I try to keep in mind the ‘decidedly non-woo’ when I write blog posts about meditation or insight, because there isn’t much out there aimed at secular practitioners of contemplative arts, aside from some (great) Zen practices like koan study and Just Sitting. That said, I think it shows sometimes, that I’m holding myself back,…
Category: Resources
Comparing ‘Waking Up’ and ‘Insight Timer’
I stepped up meditation practice recently, beginning with using the new app from Sam Harris, Waking Up, but also continuing with Insight Timer. Along with just giving more time. Things I appreciate about the Waking Up app: It is NOT a social media app. There are no ‘rewards’ like stars or trophies for meditating more…
Holding/Not Holding
I couldn’t hold on to the sounds, but I would generate a trace memory of the sound that would trick me occasionally, that would seem to be me holding onto the sound…
One Last Time
I’m terrible at goodbyes. Perhaps I’ve never seen one modeled well. I’ve always found it hard to be clear and just let go. I inevitably leave things sort of half undone for a while, hoping against hope that things will make sense of themselves.
sparking joy
To be organized feels like greeting a clean slate every time, feels like unearthing dormant potential. THAT is what “sparks joy” – which she over and over again describes as her central objective.
curses and milennial gaps
Sitting on kitchen counters, we talked about spirituality and religion, especially visualization, and differences between devotion and reification. Then we moved on to politics and gender pronouns, before social media, but especially Tumblr.
First Book of the New Year: Yuval Noah Harari’s “Lessons for the 21st Century”
Yuval Noah Harari is among my very favorite public intellectuals, even though some of his prophesies are terrifying! Listening to a talk he gave in India this last year, about the capacity of future algorithms and reach of AI, I was struck by just how close the future he describes seems. Indeed, it is already…
Dear Facebook (looking forward, 2018 –> 2019)
Social media originally felt intimate to me… as though I could incorporate socializing with people and daily functioning, in a warm and interesting manner. It was almost seamless, also people-affirming and life-affirming in a way that took the edge off of not working in a company or having much family, much less in town. And like endless university in some ways, learning so much. ..
The Pronoun Post – Gender, Identity, Shape-shifting, and Source (looking forward, 2019)
I dreamed that I was aware of looking a certain way, a certain gender, to others interacting with me. Yet “I” was deep down. I knew they couldn’t see/hear me through conceptions of what I, and therefore my life, was supposed to mean according to my gender, on the surface.
looking back, 2018 (part 2)
Before my daughter and I settled in to watch the 2016 election results come in (with several craft beers and lots of snacks), she pulled a Tarot card: The Tower, Reversed. It is a card that means change, with an image that indicates turbulence and upheaval.
