That Was Then and This is Now: Contemplations From the 2018 Retreat Part 3 — Mae Neecha’s Reply

March 19, 2021

Dear Reader, below I have shared Mae Neecha’s reply and suggestions to my email to her about my contemplations form the 2018 retreat. If you have not already done so, please go back and read the last 2 blog entries that share my original email to her. This is great progress, really sharp observations about causality. Overall, your plan seems to be on track. If there was only one thing…

Read More >>

That Was Then and This is Now: Contemplations From the 2018 Retreat Part 2

March 12, 2021

Dear Reader, this blog is a direct continuation of the previous, if you have not already done so please go back and read Part 1. Where I am planning to go/have already begun going from here: That all basically covers the contours of the great retreat contemplation. I was talking to LP Nut about some of this and he offered a suggestion. He said, I should see there are many…

Read More >>

That Was Then and This is Now: Contemplations From the 2018 Retreat Part 1

March 5, 2021

Dear Reader, here we have the contents of an email I sent to Mae Neecha rehashing my contemplations during, and just following, the 2018 retreat. This is looooonnnggggg, and made longer by a rather generously portioned ‘later day note’, so I will divide it into 2 blogs. A little background: LP Anan was telling stories about the Buddha’s wife and before he really got started he said something that set…

Read More >>

Farewell Ukiah Gardens

February 26, 2021

 Taking a break from the hot springs, we decided to head over to our favorite restaurant in town to grab some lunch — Ukiah Gardens, here we come!!! Eric and I have been coming to the hot springs in Ukiah for years. We have a routine, a favorite cabin we always stay in, a favorite coffee place, a few shops downtown that we like to stop into and — above…

Read More >>

A Less Than Relaxing Day at the Hot Springs

February 19, 2021

I was at my favorite hot springs, lounging in one of the bathtubs, warm water and blissful serenity washing over me. Then suddenly, I heard the roaring sound of a jackhammer in the not distant enough distance — goddamn construction totally fucking with my chi . So annoying!!! Out of nowhere, it hit me — if I actually controlled my body, I wouldn’t hear the noise. I could just shut…

Read More >>

The Cost of Special

February 12, 2021

As I was listening to NPR podcasts,  a story teaser came on about a woman who was sexually assaulted and her journey navigating the justice system to bring her attacker to trial. I was interested, so I clicked the button to ‘hear the full story now’.  The woman’s story began with a night she was drunk and decided to try and buy drugs from a stranger. She went for a ride…

Read More >>

The Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

February 5, 2021

This contemplation is one of the first times I really considered the cost and suffering of building wealth. It is not that I didn’t understand that money, like everything else, has two sides previously, I did. But this was the first time I viscerally understood that a dominant pattern in Eric and my life — sacrificing now to create savings that would bring us future happiness — might actually be…

Read More >>

8 Precepts

January 29, 2021

Having recently signed a 1 year-long contract to consult with my old company, I got to thinking how strange it is to have a deadline to my commitment. For 9 years, I had worked at the same company as a regular employee, but somehow, now, having a time-specified contract, felt different. It got me to start considering how fixed my view of commitment is in general.  I mean sure, I…

Read More >>

When is Enough Enough?

January 22, 2021

As I sat on the floor of my Manhattan flat, the same thought kept circling in my brain “I’m stuck. I hate my life, I regret having come to this place, I am suffering here and now. How is this not enough to convince me of the suffering in this world? How is this not enough to motivate me to let go of my clinging?” The answer is simple, hope is fucking…

Read More >>

It’s Always Temporary

January 15, 2021

Back when I was a teenager, I refused to wear control top pantyhose when I had to go to an event, I felt like sporting the slimming-squishing-tummy-effect was fraudulent somehow. It was a cheat, not my body. I felt like because the effect was temporary, I shouldn’t try and pass it off as mine. That is the first time I can clearly remember the use of ‘the formula’ in my…

Read More >>