A Blogger’s Diary 10/10/20: On Spirituality, Science, and Writing

Photo by Adam Dutton on Unsplash

Milarepa

Alright, so last week a good friend of mine gave me the book Tibet’s Great Yogi, Milarepa: A Biography from the Tibetan. Wow. The last book that gave me that many insights, which I still read, was the Bhagavad Gita. Powerful.

Milarepa is an account of a great Yogi Sage, Jetsun Milarepa.

What I loved the most about the book, similar to the Bhagavad Gita, was the multiple connections to life today. Yep.

For instance, there is a part in the story where Milarepa is asked by his Guru to build a house on a particular piece of land. Well, Milarepa did as he was told. And?

Milarepa’s Guru came to inspect the work, and although the work was fine, the Guru said, hm, nope that’s not quite right. You’ll need to pull that entire structure down, and start again over yonder. Wow.

Photo by James Wheeler on Unsplash

Well, this happened 9 times. Yep. 9. What’s the point? Hm.

Think about life. How many times has life said to you, nope, that’s not quite right, try again? Yep, of course. Me too.

That’s what life’s about. Creating, acting, learning, growing, and loving, with both our minds and hearts.

Milarepa’s Guru was teaching him persistence, discipline, and about the trials and tribulations of being a human being on this planet; and, the compassion and grace we all need, both for ourselves and for each other. Important.

The Dalai Lama

Right, so the next book is Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother’s Autobiography. It is good so far. Very interesting, well written, and, of what I’ve reads thus far, a wonderful historical account of Diki Tsering, the Dalai Lama’s mother’s, upbringing.

Now, the reason I brought this book up is this, ready?

So, I start reading the book a couple of nights ago, and it occurs to me to watch a little television. And?

I turn on the television, and guess what show comes up first? Ha! Watch.

YouTube

Check that out! Fun.

Anyway, so I watch the documentary, and it is wonderful. You can find it on Peace Jam. What’s it about?

Well, essentially, it is about conversations that scientists and the Dalai Lama have been conducting for over 30 years. It is a fun exploration and comparison of what is termed in the documentary as Western Science and as Buddhist Science.

I’ve always known, and have read quite a bit about the similarities between things that happen in laboratories experimenting with quantum physics, and the body-mind laboratory experimenting with deep meditation.

I have, however, developed a whole new level of experiential knowledge in the latter area over the past three years, so the documentary was even more fascinating.

What’s Next?

I had a blast writing the two social construction installments this week.

  1. The Social Construction Series Part 4: The Social Construction of Reality
  2. The Social Construction Series Part 5: The Social Construction of Time

I had already planned on writing the social construction of reality, and then the social construction of time just showed up. Just like this post. Happens like that. Fun.

Right, well, I’m also almost done with the post on integrity. Has been fun. And, I’m also working on a post about servant leadership, and I have a few more ideas, we will see.

Alright, that’s it for now.

Here is to each of you. For being the human beings you are, just as you are, right now. You are just so.

I appreciate each of you. I have tremendously enjoyed all of the wonderful posts and conversations we’ve had this year, both on your blogs and on mine. So much fun.

I look forward to many more conversations in the weeks, months, and years to come.

You are love and light.

Be well and have a wonderful Sunday, and week ahead.

#blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #blogs, #dalailama, #diary, #milarepa, #science, #spirituality, #writing

A Blogger’s Diary 10/6/20: On Social Constructionism, Integrity, and A Final Note on Curiosity

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash

A few weeks ago I started the social construction series, which includes two entries:

  1. The Social Construction Series Part 1: 7 Reasons Why Understanding Social Constructions Is Important
  2. The Social Construction Series Part 2: 5 Reasons Why Understanding The Social Construction of Knowledge is Important

Now I’m working on a third; the social construction of reality. Yep. And, why is understanding the social construction of reality important? Hm. Power.

As we discussed in 4 Reasons Why Language Is Power, how we describe our reality in language, whether we are describing something internal or external to ourselves, is powerful. It is in essence the reality that we know.

Writing the piece on the social construction of reality is really fun; and, I hope you will all enjoy it.

