June, 2024
My personal meditation practice took an interesting turn when I came across this book recently. It talks about a modern interpretation of an ancient Tibetan practice called Chöd.
I’m pretty sure we have all had thoughts, feelings, or even physical pain that we just want to get rid of, and there are practices that focus on “clearing” them out – removing them. There are examples I can think of in Christian prayer as well as many forms of healing work.
Chöd takes a different approach. Instead of asking or seeking to be rid of these things, we should consider why they are there, what they want, and then give it to them. The idea is then that, once satiated, they will abate and perhaps even transform into an energy that can be helpful and healing.
It’s a very specific and detailed practice, and I can’t claim that I’ve applied much rigor to my experiments, but I have found it helpful and effective. Having said that, it’s a little bit of a trust fall to honor or almost befriend the thing that is causing you pain. I was intrigued, though, by the serendipity of the fact that, having never heard anyone mention it before, I almost immediately learned that someone I know well is so interested in it that she is going to Tsultrim Allione’s center in Colorado for a Chöd retreat.
It reminds me of the Internal Family Systems approach, and similar approaches, to talk therapy. My very, very simplistic interpretation being that the more you try to deny or get rid of something that is trying to get your attention, the more it will fight to survive.
June, 2024
We’ve taken vacations, but only over long weekends
We’ve taken vacations, but only in the low season or shoulder season
We’ve expanded our long weekend-week to two week splurges
We’ve digital nomad-ed, which isn’t snowbirding because the work comes with us, sort of
Now, because we don’t want to miss any of the buzz words, we’re in the planning stages for an 89-day slow travel extravaganza (yes, the work is still coming with us, sort of)
It’s not about the weather, because although we will be gone from Chicago during the colder months of November, December, and February, we’re not just going to warm places.
We’re starting in Ireland for the month of November
We’re basing in Marbella, Spain for another month
We probably can’t go to Europe and not stop off in Italy again (it’s not a rut, it’s a groove)
In between? After? Still under development (yes, I hear you, Portugal, Seville, etc. etc!)
Planes, trains, busses, or automobiles? Still under development
Stay tuned.
March, 2024
Once in a great while, when I am meditating and I do that body scan thing . . .
I can’t find all the edges between me and everything else . . .
Like, where do my hands begin and end . . .
And it’s amazing and strange
Try it. I think it might be a moment of truth
(I’m working on my Reels game over on Instagram – if you want to see how this one turned out,
here’s the link)
March, 2024
#The100 day project continues, sometimes with Instagram evidence, sometimes not. My challenge to my self was a 5”x5” piece I work on for no more than 25 minutes each day.
The first couple of weeks I was in California, and the images reflected that.
Now, back in Chicago, I can see the change. I like the freedom this small format and the no-rules rules gives me, so that one is drawn and scraped with watercolor blocks, and the other is collage, but the view from my window is obvious in both pieces.
