Monthly Archives: May 2010

Virginia Beach/ Memorial Day Weekend 2010/ Things To Do

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Virginia Beach is gearing up for some fun activities this morning. At the crack of dawn the tractor was out on the beach smoothing the sand and the vendors were setting up their areas. Looks like we are going to have some craft sales near the surfing competition that is taking place. The weather looks to be very nice although we may have scattered showers or thumper storms later today. No sign of bad weather now, however, as the dolphins drift lazily up the beach towards Rudee’s Inlet.

There are going to be forties style big bands at several locations along the boardwalk this weekend.  I’m looking forward to listening to them and taking some photos as well. I was out around seven this morning taking photos of the new children’s park next to Rudee’s Inlet. It really is very nice with lots of things for the little ones to do and a large blue protector overhead to keep the harmful rays off their tender little chrome domiums.

Sing A Song And Enjoy

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It’s a lovely day here in Virginia and we are enjoying it. The birds are singing in the back yard. I can hear them through the open window as they call out to each other. And I am following their example.

I am writing. This is a bird-like activity that involves making sounds that not even a dog can hear. But you can hear them. We can have a conversation just like the Blue Jays and Robins in the back yard. We can even “tweet” each other. Personally I am not a big fan of Twitter. Probably this is because you can only warble a short time before you must stop. “That’s enough! Too many letters!

When I start to sing a song I really don’t want to be interrupted.   And I’m pretty sure the birds outside don’t enjoy it either. Once in awhile I will go over to the window and try to take of photo of one of them when they arrive at the bird feeder and start singing about this or that. They can tell right away that someone is trying to take their picture and they often fly away. It’s amazing how sensitive they are in this regard.

We are often very sensitive too when we sit down to write and communicate with the world. Our thoughts can be easily interrupted.

I was having a sing-song kind of thought a few moments ago but now it is gone. It began…

This is not just another day.
It is the one for which I prayed.

But then my stomach made a noise too and it was time to go downstairs to look in the pantry. When I returned the thought was gone. Fortunately it returned after awhile because I wanted to listen to it again. In fact I want to listen to it many times today.

Birds enjoy listening to themselves sing too.

They are often busy making their nests or looking for food. They raise families. They travel from place to place.

But there always seems to be time to just perch on a limb and sing. I want to be a bird. But maybe I will settle for just being bird-like as much as possible.

It was a violent storm last night
But now we see the first dim light
And calm is like a gentle hand
Upon us and our own dear land.

Have a wonderful day.


Meditation And Growth

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One day not long ago I was stretched out in bed and feeling pretty ragged physically.  I decided to meditate for awhile and after a few minutes it became very obvious that my body was very restless and full of dull areas of discomfort and actual pain.

And so I have started to meditate regularly.

Typically this involves closing my eyes and focusing on an area that is around the middle of my forehead.  But it’s not “on” the surface.  It’s further back inside there somewhere.  I decided to look for a diagram on the internet to explain things a little better and found this. . .

http://www.crystalinks.com/thirdeyepineal.html


I hesitate to call this area the “third eye” because there have been so many good jokes written about this subject.  And it’s not really an eye in the physical sense as some of these jokes tend to suggest.   But it or whatever we call it DOES offer us a way of seeing into a different dimension.

I was trying to see how long I could concentrate at this point and unfortunately my mind kept taking me away with thoughts that really didn’t amount to anything of importance.   But I kept silencing it and refocusing here because I was desperately needing a source of true strength.  My body was starting to frighten me.  I have seen the things it is capable of doing to others who are sick or aging or both.   It felt like it was heading in that direction and planned to take me along as a prisoner.

Robin recently asked her readers where they felt most “at home”.  And I would have to say that this is the place in meditation that  I feel most comfortable.   But it takes a lot of practice to stay here.  We have powerful minds and they do not hesitate to suggest that home is really not a place in the brain but more likely the  physical address where we live  or some other location.   And beside we have a million other things we need to do and isn’t there a solution to this problem that involves science!

