all that
Posted: June 4, 2015 Filed under: Random Workout | Tags: all that, beauty, blogging, Body Image, Charles Bukowski, gratitude, kindness, life, Mindfulness, Omaha, passion, Poem, Prose, writing 3 Comments…
the only things I remember about
New York City
in the summer
are the fire escapes
and how the people go
out on the fire escapes
in the evening
when the sun is setting
on the other side
of the buildings
and some stretch out
and sleep there
while others sit quietly
where it’s cool.
and on many
of the window sills
sit pots of geraniums or
planters filled with red
geraniums
and the half-dressed people
rest there
on the fire escapes
and there are
red geraniums
everywhere.
this is really
something to see rather
than to talk about.
it’s like a great colorful
and surprising painting
not hanging anywhere
else.
: Fantasy :
Posted: May 26, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: blogging, Body Image, compassion, Compitition, cycling, happiness, health, kindness, life, love, lululemon, marathon, meditation, Mindfulness, motivation, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, pilates, running, Seva, trail running, writing, yoga, Zen 4 CommentsGaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak… surrender to them. Don’t ask first whether it’s permitted, or would please your teachers or father or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that-
There are many misconceptions about the role “results” play in achieving our goals (whatever they may be.)
We should define a couple of words before we move on – outcome and process. An outcome is centered on results, beating others and posting it on social media. A process involves focusing on what we need to do perform our very best, such as how we prepare and nurture our souls, training, or even practicing mindfulness. Notice how an outcome is focused on “things” outside of you. While in contrast, a process is focused entirely on you?
…
Most of us think that (myself included at times), in order to get the results we want, we need to focus on those results. Wanna get better at yoga? Gotta be more flexible! Loose a few pounds before summer begins … When does the outcome of a competition occur? At the end of course. If we become obsessed on the outcome, we are not focused on the process – What we need to do to perform our best from the start to the finish. What makes you nervous before yoga class or a big ride, the process or the outcome? It’s the outcome, and more specifically, a bad outcome such as not performing well or tumbling over trying to reach your “peak” pose. When we focus on the outcome, we are far less likely to get the outcome we want.
When we pause to focus on the process, we increase the chances of achieving the results we so richly deserve.
Daily Meditation:
Sometimes, I can’t shift my heart from the outcome to process, the best thing I can do when this happens, is to get out of my mind completely. In other words, I go for an early morning walk, bike ride, or like yesterday morning – yoga practice in a quiet park. These moments gently take me from thinking about the outcome to, feeling the process.
Morning in May
Posted: May 7, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, kindness, love, may, Mindfulness, Omaha, passion, Poetry, Prose, Rosalind Brackenbury, Seva, Seva For the Heartland, Spring, weekend, writting, yoga 2 Comments…
Grass grows in the night
and early the mockingbirds begin
their fleet courtships over puddles,
upon wires, in the new green
of the Spanish limes.
Their white-striped wings flash
as they flirt and dive.
Wind in the chimes pulls music
from the air, the sky’s cleared
of its vast complications.
In the pause before summer,
the wild sprouting of absolutely
everything: hair, nails, the mango’s
pale rose pennants, tongues of birds
singing daylong.
Words, even, and sudden embraces,
surprising dreams and things I’d never
imagined, in all these years of living,
one more astonished awakening.
: Wandering :
Posted: May 4, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: Activism, blogging, Citizens' Academy for Omaha's Future, community, Herman Hesse, kindness, meditation, Mindfulness, Omaha, passion, Seva For the Heartland, social media, yoga 7 CommentsI am much inclined to live from my rucksack, and let my trousers fray as they like-
Lately I have been “obsessing” over a few Active Transportation problems (mostly cycling related) in, and around Omaha, Nebraska. Not gigantic, earth shattering problems, but a source of ongoing irritation and minor frustration to me personally. At any rate, and given that May is National Bike Month … Our local Active Transportation quandary has woven itself into the deepest folds of my mind, and I find myself spending a fair amount of time thinking about them, and how we as a community spend so much time and energy trying to change tedious little things. Such as “improved” bike routes, road markings and better street design, for very personal reasons.
I spent my morning ride to the market yesterday thinking about why we want to create change, while auto-piloting through a series of hills, defaulting to these thoughts during random periods of the early morning ride to keep my mind curious.
…
Stewing on “things” that irritate me or that fall into a “problem” category generally serves a purpose. Normally issues slide right off my back or float away little puffy little clouds dancing across the sky. In this case, I stumbled across my “aha” moment while riding back home yesterday afternoon. In fact, the solution was so embarrassingly obvious that I had to stop riding for a moment to say aloud: “I’m amazed I didn’t realize this before.”
When our minds our locked in with tunnel vision, trying to brainstorm solutions to problems that generally do not exist. They don’t have full access to the power, curiosity and creativity we consciously choose to shut off, lamenting and obsessing. Organizing community advocacy groups and whatnot.
Daily Mediation:
My little “moment” yesterday was just that – little and insignificant to the community at large. Although, obsessing about life’s mundane problems is not as fun as obsessing about our true passion(s) in life, or the selection of artisanal cheeses at the market (Top Tip – If you want to ride faster? Buy something cold and sprint home before it spoils.)
Sometimes we have to allow a problem to slide to the top of our priority list, let it stew for a bit, and trust that the answer will bubble up when we least expect it.
My solution if you are curious? :Seva: For the Heartland
First Yoga Lesson
Posted: April 30, 2015 Filed under: Kindness, Meditation, Mindfulness, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, First Yoga Lesson, happiness, health, kindness, life, love, Mary Oliver, meditation, Mindfulness, musings, natural, nature, Omaha, passion, Poetry, Seva, Seva For the Heartland, yoga 13 Comments…
“Be a lotus in the pond,” she said, “opening
slowly, no single energy tugging
against another but peacefully,
all together.”
I couldn’t even touch my toes.
“Feel your quadriceps stretching?” she asked.
Well, something was certainly stretching.
Standing impressively upright, she
raised one leg and placed it against
the other, then lifted her arms and
shook her hands like leaves. “Be a tree,” she said.
I lay on the floor, exhausted.
But to be a lotus in the pond
opening slowly, and very slowly rising–
that I could do.
CultFit 