I've seen the future and it will be!

My first blog on my new MacBook Pro. I LOVE IT!

It is little odd to visit the Apple store as most of the techs are about 21. I hate to admit they talk too fast for me. I try to find the guy with wrinkles for assistance! One guided me to a book! NICE! :-0 I can reference that again and again.

This blog will be a bit of non-sequitur, much like my last few weeks.

Randomness:

* You look like someone I know. I have received that comment numerous times in the last few weeks.

* Mt. Hood still takes my breath away.

* I have had many glimpses of the peak-less Mt St. Helens as well.

* I have no complaints about the weather. It has been absolutely stunning! My favorite day was when the air conditioning broke down at work! AH!!!!!!! warmth. I have not been able to convince Engineering that I am happiest at about 75 degrees. Ah well.

* I am reaching a zero tolerance for yappy dogs. My mom’s condo complex is full of them!

Present?

Present moment and mindfulness were lost on me this week. For example, I got on the elevator on floor 6 heading to floor 15. At floor 9 a guy got in and asked me where I was going. Right! I hadn’t pushed a button. Scary. He then asked me if I had gone to the basement and then back up. Yes, yes, I was riding the elevator to pass time. Well, it wasn’t an unreasonable question given I hadn’t pushed a button! I am surprised how spacey I am this week. I guess I am still adjusting. When I think about calling my friend Jen I still add three hours. Oops she lives in CA. For those who are more astrologically inclined perhaps it is the numerous eclipses occurring this month wreaking havoc on my inner life. I know, big eye roll for some.

I listened to the Sakyong and Pema Chodron talk this weekend. Both were an inspiration and I am looking forward to meeting the Sakyong in October.

At some point this week it hit me that moving was similar to rafting a class IV or perhaps even a V. I am riding the waves and at times even getting doused with very cold water. My feelings are: fear, exhilaration, excitement, apprehension, anticipation, and wonder.

Thinking of rafting reminds me of a time I fell out of the boat. Now mind you I had taken quite a few courses at the local pool, which I will go on record and say a pool does not replicate a river! The instructions we received should we fall out was orient yourself down stream and keep your feet up. Piece a cake in the friggen pool!!! The thing is I believed the instructors. This is a bit like the meditation instruction I have received: tighten your practice, focus on the out breath, stay with the experience, and label your thoughts. Um, ok, hard to do sitting on a cushion much less in day-to-day life.

My reality of falling out of a boat was equivalent to being tossed into a washing machine! Downstream? Um, right, I was spinning in circles. I couldn’t have pointed my feet downstream for a million dollars. I was tossed around like a rag doll, pushed to the bottom of the river, and slammed against rocks. I finally clutched my legs and attempted to roll in a ball to prevent my back from getting broken. All I could do is wait until my body was spit out from the rapids into the eddy. Fortunately I was unscathed other than numerous bruises on my legs.

Moral of this story: do not make decisions when tossed about! Hold on until you reach calmer waters!

Boredom led me to Twitter. OH NO! Why it doesn’t lead me to the must read books stacked on my floor, I haven’t a clue! So, in an attempt to stay busy and minimize my Internet surfing. I have signed up for a class at the local Shambhala Center, a Spanish class and a Social Justice Community Service class at the School of Buddhist studies. I have no idea what to expect from the latter, but all my favorite words were used!

GPS devices!

Tom Tom is leading me astray. Now that I am learning my own way I find it takes me on the strangest routes. I went to my brother’s on Saturday and was on the phone so I was at the mercy of Tom Tom as I don’t know my way there quite yet. It led me there by way of the back roads. Last weekend I went to Bainbridge Island and it led me to water. It was an amazing day so I thoroughly enjoyed the unplanned ferry ride. Mt. Rainier provided a stunning backdrop and Cody was lavished with attention on his first ferry ride. Of course, the ferry horn was about his undoing. I saw my first Improv show that night. What a great time!! Good to laugh that hard!

On the return home in attempt to avoid the ferry I tried to reroute Tom Tom and it wanted to take me nearly to Idaho! Finally, my friend, Stephanie, wrote down directions for me.

Still learning a lot about the mental health realm. I toured a facility and learned about the suicide proofing that goes into planning. The most intriguing to me was the suicide proof glass. It shatters, but a film prevents it from crumbling so it stays intact yet shattered. So one can’t go through it or cut themselves with the shards. There has to be a life analogy in there somewhere.

I still struggle with spelling psychiatrist. Sometimes I get it at first shot, but other times it takes 2-3 times!

"Trust that the big river of your life has a plan for you and let it carry you onward. Throw overboard those things that are weighing you down. Be open to revising your maps. Take a deep breath and move into the current."

Until next time. Namaste!