so native speakers experience the joys of misheard lyrics too!  But probably not to the extent that I did early in the day.  Sometimes I had to make up over half the lyrics.  Often I was disappointed when I later learned the real ones -- I thought mine were better -- just as you were disappointed when you didn't find Manny of your auditory imagination.

 

But I did feel relief when Lucy in the sky with diamonds and colitis ("A girl with colitis goes by") was replaced with the real version in mine.   

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As a parent, you can use it to your advantage. Some years ago, when my son was 5-6, the song Pumped Up Kicks got a lot of airplay. It is essentially about a school shooting. With some power of suggestion, this is what my son heard (and still hears to this day).

 

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You'd better run, better run, out run my gun mom
All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You'd better run, better run, faster than my bullet brother

 

You know, just a song about racing your family members. :P

 

15 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Ah, so native speakers experience the joys of misheard lyrics too!  But probably not to the extent that I did early in the day.  Sometimes I had to make up over half the lyrics.  Often I was disappointed when I later learned the real ones -- I thought mine were better -- just as you were disappointed when you didn't find Manny of your auditory imagination.

 

Edited by forestofemptiness
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Wrt mishearing lyrics, what about the song “blinded by the light” where “douches” are being sung about? 🤔

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1 hour ago, dwai said:

Wrt mishearing lyrics, what about the song “blinded by the light” where “douches” are being sung about? 🤔

 

And today is the day I was meant to finally find out, thanks to you, that it's not the douche after all.  What a relief.  I always thought the great Boss was totally not subtle enough with that douche line.  

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Here in Los Angeles we are blessed with "June Gloom," an overcast condition that offers some blessed relief from the heat and the UV bombardment.  It cools down at night enough for a box fan in the window and I am overwhelmed with gratitude that the long summer of intense heat has not arrived.  Every night that cools and promises fine sleeping with oxygen-rich air is a blessing.  It's also cleaner due to reduced traffic, although it's starting to return, and gas has gone up 14 cents in less than two weeks.

 

My ambitious exercise routine has been replaced with daily rebounding, at least through the month of June.  I feel biomechanically repaired when I use this regimen.  I have the tools and the opportunity to wake up, unlike so many unfortunate people dealing with life and death issues around the world, so I am trying to express gratitude in my thoughts and deeds. 

 

I am grateful for the opportunity to grow old - turning 60 in September -- and while this is truly a blessing, it comes with the anguish that my own daughter will not likely have the same opportunity.  This combination is preying upon my conscience and I hope to find some semblance of peace despite the worrisome forecasts.  

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14 hours ago, daojones said:

@silent thundercan you share your haiku of the DDJ?

I've shared a few verses here, but not the whole thing, not with anyone yet. 

It's more for cultivation and personal study, I doubt it would be considered accurate, or beneficial to anyone else.

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I am presently looking into the cultivation of banana trees, and may start turning the soil (I.e. predominantly sand) as early as next weekend. Am presently considering the planting of a soil feeding crop, and turning this in prior to the actual planting of the trees - which by all accounts read are “heavy feeders.”

 

Still at early planning stage, with enough gardening experience to understand the extra effort now will lend itself to more ease in the future.

 

It has been awhile since I have done anything more than a few plants here and there gardening wise, and the time seems to be ripening for a return to it. (pun intended)

 

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On 5/29/2020 at 12:36 AM, thelerner said:

What you guys working on in June?  Anything strange or new?

 

Hi Michael,

 

Like you ~ I am going back to basics.

Nothing ~ strange or new.

Are you thinking of something...?

Don't be naughty.

 

Keep safe and well.

 

- Anand

 

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On 5/29/2020 at 2:28 AM, bax44 said:

Staying inside with my face covered. You should too.

 

Hi bax44,

 

Yes. Don't watch TV. Let your pets be entertained instead.

 

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source.gif

 

- Anand

 

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On 5/29/2020 at 5:58 AM, Nungali said:

I started building a bathroom so will continue with that

 

Hi Nun,

 

I thought you are living naturally with/in NATURE.

 

You hoarded too many toilet rolls by mistakes?

 

tenor.gif

 

Stay clean and safe.

 

- Anand

 

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4 hours ago, ilumairen said:

It has been awhile since I have done anything more than a few plants here and there gardening wise, and the time seems to be ripening for a return to it. (pun intended)

 

Hi ilumairen,

 

But of course.

 

Hope you will ripen well with your produce ~ in time to cook a storm on 8 December 2020.

 

Then I will contribute these which I am now learning/trying to grow...

 

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  th?id=OIP.hPYLm4xFVwzt7f0BhH7jngHaFj&pid=Api&P=0&w=216&h=163  th?id=OIP.XoohTyAVRYz1aXX1QUUTuQHaFj&pid=Api&P=0&w=213&h=161  th?id=OIP.-eSgj85KJ3t7MzEDlaQI6wHaFj&pid=Api&P=0&w=212&h=160

 

At the moment the bloody weeds and bloody garden pests are getting on my bloody nerves.

 

I should watch my language as I am now also budding/growing as a practicing  Buddhist.

 

 

Sunshine and rain ~ stay well.

 

- Anand

 

Edited by Limahong
Correction
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