dagblog - Comments for "Just Another Day"

Very nice post. It seems like

emerson — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:46:03 +0000

Very nice post. It seems like an island in the northwest would be a pleasant and beautiful place to pass the holidays. I like to listen to the nature sounds and contemplate how much life exists on this wonderful planet Earth.

I think a good resolution would be for people to observe more and judge less. Sometimes it feels as though society as a whole passes a lot of judgment and often on things they know so little about. We all have feelings, we all have passions, we all want to be loved. But instead of focusing on how similar we all are I see so many people putting down others because they are different in some way and judging them as doing something wrong. So I guess it would be a good direction to start just observing and let the judgments slide away.

Hope you didn't get stranded at the airport. Although I love airports so being stranded doesn't sound too bad but then again that is just a theory. Might not be so great if it really happened for a few days.

Being human...it's

LisB — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:50:17 +0000

In reply to I hope you will get back to

Being human...it's interesting if nothing else.

Ain't that the truth. It makes a great quote, too.

I hope you will get back to

Elusive Trope — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:27:46 +0000

In reply to Nice post, Trope. I remember

I hope you will get back to me (and everyone else). Is it a foolish quest? Best to let the dying, pathetic, ungrateful country do what it wants to do? Can we do anything that is not ultimately indulging of the self? So many questions. So little time.

Working on another blog, one tangent has brought me back to Milan Kundera and his ponderings of lightness and heaviness. Which is better? We become too light and we float away. Too heavy and we are crushed beneath the weight. And for each of us, what is light and what is heavy is personal. We can't turn to some definitive definition. To each their own path. With no assurance that we are on the right one. We can't be sure we haven't chosen this path because of some unresolved wound decades ago, rather than because of some higher calling.

Being human...it's interesting if nothing else.

Happy New Year. ; )

Walking meditation comes to

Elusive Trope — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:06:07 +0000

In reply to Today comes before tomorrow

Walking meditation comes to my mind. Being mindful with every step, breathing, being not in the now, but the here, this spot, every step not done with loving-kindness, but is loving-kindness. As Thich Nhat Hanh would say: Each step is life; each step is peace and joy.

Walking Meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh by Tess Gallagher

Fifty of us follow him loosely
up the mountain at Deer Park Monastery.
We are in the slow motion of a dream
lifting off the dreamer's brow. Steps
into steps and the body rising out
of them like smoke from a fire
with many legs. Gradually the flames
die down and the earth is finally under us.
Inside the mountain a centipede crawls
into no-up, no-down.

Our meditations
waver and recover us, waver
and reel us in to our bodies
like fish willing at last to take on the joy
of being fish, in or out of the water.
When we gather at last at the summit
and sit with him
we know we have moved the mountain
to its top as much as it carried us
deeply into each step.

Going down is the same.
We breathe and step. Breathe,
and step. A many-appendaged being
in and out of this world. No use
telling you about peace attained.
Get out of your feet.
Your breath. Enter
the mountain.

Nice post, Trope. I remember

Ramona — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:25:00 +0000

In reply to Just Another Day

Nice post, Trope. I remember that year, too, when we pooh-poohed the idea of the electronic world coming to an end when the numbers changed but put away a few days worth of water and provisions just in case.

I've been thinking about next year and what my resolve might be. I look at all of the things I was so interested in a few years ago---photography, antiquing, reading actual novels, writing silly nonsense(oh, wait. . .hmmm. . .)--and how they've pretty much taken a back seat to my ridiculous and often misguided passion for saving this dying, pathetic, ungrateful country, and I wonder if I could go easy on the heavy stuff and just enjoy the light stuff again.

If I were younger I wouldn't even be wondering. I would figure there's time for everything--nothing but time. I know better now, and have to give serious thought to priorities. But there's the dilemma: Can I go back to indulging in my own personal pleasures, using the excuse that my days are probably shorter than most and therefore getting pretty precious, and just give up on this foolish quest I've set for myself, which, honestly, has no more than a thimble-full of authority or influence anyway?

And, even more honestly, is this foolish quest anything more than an indulgence itself?

Obviously, I'll need to give this more thought. I'll get back with you on it.

Today comes before tomorrow

Beetlejuice — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 08:56:22 +0000

In reply to Just Another Day

Today comes before tomorrow and after yesterday. It's just like walking. You put one foot in front of the other and eventually you end up somewhere different than where you started. Strangely, if you try to go back to the beginning, it's not quite like what you remembered so you learn to keep moving. You learn the past is something to remember and cherish and today is the beginning of tomorrow.

I was born in Altoona PA. and

cmaukonen — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:06:50 +0000

In reply to It did. It snowed. In

I was born in Altoona PA. and lived in NE Ohio. No palms trees there.

2012 approaches.

Elusive Trope — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:35:07 +0000

In reply to It did. It snowed. In

2012 approaches.

Nothing like a gorgeous

Elusive Trope — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:25:13 +0000

In reply to Love your writing, Trope.

Nothing like a gorgeous monster blizzard. As long as one can stay warm inside somewhere, there is a certain serenity that takes over, a kind of natural hunkering down and accepting of a force greater than ourselves, which has its own beauty in all-ecompassingness. Enjoy your cab.

Love your writing, Trope.

Michael Maiello — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 02:10:40 +0000

In reply to Just Another Day

Love your writing, Trope. We're having a gorgeous monster blizzard. My son is napping and we're drinking Russian River Valley cabs and making dinner. Sadly, I have to go to the office tomorrow but I think it'll be a quiet day.