Michael's Wild Night

The first thing I heard when I walked in my building this morning was a woman talking very loudly on her cell phone. She was totally trashing some poor soul. Fortunately I had turned on my anti-negativity force field before I entered the building. Since the expected high today is 105 degrees, I hope my force field also keeps me cool when I leave today.

Last night I was walking through the Mall with my wife. I said to her, “When I get home I am shutting the door and I am not leaving the house until Monday morning”! She said, “Are you taking tomorrow off? You do know it’s only Thursday, right”? Thursday??? Once again all my hopes and dreams were squashed like a mosquito! Today, however, it really is Friday. My wife is going out with her sister tonight so I will be home alone and totally unsupervised. I will probably get pretty crazy. I will go home today, take a shower to wash away the dust from a hard day in the office, I will most likely have a bowl of cereal for dinner. If I’m feeling wild, I may have a banana too. Since there won’t be any adults around I think I will watch a concert DVD and turn my surround sound up as loud as I want. I may take the television remote off my wife’s end table and put it on my end table. Maybe I will burn some of my favorite incense since my wife won’t be around to complain that I’m setting off her sinuses. There’s beer in the refrigerator so I’ll probably drink a few. When she comes in the door at 9:00 PM I will most likely be asleep in my Lazy Boy with the music blaring in the background. It’s going to be a wild night!  I love living on the edge!

Today's Assignment

Here’s something I read this morning from a book called Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh.

We try to be in touch with life and look deeply as we drink our tea, walk, sit down, or arrange flowers. The secret of the success is that you are really yourself, and when you are really yourself, you can encounter life in the present moment.

Today I want all of you to really be who you are. Along with being who you are I want you to be where you are and I want you to do what you are doing. This might all sound simple but it is not. Most people are not who they really are. Most of us are trying to be who we think we need to be to impress or appease others. Most of us are not where we are. Our minds and bodies are rarely in the same place. Whatever most of us are doing, we are probably thinking about what we need to do next. Many of our lives demand multi-tasking and that really complicates things. In today’s world it is very challenging to only so one thing at a time. Wherever you are today, and whatever you are doing each moment, be there and do it. If you’re drinking your coffee, tea, or soda, really drink it. Know that you are drinking it. When you have a snack or eat your lunch, know that you are doing it. Taste your food, enjoy it’s flavor, and mindfully chew it. If you are outside, and there is a breeze, feel the wind. Today is going to be very hot so it will be a simple task to feel the sun. Simply put, live your life today and enjoy every minute of the day. Be alive and awake.

Grandchildren

There’s nothing I enjoy more than walking into my granddaughter’s school and seeing her light up when she sees me. She runs toward me and gives me a hug that almost knocks me down. No one loves me like my granddaughter loves me. She will be eight years old in a few days. Currently she’s totally obsessed with Michael Jackson. When she gets in my car she immediately says, “Play Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson”! Since I’m a cool Grandpa, I loaded some Michael Jackson on my iPod and we listen to him when we are driving around together.  Chloe even has a Michael Jackson doll that my son found on eBay. When she’s not playing with it, he sits on the shelf next to her Pee Wee Herman doll. Recently Chloe asked me what a hippie was. I explained it as best I could since I do have some personal experience. A couple of days ago she told me that you have to be at least sixty years old to be a hippie. When I told her I was in my sixties, she just smiled at me.  Although I try to have a zest for living, there are certainly days when life just feels like a struggle. Sometimes on such days I am blessed to spend time with Chloe. She is so full of energy, wonder, and questions. Her energy overwhelms me at times. Once when I asked her if she was happy, she looked at me like she didn’t understand the question. I received one of those, “Why wouldn’t I be happy?” looks. The timing in life when a person becomes a grandparent is probably perfect. By the time you reach your 50’s or 60’s, you very likely feel weary. You’re often tired of everybody and everything. Then, if you are lucky, the universe gives you a grandchild and if you are open to it, a grandchild is a true gift and a reminder of what’s important in life. It’s also a reward for all the toil of being a parent.  I love my granddaughter!

The Experience Of God

One question that has often come up in the many spiritual conversations I’ve been part of over the years is “What is the experience of God”? It’s a question that no one, even my friends in the monastery, can quite agree on. My basic answer is that I don’t either. However, I do have a few thoughts about it. More and more many people wonder if there even is a God. I don’t know that either with any certitude and I am always amazed at how offended some people get when I say that. I’m not saying there’s no God. I’m just saying that I don’t really know. Isn’t not knowing why people have faith? I think there are some experiences and feelings that we all have as human beings. Do you ever have a sense of longing but you are not sure what you are longing for? Do you ever feel empty or incomplete? Are you hungry for something beyond food but you are not sure what you hunger for? I believe these feelings, at their root, are spiritual. We are all desiring some kind of unity or oneness with someone or something. I do spend a fair amount of time meditating and practicing mindfulness. Sometimes when I am being silent and still, I do experience feelings of peace. There are also times when I experience what some people would call “warm, fuzzy feelings”. Occasionally I feel one with the universe. Are these feelings the experience of God? Again, I don’t know. They might just be pleasant feelings or my imagination. I guess all I can really say is that I have all the feelings I mentioned above. I don’t always know why I have them. Something or someone seems to be always calling me forward. Is the inner voice I hear God speaking to me or just me talking to myself? Again, I don’t know. I suppose someday I will find out or maybe I won’t. There was once an Abbot at the monastery who had a standard response every time one of the monks died. He would say, “Now our brother knows more theology than any of us”.

