I was sitting on the beach in Maui, surveying all the stuff I had brought along on my sun and surf outing: sandals- mine, hat -mine, kindle – mine, beach chair – borrowed, beach towel-borrowed, beach games -borrowed. All these objects –mine and borrowed — just jumbled together, it made me start thinking what exactly is the difference between the two? I know, I know, in a conventional sense the…
Contemplation from the 2016 Retreat — Fear is to Greed
In this weeks blog I will share notes from an exercise I did exploring how I might apply the technique I successfully used to kill my obsessive fear to greed/desire for my belongings. Since this draws directly on my past contemplation it will be helpful to you, Dear Reader, to go back and re-read the Killing the Fear blog here. After I saw fear wasn’t fixed/didn’t live in a situation, I…
Contemplation from the 2016 Retreat — Its All in The Shawl
I spent much of the 2016 retreat racking my brain for evidence about myself and this world that might be found in my objects. Finally one object, another article of clothes popped into my mind — a special shawl that was worn by members of my Tibetan Buddhist community when we practiced. I remember when I got that shawl, I was so proud to put it on, so excited to go to…
Robot Duck
ตั้งแต่กลับจากเมืองไทยคราวนี้ มีปัญหากับลูกคนโตแทบจะตลอดเวลา ประกอบกับความที่ลูกอยู่ในช่วงวัยรุ่นอารมณ์รุนแรง เมื่อเกิดปัญหาเรื่องก็จะบานปลายกลายเป็นเรื่องใหญ่โต ถึงจะพยายามแก้ปัญหาไปทีละอย่างแต่สิ่งหนึ่งที่แก้ไม่ตกคือความรู้สึกของเราที่ไม่ดีขึ้น หลังจากพยายามพิจารณาไม่ว่าจะเป็นการมองหาหลักฐานนอกเหนือไปจากสิ่งที่เราเห็นหรือคำพูดที่เราได้ยิน การฝึกไม่เอาตัวเข้าไปรับไม่ดึงทุกเรื่องเข้าหาตัว ฝึกพิจารณาว่าลูกไม่ใช่ของเราจะได้ไม่หวังว่าเค้าจะต้องปฏิบัติต่อเราอย่างไร แต่ไม่ว่าจะทำวิธีไหนก็ยังเกิดเรื่องซ้ำๆเดิมๆอยู่เสมอ จนรู้สึกว่าเราต้องทำอะไรสักอย่างปล่อยไว้แบบนี้ไม่ได้แล้ว
Contemplation from the 2016 Retreat –A Sweet Porsche, Barbie’s Ultimate Accessory
Normally, I love my 911 Porsche convertible. I like to drop the top, cruise to all the fancy neighborhoods in NorCal and imagine people’s jaws dropping as my sexy self, in sleek sunhat and black dress, rolls by rockin out to my favorite tunes. In my mind, the car shows I have made it. It shows I am wealthy and sexy, chic and sleek. It is the ultimate accessory to…
Contemplation from the 2016 Retreat — Barbie Doll Alana
I was on the 2016 KPY retreat and I suddenly remembered how, as a kid I used to love to play with Barbie dolls: I would come-up with a story line — Barbie the doctor who saves lives, Barbie on beach vacation, Barbie the princess going to a ball to meet her prince — and then I would dress-up the Barbie dolls to fit the story, to become the characters….
Bringing a Lifeboat to the Desert
The Home Owners Association fees at my friend’s condo went way way up and she and her husband could no longer afford to live there. She knew she needed to sell, sooner rather than later, but she absolutely refused to consider a listing price less than $X00K. The reason: $X00K is what she believed she would need to buy a new house in cash, in a new neighborhood where she…
A Valuable Little Alana
We had a meeting at work to talk through a multi-team project, but I was feeling a little philosophical and started talking about a ‘big picture’ problem I hoped the project might solve — poor communication in my workplace. I gave around 3 examples to illustrate my ‘poor communications’ point, one of which involved a mistake by the Marketing Team, made months ago, communicating survey results. I left the meeting…
Keep Your Greasy Paws Off My Fries
I was out to dinner with a friend and when the waiter came to take our order, my friend invited me to go first. “I’ll take a salad and a side of fries” I said. My friend proceeded to order her meal, but –wah wah wah — she did not order fries. “Fuck” I thought, “I can’t believe she didn’t order fries, she loves fries and now she is totally…
The Blind, Thankless, My Monster
I was in Thai class today and we read this soppy-Thai story that went something like this: A teenager fights with his mom over something little. Then, to hurt her, he runs out of the house and runs away. As it gets dark the kid gets hungry but has no money for food. A noodle shop owner, who sees the kid standing outside looking longingly at the food, feels bad for the…