Spring & Magic
*Resolutions of a Four Hour Long Walk from East Village to Chinatown, and round and round Tompkins Square Park
The magic & the desperation has turned this year. For a short moment, it looked like it was going to be the same -- spinning wheels, needing beauty, needing acquisition, needing grace, needing friends-laughter-community-goodweather-brunch-goodbooks, brunches-picnics-lavender-NewYorkTimes-wine-RealSimple-lighting-&-temperature,baguettes-in-bicycle-baskets. Desperation, needing L., needing J. at E's, needing parties, dancing, recitals, cake, floral dresses from Eileen Fisher.
Serious and difficult things things await, and no need for magic to disappear. Like the headmistress assures Lyra at the end of His Dark Materials, We can re-gain with learning what we had gotten (and lost) with grace. The magic doesn't need to feel fresh, invigorated, like springtime. We need story, but we don't have to get addicted to thought.
Where does my energy go? Tired or energetic, it feels hard because, like Anna Karenina - in direct counterpoint to Konstantin Levin - our life force has no where directed to go. If we were to do the same thing for years and year, however tiredly or halfhearted, wouldn't we get somewhere?
I. Set your intention - practice both Concentration & Insight.
Pick it before a Practice even - will today be walking, standing or sitting? Insight, Concentration, or Metta? breath or body or pulse? the hammering practice of Sayadaw Mahasi doesn't serve the turbuelent vicissitudes of lay life -- better to have Gekko practice than no practice at all, for fear of doing it "wrong." Gekko practice is still practice. If these all go hand-in-hand, why compartmentalize?
II. Do the same thing everyday.
In the AM, if possible, so it's done before everything else. Cardio and Practice, Cardio and Practice. How much harder could it be? If the world ends, if people you love die, if you contract a terrible disease, if you lose your job. Cardio and Practice will be all you need, and all you have to have to keep the wheels turning.
III. Pick something to put your acquisitional, egotistical energy into, and practice it.
Something where you can be greedy, impatient, self-validating. Maybe bodywork, maybe medical learning. But pick it quickly and stick to i.
IV. Make spells.
Having more control isn't resisting your experience of difficulty. It's being aware and directing your energy to turning the tide, if only for a little bit. Akin to "Ennervate!," but to come back to your breath, be in the present moment, get out of your thoughts, relax your body, relax your mind.
V. Respect and Cooperate with your energy
Not just high or low, but coiled, stuck, heavy, closed, open, exhilarated, light, intense, honed. Work with what you have instead of wishign it was something else. Need to sleep? Sleep! Need a four hour long walk? Go! Somehow, it'll work out, and it'll be a lot easier than resisting the flow (and the nature) of your mind or your body on 24/7.
The magic & the desperation has turned this year. For a short moment, it looked like it was going to be the same -- spinning wheels, needing beauty, needing acquisition, needing grace, needing friends-laughter-community-goodweather-brunch-goodbooks, brunches-picnics-lavender-NewYorkTimes-wine-RealSimple-lighting-&-temperature,baguettes-in-bicycle-baskets. Desperation, needing L., needing J. at E's, needing parties, dancing, recitals, cake, floral dresses from Eileen Fisher.
Serious and difficult things things await, and no need for magic to disappear. Like the headmistress assures Lyra at the end of His Dark Materials, We can re-gain with learning what we had gotten (and lost) with grace. The magic doesn't need to feel fresh, invigorated, like springtime. We need story, but we don't have to get addicted to thought.
Where does my energy go? Tired or energetic, it feels hard because, like Anna Karenina - in direct counterpoint to Konstantin Levin - our life force has no where directed to go. If we were to do the same thing for years and year, however tiredly or halfhearted, wouldn't we get somewhere?
I. Set your intention - practice both Concentration & Insight.
Pick it before a Practice even - will today be walking, standing or sitting? Insight, Concentration, or Metta? breath or body or pulse? the hammering practice of Sayadaw Mahasi doesn't serve the turbuelent vicissitudes of lay life -- better to have Gekko practice than no practice at all, for fear of doing it "wrong." Gekko practice is still practice. If these all go hand-in-hand, why compartmentalize?
II. Do the same thing everyday.
In the AM, if possible, so it's done before everything else. Cardio and Practice, Cardio and Practice. How much harder could it be? If the world ends, if people you love die, if you contract a terrible disease, if you lose your job. Cardio and Practice will be all you need, and all you have to have to keep the wheels turning.
III. Pick something to put your acquisitional, egotistical energy into, and practice it.
Something where you can be greedy, impatient, self-validating. Maybe bodywork, maybe medical learning. But pick it quickly and stick to i.
IV. Make spells.
Having more control isn't resisting your experience of difficulty. It's being aware and directing your energy to turning the tide, if only for a little bit. Akin to "Ennervate!," but to come back to your breath, be in the present moment, get out of your thoughts, relax your body, relax your mind.
V. Respect and Cooperate with your energy
Not just high or low, but coiled, stuck, heavy, closed, open, exhilarated, light, intense, honed. Work with what you have instead of wishign it was something else. Need to sleep? Sleep! Need a four hour long walk? Go! Somehow, it'll work out, and it'll be a lot easier than resisting the flow (and the nature) of your mind or your body on 24/7.
posted by 26 at 6:36 PM
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