Talking in Bed
Posted: June 12, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, hope, kindness, life, love, meditation, motivation, musings, nature, passion, Philip Larkin, Poetry, simplicity, Talking in Bed, World Cup, writing 5 Comments…
Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far,
An emblem of two people being honest.
Yet more and more time passes silently.
Outside, the wind’s incomplete unrest
Builds and disperses clouds about the sky,
And dark towns heap up on the horizon.
None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from isolation
It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,
Or not untrue and not unkind.
At Ease
Posted: June 11, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Amazing Arthur, blogging, family, gratitude, health, kindness, life, love, musings, nature, Omaha, perspective, Professional Showoff, The Balloon Brigade, writing 12 CommentsBe kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle-
I want to ask you, what I feel is a very important question this lovely morning: When someone does something genuinely nice for you, how does it truly make you feel?
…
I like to believe that life is characterized by the small acts of kindness we do for each other, and not just during Fathers Day, or any other holiday for that matter. Yesterday when I was about three miles into my twenty-mile commute home from work, I experienced a little give and extra suppleness coming from my rear tire. It was flat, and riding a folding tire while flat is not the most prudent idea in the world. But I’m one stubborn dude, so stubborn in fact, I “conveniently” left my spare tube and pump at home – because who needs them anyways?
The first couple who stopped to offer help eased my mind going haywire trying to figure out a plan to get home. Being stubborn, I refused to take a spare tube and instead borrowed their pump for a few fleeting moments. I’m smiling now thinking how kind they were to offer help to a complete stranger on a barren and vulnerable stretch of trail.
The second lady who stopped to offer help, and whose name I forget because I am both stubborn and forgetful … Did the very same as the couple an 1/8 of a mile before. “Here, please take my spare tube.” Was answered with – No way am I taking your only spare out here – Just a little air will get me to the bike shop three miles away in Papillion, NE.
Less than a 1/2 mile walking my bike slowly down the trail, I stumbled upon a friendly dude named Arthur and his daughter riding back from the library a short distance away in town. At this point there was no way I was getting home without help – None! Swelling with pride and being stubborn don’t get you very far do they?!? As we walked back to his house, sharing one of “those” awkward conversations most of us have when we first meet someone, I sensed that this moment had happened for a reason in my life. All of it, the flat, “forgetting” my gear at home, being stubborn, swelling with pride …
When I paused last night to think about how people actually spend their time (the posts I have been sharing of late) – How much time do we spend thinking about the good things we’ve been given and how much time do we spend complaining about the things that have gone wrong? I know that I spend much of my day lamenting about the annoying cyclist and drivers during my commute, the typical Nebraska weather, a poor night’s sleep, how work has been insane of late … What Arthur and his beautiful family shared with me in the fifteen minutes we spent together, is that, perhaps a change in focus from counting burdens to counting blessings is just what I needed.
Daily Meditation:
Over the course of an afternoon, a fortnight, our lives … We are not going to be able to say “thank you” for every little thing someone does for us. Although, when we are able to take a moment, to be grateful for the kindness we often overlook?
Thank you guys – Immensely – for getting me home safely, with my heart and soul swelling with gratitude!
: Big Cocoon :
Posted: June 10, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Arts, Authenticity, blogging, Commuting, compassion, cycling, David Foster Wallace, family, freshly pressed, friends, Gadgets, lululemon, marathon, meditation, motivation, musings, natural, nature, NPR, Omaha, passion, pilates, running, trail running, whole foods, writing, yoga 15 CommentsThe parts of me that used to think I was different or smarter or whatever, almost made me die-
Nineteen powerful words by David Foster Wallace that truly defined who I used to be.
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Last night, while making pizza with my Son, I missed an entire meaningful conversation about the new Star Wars movie he was trying to have with me. I was completely tuned out, and not because I was engrossed in making pizza and snacking on tortilla chips, but because I was engrossed in a NPR news story being played through a small speaker attached to my gadget-thing.
Side Note: Men reading this morning, and ladies alike – because as cunning and sly as you may be … I enjoy taking an extra-long time in the bathroom with my iThingy, I use my small arsenal of “mindless” apps as a means to escape the stress and chaos that often seems to accompany me throughout the day.
These periods of mindless isolation normally do not last very long, usually until one leg falls asleep or NPR news starts getting all high-minded and political while preparing dinner. I genuinely welcome these temporary escapes from the daily grind, although, how much is too much? Honestly, I don’t have an answer to give you and I’d be surprised if anyone else does either.
Daily Meditation:
Perhaps, maybe, it would be ideal if we reintroduced “intention” and “purpose” to our gadget use, even during the times when we are not using them. How cool would it be if we motivated each other to unplug at a time we are normally plugged in? Raise your hand if you are on your gadget minutes after finishing yoga class, in the restroom or making dinner?!? – notice my hands waving in the breeze – Just imagine the new sounds, the new encounters that awaken when we expose our true selves, to the very real world we call home …
Jarring Honey
Posted: June 5, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: blogging, compassion, family, fitness, freshly pressed, friends, happiness, health, hope, kindness, life, love, motivation, musings, natural, nature, Nick Norwood, Omaha, passion, perspective, Poetry, recovery, running, trail running, writing, yoga Leave a comment…
Decanting from bucket to pot,
jug to jar, air bubbles suspend
themselves in galaxies:
sucrose solar systems, each
glinting orb a perfect
pearl reflecting light.
The little giants are first
to rise, stately as moons,
toward the surface. They
catch and form a necklace
at the throat, or continue
upward, quickening in that
last few millimeters to bob
in silence on the top, collect
in planetary clusters,
molecular models. Super-
novas erupting in their own
sweet time. Later, a day
or more, even the tiniest
have risen. Some will remain
like distant nebulas, faint
milty pockets of deep space
abuzz with stars humming
with some new kind of being.
– Nick Norwood
The Guest House
Posted: May 21, 2014 Filed under: Meditation, Yoga | Tags: Bliss, blogging, compassion, kindness, nature, Omaha, Rumi, writing, Zen 12 Comments…
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
CultFit 