112: To be present to eyes and legs and feet and gravity, hmm

What does it mean to be a human being?

Some people say that we are never our “real selves” except when we are in the present.

This may be true, or true for you, or not true, or not true for you.

And surely there is a difference in the quality of your experience when you are in the present.

So this could be one aspect of what it means to be a human: we can be present and aware of that, or we can be lost in the past or the future.

This can be our experiment today: to be present and feel what the difference is, and if, in this difference, we feel something more like “our real self.”

And to be present, I’ll suggest a top and bottom approach. We have two legs and two feet and they carry us around the world, baring accident or disease or some in born problem. The legs and feet carry us from one place to the other, and as we walk or sit, or even lie down, we can feel how our legs are interacting with the world via gravity.

And these feet and a pelvis and a spine carry a head at the top of us. Two eyes in this head, looking out, letting light in.

Play with being present to feet and legs and head and eyes and light today. A big game.


Feel, sense and notice the difference when you are present this way.

111: Thinking without words

Creating a garden bed by 'sheet mulching"

Not the usual type of “thinking”

What often passes as “thinking” is the spilling over of words in our head, the “chatter” as some call it, “monkey mind” others say, the “yap, yap.” Another way to put it, is “auditory hallucinations.”

Thinking can be very different than this sort of inner talking.

So far, each day, with a noticing of differences, we have been using our brains for real thinking. Today, we’ll notice some more differences, and get more clarity about and feel for thinking without words.

Turn your head easily right four or five times, and then left four or five times. Can you notice a difference one way and the other?

Now turn just to the left with your head, but keep your eyes focused on something in front of you. Notice a difference in how you turn, and in your neck. Go very slowly.

Rest after seven or eight times, and then turn to the left with your eyes and nose together and feel what you feel.

Now turn your nose to the left and back to the center a number of times while turning your eyes in the opposite direction. Go very slowly and clearly notice eyes and neck and breathing and spine. Rest. Turn both left and right in the “normal” way and notice what you notice.

Spend today awaring eyes and neck and right left differences. See what difference rotating your ribs might make. Go slowly, rest a lot, learn.

110: The way we go emotionally: what gets it going?

We have thoughts. Which way do they point us?

This book will wander through “body,” “emotional learning,” “thinking” and “soul,” as did the Tao of Now, the first 108 day foray into getting “closer” to the now of reality and happiness and our true self. And here we are on day two, and even though the section says “emotional learning,” today’s game has partially to do with our “thinking.”.

Like this: the idea/ game/ suggestion is that we watch our thoughts today, and see if we can discover two different kinds of thinking, with two very different results in our emotional well-being. It appears as if some thoughts lead us toward happiness and other thoughts lead us to unhappiness.

Can you notice three things today:

One: the shape of your spine.

Two: if you are having a thought.

Three: if that thought is leading you toward happiness or unhappiness.

This can be wonderfully useful, having attention in our body and on our emotional inclination and aware of the thoughts as they come and go.

It’s almost as if we are capturing a huge swath, right here, of being human: to feel as sensation, to feel as emotion, to have “thoughts.”

Enjoy being such a rich an amazing being.

Day 109: We have a spine

We have a spine.


This is good. And how often are we aware of this amazing piece of our architecture?


Think about the two ends to this flexible stick of ours: the head at the top, up high to see things and hear better, and at the base the pelvis, rooted in our legs, with Seitz bones on which to sit. Either way, standing or sitting, the pelvis is there, here now, at the bottom of 24 vertebrae, holding up our head by giving the base to our back.


The back is a collection of muscles and ribs and our spine.


Can we play today with noticing whether our spine is more in the rounding position, or the arching?


Can we feel the shape of our spine, and feel how it is holding up the head. In sitting, is the push from pelvis up through the spine, or is a back of a chair propping up part of our back, so the weight is somewhat down into our pelvis, and somehow down and back into the chair?


No right or wrong. Just notice: spine more as if stomach in, or spine more as if stomach out? Spine somewhat upright, way upright, curled in, or arched deeply?


This is a big part of being human, the pelvis spine head thing. Let’s notice it, sense it, aware it as much as we can enjoy today.

today is not yesterday

My friend John took his five lines up a hill and played a sculpting with nature game with them. what fun can you, we all of us have today five our five lines?


today is not yesterday

and yet
we sometimes
act as if it is

how can that change?

well,
i've talked enough about now

so
let's talk again about 108 ways
in 108 days

what shall it be today?

Sensing
of our spine
two legs
and two arms

as an ongoing game

nothing
new
there

except where are YOUR arms
and legs
and spine
and
smile

right now

oh, gad,
back to now


we'll times could be said to be "hard"
here
if I bothered to believe
various stories
that my mind likes to recycle over and over

and sensing two legs
two arms
and a spine

and a
smile

makes those stories
as small
and unreal
as they
really
smally

are


or should I say:
are not

Loving God

Is it possible
to Love God
without Believing
in
Him Her It?

Could this be desirable
in
a way?

What do you think?
Feel?
Experience?


Good.

Try it out
in at least those three dimensions
and
see what happens.