Slowly, slowly!

March 23, 2013

O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly!

-Kobayashi Issa

All the meditation is driving me crazy

My meditation has taken a turn for the worse. I was hoping for theta-wave bliss, understanding, and maybe some self-control, but it turns out my daily zazen is fraught with visits from devils. Anger. Confusion. Doubt. Fear. All have become my sitting partners. I welcome them most to the time and occasionally I see that they are my old friends. We've been through a lot together.

So together we sit and try not to try too hard. Let's see what happens next.

Self-portrait with crazy straw, February 2013

I'm not complaining, really

It's 10:00 a.m. No rush to get up, February 2011


What are you smiling at?, February 2011


We're down to 1990 Ninja Turtle movies; provisions are running low, February 2011


Old-man winter get's the stink eye, February 2011

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To live is to fly

Self-portrait with laser eyes, January 21, 2011

There's a lot of wisdom in this song. Townes Van Zandt. The emphasis is mine.
Won't say I love you, babe
Won't say I need you, babe
But I'm gonna' get you, babe
And I will not do you wrong
Living's mostly wasting time 
And I waste my share of mine 
But it never feels too good 
So let's don't take too long 
Well, you're soft as glass and I'm a gentle man
We got the sky to talk about
And the world to lie upon

Days up and down they come
Like rain on a conga drum
Forget most, remember some
Oh, but don't turn none away
Everything is not enough
Nothing is too much to bear
Where you've been is good and gone 
All you keep is the getting there
Well, to live's to fly awe low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And a sleap out of your eyes

It's goodbye to all my friends
It's time to leave again
Here's to all the poetry
And the pickin' down the line
I'll miss the system here
The bottom's low and the treble's clear
But it don't pay to think too much
On things you leave behind
Well, I may be gone, awe, I won't be long
I'll be bringing back the melody
And the rhythm that I find

We all got holes to fill
And them holes are all that's real 
Some fall on you like a storm 
Sometimes you dig your own
The choice is yours to make
Time is yours to take 
Some dive into the sea
Some toil upon the stone
Well, to live's to fly awe low and high
So shake the dust off of your wings
And the sleep out of your eye
Awe, shake the dust off of your wings
And the tears out of your eye
Townes Van Zandt, To live's to fly, from album "In Pain."

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"Me" 2010

Self-portrait, January 1, 2010

I'm amazed at the lengths to which I've gone to be who I think I should be when I was already "me." Ha!

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