Effortless Flow

Random Insights

2012-01-29T17:26:00.001-07:00

Haven't written a "Random Insight" post for awhile, at least not one titled or labeled as such; the last one was back in April. The reason being not for lack of insights, but because the insights are often far too brief to form into a post, like just a sentence or a paragraph or two; and except for poetry and pictures I usually don't like posting anything less than 400 words. Although you could

January Reading Review

2012-01-26T19:30:00.001-07:00

I’ve read six books so far this year: 1. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer, by Philip K Dick. 2. The Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller. 3. The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit, by Shirley MacLaine. 4. The Autobiography of Donovan, by Donovan Leitch. 5. Faust: Part One, by Goethe. 6. The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran. What follows is an overview of what I thought of these books, as well as other

Gray Cat

2012-01-25T19:22:00.002-07:00

So, I'm still living in an apartment, as a long-term guest, renting a room off the record, in cash. I sleep in the den, which is also serving as a storage room. So I'm surrounded by boxes. Not very aesthetically pleasing, but I suppose it beats living under the bridge. I have a black cat, which has been with me since 2003. He's getting old. I have no plans of acquiring any other pets anytime

Fire Keeper

2012-01-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

The way I look upon blogging: is that the more you do it, the more it becomes a routine, the easier it is to do. Blogging daily or every other day, sort of builds up a natural momentum, like a wheel rolling down a hill, that it becomes more powerful with each successive post. The less you do it, the longer I go without updating my blog, the more of a challenge it becomes to return to it. The

Scattered Dreams

2012-01-20T23:57:00.000-07:00

I think I may have to start up a dream diary again, not here, but in a paper notebook. Here I will just publish the more noteworthy ones, the dreams that made the strongest impression on me. It is a fact, that if you get into the habit of writing down whatever you can recall from your dreams immediately upon waking, even if it is just a fragment, it will help you remember your dreams in much

My Experience With Melatonin

2012-01-19T14:02:00.001-07:00

So I've been talking about trying melatonin supplements for a couple of years now, as a natural sleep aid, and just by chance one day last fall while shopping at Trader Joe's, I noticed they carried an inexpensive bottle of chewable peppermint flavored melatonin tablets, which I purchased and tried for the first time in my life back in October. I've only taken them a couple times since, because

January Fitness Update

2012-01-16T22:26:00.003-07:00

This is a diary post about my personal fitness progress, obstacles and goals. Haven't been running, and only walking a bit; though at least a quarter mile a day no matter what, whether that be walking to the store, library, mailbox, or recyclable dumpster (where once a week I carry all my recyclables a few blocks away to the designated drop off spot). What I'd like to do is to be able to either

Dirty Old Bastard

2012-01-14T18:42:00.002-07:00

I just finished reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, for the first and most likely the last time ever. Interestingly enough, and I didn't even realize this fact until after I finished the book and added it to my reading list, but I read his Tropic of Capricorn (the second installment of his semi-autobiographical novel) back in January 2010, and wrote about it here. So it's like exactly two

Some Thoughts on Taoist Longevity

2012-01-14T14:18:00.002-07:00

This post is a response to something I read recently on a "Taoist blog" (which I put in quotes because in my opinion if Taoism had prophets, this particular blog would be in the "false prophets of Tao" class) about how aspiring to longevity is ego based and unwise, and that in the author's opinion longevity is somehow not even relevant to Taoist philosophy. And that not only is it selfish to

Fake Gurus Versus Real Gurus

2012-01-11T21:18:00.001-07:00

Want to know what criteria I use to evaluate the authentic teachers (gurus, philosophers, leaders, and prophets) from the false ones? 1. Do they practice what they preach? 2. Do they have healthy habits? Almost nothing turns me off more than an unhealthy hypocrite. Anyone who is brilliant, and gives good advice, but who neglects their own health, or who minimizes the importance of health and

Spirituality, What it Means to me

2012-01-08T22:50:00.001-07:00

It's difficult for me sometimes coming up with ideas out of thin air, which is why you are more than welcome to suggest a post. Most of what I write about is inspired from something else, whether it is a book, an observation, or an idea proposed elsewhere, often something that pissed me off, or that I feel needs expanding upon. Never underestimate the value of anger and conflict as a catalyst for

Abortion (Part Two)

2012-01-06T19:58:00.001-07:00

To clarify things a bit, thought I'd expand more upon my thoughts concerning abortion. In the previous post, I stated that I am not only pro-choice, I am pro-abortion. Some people insist that they mean the same thing, but in my opinion they do not. To be pro-choice merely indicates that the option to either go through with a pregnancy or to terminate it rests entirely with the decision of the