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash

Right, so integrity. What’s the deal with integrity? Important, yes? I’ve actually read a couple of posts in the past couple of weeks that have mentioned integrity, and I am excited to add my lens to the mix this week.

I think about integrity a little differently, which simply means I conceptualize, internalize, and practice integrity in a way that pushes on the traditional notions of integrity.

It is important to investigate definitions, to push on them when needed, and to conceptualize them differently when they don’t work as intended.

The definition of reality and truth, as we will discuss in the social construction of reality is a good example of this notion, as is the post I am writing on integrity. Will be fun.

Photo by Juan Encalada on Unsplash

Alright, I also wanted to close the book, for now, on curiosity with one final note. Ready?

As we discussed in the post, Why Curiosity Didn’t Kill The Cat: 7 Reasons Why Remaining Curious Can Move You From a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset, remaining curious is important to our development.

Maintaining a growth mindset, which I will also write more about in the next couple of weeks, by remaining curious means that we get to take in all of the wonder that surrounds us.

That’s important right now. Maybe more important than ever before.

Remaining curious means taking time for yourself. Taking time to be quiet, to walk by yourself, for yourself, to reflect, to question, to contemplate, and to discover.

When we take time for ourselves, we get back so much more. It is a paradox. Often people think that being continuously busy is the way to get back more, or to progress more, or to move themselves forward more.

And, being active, actively creating the life you want to manifest for yourself is important, yet, not at the expense of your own internal contemplation, reflection, and discovery time.

Example? Sure.

Yesterday, I came home from a very busy day, and immediately took a nap. Yep, been doing that more often. Feels good. Refreshing.

Watch what happens though. Ready?

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

I then got up, had a little something to eat, and started working again. And, guess what? I became frustrated? Why?

Because I had essentially gone from work, to sleep, and back to work. What did I do?

I stopped, turned out the light, and meditated for 30-minutes. And?

Inside of that meditation I had a couple of really nice insights, which then fueled the rest of my evening. Meaning that I switched from work, to writing, and developed this week’s ideas for my blog.

My invitation to you on this wonderful Tuesday evening is to remember to take time for yourself. Unplug, go for a walk, meditate, just sit. Do whatever it is that you do to refresh your inner-self.

It is in this space where curiosity and everything else in life for that matter lives; and, where you will find the answers to the questions you are asking yourself right now.

Take time for you. You deserve it.

#blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #curiosity, #integrity, #socialconstruct, #socialconstruction, #socialconstructionism, #sociology

A Blogger’s Diary 10/3/20: On Nature and Humanity

It’s almost the rainy season in the Pac Northwest, so getting out in the sunshine today was a must. Was gorgeous out today, as you will see in the pics below.

While I was hiking this poem occured to me. 🙂

Nature’s bounty
Human failings

Separate though
They seem

Inextricably connected
They are one

A mirror

Of both bounty
And failing

One in breath
One in mind

Two inseparable
Joined in
A hindered hearted delight

Be well this weekend.

#blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #hikingpictures, #humanity, #humanitypoem, #natureandhumanity, #naturepoem, #poem, #poems

A Blogger’s Diary 9/29/20: On Writing, Strategy, HSP’ness, and Books

Photo by Julia Joppien on Unsplash

Every time I write an entry in this series, I usually write something like, phew, what a busy week. See, I did it again. Well, it is busy and also quite wonderful. 🙂

Alright, here’s what I’ve been up to the past two weeks.

Writing

This past week, I wrote a couple of articles. In case you missed them they were as follows:

And, now you ask?

Well, I am currently working on a couple of new pieces, which include an article on the mind, one on being a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), and one on writing. Fun.

I am also considering writing something for a periodical publication. It’s been a while since I’ve submitted anything like this, and am wondering about the periodicals to send to. If you’ve got an insight for me here, I would greatly appreciate it.

Strategy

This week is my strategy week at work. Meaning that I don’t take meetings unless absolutely necessary, and I work on creating the next couple of years of work for the team I work on.

Of course, these are drafts we are talking about here, as the team I work on is highly collaborative, and will have tons of input for me on anything created this week.

