Arrows
Do you ever read about Tibetan Buddhist Meditation? .... Yeah, me neither. Until the last few months, that is. There's a time for all things, I guess?
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"Instead of trying to avoid our uneasiness and off-centeredness by running away, we could begin to open our hearts to the human dilemma that causes so much misery in this world. We could realize that the way to turn this devaptura 'arrow' in to a 'flower' is to open our hearts and look at how we try to escape. With enormous gentleness and clarity, we could look at how weak we are. In this way we can discover that what seems to be ugly is in fact the source of wisdom and a way for us to reconnect with our basic wisdom mind.'
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I've read this passage by Pema Chödrön very many times, and I don't have an interpretation for you exactly but I think you and I both know what it's talkin' bout, right?
Gloomsday
I watched this last night. Have you seen it? Left me feeling gloomy … not sure why? In general I don’t like thinking about high school very much. Just not a chapter I’d want to paddle back to. Too much longing and no idea what for.
Anyhoo, it’s not often that a movie drops a feeling over me like a wet blanket that I can’t shrug off for a day or so. What does it all meeeaan? I don't have the answers, guys.
Stay Home
Think of a reason (mine was out of town visitors), and take your reason wandering all over your town—eating, drinking, crossing back and forth over bridges and walking up dusty trails. Leave behind all semblance of budgeting and schedule restrictions. Buy 5 dollar almond-milk lattes at Heart without a care. Spend hours sitting around a wooden kitchen table drinking pine-scented cocktails and just, ya know, talking. Make a list of every restaurant you ever wanted to try in Portland and knock ’em off, one by one. Drop face-first into bed exhausted every night after so much walking and so much sun. It's what they call a "staycation" I guess. It's what I did last week. And it was SO good. No airports, no train rides, no itineraries. Just good friends, sun-toasted days, and my very own bed at the end of the night.
Favorites April 23
Meteor showers: When celestial arrows split the dark sky over your head, you feel special I don't care who you are.
Trumer Pilsner: Crisp, that's the main word to describe it. Does not require sunshine but perfectly accompanies it.
Bike rides in the warm rain: Not torrential, mind you. It's nice!
Corn meal crust pizza: I ate at Dove Vivi last night and was reminded about the virtues of the kind of pizza so thick, rich, and savory you only need one piece (plus one to take home wrapped in brown wax paper for breakfast in the morning).