Abortion

2012-01-06T02:11:00.000-07:00

I imagine all sorts of expectations here, yours and mine. I expect what I think you expect, and I find myself unable to live up to my own expectations. Better. Greater. More meaningful. More purposeful. More productive. More important. It's really difficult to perform when you are thinking about perfection. When you feel each post must be a masterpiece. But the fact is that true masterpieces are

Lucky 13

2012-01-01T02:01:00.000-07:00

Portrait of the Blogger, December 31, 2011 Yeah the reason why I called this post lucky 13, is that I was originally planning on it being the last post of the year, which would have been the 13th post of December. But you can't always get what you want, can you, not that it really matters either way, so lucky 13 will be the first post of the new year instead. So I opened up my 40 dollar

The Difference Between Experience and Theory

2011-12-31T21:44:00.001-07:00

Some people claim that intellectual knowledge is just as good as experiential knowledge, that you don't have to actually practice what you preach to be considered a credible source of advice. That there is little difference between being able to describe how to do something, and actually doing it. That theoretical knowledge is a sufficient substitute for experience. I really couldn't disagree

Moving Pictures

2011-12-28T23:30:00.002-07:00

When I moved a few months ago, I got rid of quite a few of my belongings, including my old bulky energy wasting stereo system, but not yet the CDs. So I have a box of music CDs that I cannot play. You see when I got rid of those things I thought I'd use this old boombox I had as a substitute. But the CD player on it has malfunctioned, and all that works on it is the radio and cassette tape player

The Day After

2011-12-26T16:33:00.001-07:00

I didn't celebrate Christmas or the Solstice this year. I didn't go anywhere, or do anything special. The entire winter holiday season has completely lost its appeal to me. Everything about it feels hollow: the music, the movies, the food, the decorations, the festivities. I don't even really feel like getting together with relatives anymore, as our incompatibilities are just too great for me

Walkabout, three weeks later

2011-12-23T01:12:00.002-07:00

The Hanged Man You remember my Walkabout post, right? If not, check it out, it's a grand photographic tour, offering a glimpse of the American Southwest as seen by me, traveling through the power of my own locomotion...one of the best ways to travel. I mention it because towards the end of that post, I said in jest, how as much as I wanted to explore a trail on private property, I thought it

Nature Unplugged

2011-12-22T20:20:00.003-07:00

I'm currently reading a really great book called The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram. It's one of those rare kind of books, much like a magical invocation, where the simple act of reading it has the power to transform your consciousness, causing a quantum shift in your entire way of thinking. Here's a quote from it, describing the

Running

2011-12-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

Been thinking about running lately. I’ve walked ten miles, road my bike 30 miles, but I’ve never run longer than one mile at a stretch. For all my talk about being into fitness, that’s kind of pathetic, huh? A mile run is basically a walk in the park. Not much of an accomplishment. It’s more of a warm up exercise for more experienced runners. Why haven’t I run further? I guess I’ve seen no point

Finding Money

2011-12-15T20:44:00.001-07:00

We've been having some very cool weather come through here lately, with morning temps in the low 30s, which is very cold for the lower elevations by southern Arizona standards. Being originally from Wisconsin, I'm no stranger to cold, and indeed this is mild in comparison, but I've since come to the conclusion that I dislike cold weather just as much as I dislike hot weather. I don't much like

A Warrior in Training

2011-12-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Strength (VIII) Tarot Card I saw an ad in the batch of manufactured coupons that came in the mail this week, for home delivery of 5 gallon containers of filtered water. It reminded me of all the years I had hauled five gallons of water home every week on the city bus, through the rain and snow and freezing cold of the Wisconsin winter. When I was 18 and started working a full-time job after

Nobility of Character

2011-12-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

Nobility of Character Clearness of intellect Steadiness of purpose Continence in appetite Excellence of physical form I found this written down in one of my notepads, but I failed to document its source. Does it really matter? No. Just didn't want to claim credit for something I didn't create. I would say that I have always aspired to a nobility of character, to live a virtuous life. Many

As if You Were Dying

2011-12-04T23:57:00.000-07:00

Easter Island Statue "Write as if you were dying. At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting of terminal patients. That is, after all, the case." -- Annie Dillard, The Writing Life. Another way of putting this, would be to live each day as if it were your last; to seize the day, to make the most of whatever time you have. If you are dying, there is no time for

Blogging From the Heart

2011-12-03T01:08:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to blog from the heart, to speak from the heart, to write from the heart, to act from the heart? It means being true to yourself; acting naturally, being honest and sincere. To blog from the heart, is the most effortless way to blog. It means to write naturally, without pretense. Not putting on airs. Not struggling with words. Not attempting to gain anyone's favor or approval.