It is a nice time to reflect upon where we’ve come as a team, remember where we are going, and begin to fill in all of the work needed to be completed for us to get there. It’s fun.

Photo by BENCE BOROS on Unsplash

HSP’ness

About two years ago I learned about High Sensitivity. At that time, I had never heard about it before, and was sort of stunned. Meaning that I could see myself in all that was being talked about, and yet, was in some ways resistant to the idea that I might be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).

Upon reflection, and a little reading, I came to the, not hard to make, determination that I was an HSP, and had always been.

Certain feelings I always had, and things I felt more in my environment than other people, made more sense to me than ever before. Was truly a transformative moment for me.

I am reflecting upon my HSP’ness now in preparation for the article I will be writing later this week.

If you’d like to learn more about being a Highly Sensitive Person, here are a couple of books I highly recommend.

If you are still interested, here is a cool questionnaire you can take to see how you rate on the sensitivity scale. I just took it again for fun, and rated a 19. Definitely highly sensitive. 🙂

Books

I am almost finished with Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884-1933, by Blanche Wiesen C, and have less than 20 pages left in Tibet’s Great Yogi, Milarepa : A Biography from the Tibetan, Being the Jets-un-Kahbum or Biographical History of Jets-un-Milarepa.

Both of the books are wonderful, and I highly recommend them if you are interested in Leadership and or Eastern Spirituality. Funny, they are both very alike in that regard. Interesting how that works.

Not sure what the next book will be, yet, this past week I did create a new possibility. What, you ask? Of creating a local remote book club. Yep. There are two other people interested at this time. I’m hopeful to get 2 or 3 more people.

As I was pursuing the book club idea, sending out invitations, it got me thinking about a blogger book club. That might be kind of fun. What do you think?

Alright, that’s my entry for this time.

Stay safe, healthy, and well.

#blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #bookclub, #books, #diary, #highlysensitivepeople, #hsp, #onwriting, #strategy

A Blogger’s Diary 9/16/20: On Music, Inspiration, Humanness, and Paradoxes?

Photo by Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash

Alright, so I’m driving home from the store about an hour ago, and it occurs to me that music, like many things in life, is a paradox. Well, that is, the music that one likes and listens to may be seen as a paradox. Do you know what I mean? No. Hm. Okay, let me try it this way.

What I actually mean is that human beings are paradoxical; and, that the things we think, feel, and do can be seen as paradoxes, which includes the music we like, and the music we listen to.

Let me show you.

Here is a band I’ve loved all of my life. As I’ve written about before, I was scheduled to see them play the month that my dad passed away unexpectedly. A difficult time.

Well, I recreated that possibility about 6 months later, so got to see them play in Santa Ana, California last fall. I love all of their albums, and songs, yet this one is more present for me today.

Bad Religion

Ah, yep, Bad Religion. I hadn’t seen them in, oh, should I say? Alright. It had been 20 years. That is a story for another day.

Anyway, as much as I love Bad Religion, I also love this.

Billie Holiday

Mm. Billie Holiday. Love that. Beautiful. And, let’s not forget about this.

Le Miserables

Oh, and then this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-JoG9GFNPM
Hamilton

Alright, alright, though there is so much more to add, I’ll stop now. 🙂

What I am writing about to you today, is to listen to what you love. Especially when it seems like a paradox. It’s for you, no one else.

Likewise, do what you love to do, be who you want to be, and cherish all the apparent paradoxes that you know and feel about yourself. They are a part of you. And, guess what?

They aren’t really paradoxes. Not really. Because they are a part of you, those things that you love, that inspire you, that move you, that touch you, they are one. They are you.

And, when you are inspired, everyone around you will also be inspired. It works like that, and is fun like that.

What are some of the apparent paradoxes that make you the human being you are today?

#badreligion, #billieholiday, #blog, #blogger, #bloggers-diary, #blogging, #hamiltion, #huamndevelopment, #huamnnessandparadoxes, #inspiration, #lemisarebles, #music, #musicals, #onbeinghuman, #punkrock, #selfdevelopment