We have a comfortable home and I love it here.  I feel very fortunate as I listen to a bird right outside the window call to its mate and feel the breeze move across the room.   But still this lovely space will not help with the pain, the restless legs or the inability to sleep at times.

Home is a place I can go to be free of all of these things.   And I can see as I experience for brief periods the power of this place that it holds much promise as a way out of this dark and uncomfortable moment.

I’m not saying that exercise or eating right won’t help as well.

It’s an experience that allows us to simply move beyond old thoughts, ideas and habits.   Because we all know those can be  rather repetitive and boring at times at least in my case.  Ask my children or my wife.

What is beyond thought?  I am not talking about a situation where someone is “out of their mind” because the mind is still there in those cases although it may not be in total control and thus it is freaking out to one degree or another.

What is beyond thought?  If the mind simply sits quietly and observes?  If thought is still for a little while and allows the body to be still as well?  What lies beyond our constant companion?

Hopefully I will find a few answers in this search and find the words to write about them.

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Walking Homeward/ Dealing With Restless Legs / Treatment And Getting In Shape/ Annie Lennox/ There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)

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Beth and I have been going to our local health club each morning and exercising. This comes under the heading of “Stop whining and do something about your situation”.

Fundamental changes in behavior can be difficult. Habits are tough to change. I have been trying to change for at least a year and always stumbled after awhile for one reason or another. But this time feels different to me.

For one thing it doesn’t seem difficult this time. There’s no internal struggle. It’s more like “You have to do this or you will suffer greatly”.

I need to lose 40 pounds and I have already lost 3 in the past two weeks. That’s almost ten percent! I am so excited.

I bought this really cool foot massage machine on Amazon.com and it is doing a pretty good job with the old ant colony that likes to run up and down my legs. It’s much more powerful than anything of this nature I have ever used. Others seem to feel the same way according to the reviews.

 

So today we got in our car and went off to exercise together. It was a nice, cool morning and the sun was trying to come out. I was thinking about how good we are going to look in about six months. Well, actually I was thinking about something else but we don’t need to go into that. And then we arrived at the place and begin working out. I plugged in the mp3 player, walked for awhile on the treadmill and then went through a bunch of exercises on various machines. I looked over at Beth at one point. She was upside down and in a strange position that I don’t believe I have ever seen her. And then I went back to the treadmill for fifteen minutes of walking now that all the parts seemed to be warmed up and ready for . . .

Well not running. Yet. But a brisk walk as Annie Lennox began singing Downtown Lights.   As she sang I felt an incredible rush of energy burst in my chest and head out through my arms and legs. It seemed for a moment that I was floating on the ceiling although I was having no trouble walking. It was an amazing feeling and as I listened to Annie I was floating along the James River watching the lights of Richmond on a wonderfully warm summer night.

Sweat poured down my face and every drop of it felt like a gentle caress. Is Downtown Lights about eight minutes long? It seemed so. I wanted to stay there all morning and just walk in time to the music. Next up was Take Me To The River and it seemed so apropos. The waves of energy kept trying to lift me off the ground and finally a twinge in my leg gently reminded me that we are supposed to be going slowly here.

We are changing a way of life. And another thought has been present the past few days as well. It is the image of a woman walking barefoot through the woods. She walks for miles and miles every day. I was reading her account a few days ago and something about it reached into my soul.  I decided to walk on the treadmill Monday through Friday and pretend I was looking at the woods!

http://nakedineden.com/nakedinedenblog/finding-your-way-home/

Maybe it was the walking barefoot part of the story. It demonstrated commitment to my feeble brain.  And it made me want to throw a few things aside and get up and walk.  Or maybe it was the notion that I would like to follow a saint.   And  we have one here.  This is  not an antiquated notion.  Words have so much baggage and certainly this one has more than its share.  But the fact remains that they are still  around, they don’t carry a lot of baggage and they want to help us.

If we try.


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