Books And The Blues

I am not a big fan of hot weather. Summer is my least favorite time of year. This week we have a very good chance of reaching temperatures of 100 degrees. During the summer months I have no grandparent duties on the weekends. I did go visit my mother on Saturday afternoon but most of the weekend I stayed at home. I spent most of my time reading, listening to music, and taking naps. I love books. I received a couple for Father’s Day and I’ve already finished one of them. Have you ever enjoyed a book so much that you actually feel a little sad when you have finished it? In the last week I have read the autobiography of Gregg Allman called “My Cross To Bear”. It was like re-living the last 40+ years of my musical adventures. I have seen Gregg Allman and the Allman Brothers Band more than any other rock and roll band including the Grateful Dead. I am not so much interested in the personal lives of rock stars as I am in what was going on behind the music. I not only enjoy listening to music, I enjoy studying the history of music. I have already started reading another book which is the autobiography of Buddy Guy. He is the greatest living bluesman. I have seen him many times and at one of his concerts, as I stood in front of the stage, he leaned down and gave me his guitar pick. Both of these books are in some ways a history of the blues. Gregg Allman is considered by many as the greatest white blues singer. Buddy got his start in the south before moving to Chicago and sitting at the feet of such great bluesmen as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Howlin’ Wolf. I can’t wait to get home so I can put some blues on my stereo and continue my reading.

Wavy Gravy

Yesterday I had lunch with two of my friends from the monastery. They usually contact me whenever they are going to be in town on business. We had some serious conversation and a lot of laughs. I am always flattered when anyone thinks being with me is a good use of their time.

Last night I watched a documentary about a man named Wavy Gravy. It was called “Saint Misbehaving”. Wavy is probably the world’s best known hippie. I am second. He is also a great social activist and humanitarian. He became famous to the masses because he had a prominent role in the original Woodstock. He was in the documentary film about Woodstock. Many people remember seeing on the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of hippie saying, “What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000”. I was not one of the 400,000 even though many people think I was. In the early 90’s, however, I did spend an evening with Wavy Gravy. I found him to be a genuine and authentic person. I had bought his book and asked him to autograph it. After doing so, he looked at me and said, “Now I want you to autograph my book”. So, somewhere in his home is a book with my name in it. Further proof that Wavy is a great person is that Ben & Jerry’s has an ice cream favor named after him. When last night’s movie was over, I looked at my wife and said, “He may be Wavy Gravy but I’m the Tie Dyed Mystic”!

Here’s your weekend mantra.

“Don’t just do something, sit there”!

Finding Quiet Space

Yesterday I met a friend for lunch in the lobby of a building a few blocks from where I work. I arrived a few minutes early so I found a chair in which to wait. The lobby was reasonably quiet and the chair was very comfortable. I spent the time practicing my breathing while I reflected on a Buddhist teaching. When the meditation bell on my cell phone chimed I continued to sit there in silence. I could not help but think that in the building where I work, there is literally nowhere one can find a quiet place, with soft chairs, where one can enjoy the silence and be alone with their thoughts. Why can’t we have some quiet rooms with soft chairs where one can find some momentary peace? There could be a sign at the entrance like the ones at the monastery which say “Silence is spoken here”. Our office is an introvert’s nightmare. There’s nowhere to hide or simply be. When I look downstairs from the 12th floor atrium, and I see the hundreds of cubicles, I am reminded of the drone pods in a Borg mother ship. I have been in other downtown offices where there are quiet spaces that allow employees some solace from the demands of their jobs. I am grateful for the green space near where I work. However, the outdoors is not always hospitable. Today, for example, as I write these thoughts, it is 89 degrees outside with high humidity. In my work world, we are constantly stressing productivity. However, we do little to provide an environment that supports it. Beyond productivity, quiet places are as important to well-being as free pedometers. Well-being is not just about our bodies. It is also about our minds and spirits.

The Borg are an alien species from Star Trek. They were part machine, part organic, and greatly feared by other species. The Borg’s goal was to assimilate other species into their “collective”. The Borg had a group mind and consciousness. There was no individuality.