Category Archives: Personal Development - Page 4

Walking the dog

Posted by on July 5, 2008 1 comment

A lighter post than the one I was expecting to make, but what the heck.

I’ve been looking after a friends house this weekend, also with the house come one or two animals.  Her dog, Lady, needs plenty of exercise and I stepped up to the challenge.

I though I was fit, but I’ve had it proved to me again, that all that time in the gym does not mean you’re real world fit.  Thanks Lady.

What’s been of equal interest is to observe Lady as we’ve been walking.  She often stops to sniff, clearly privy to a world that I would have walked straight past.  It brought it home to me how much of our daily world we take for granted.  We walk round with our heads in the clouds without realising that there could easily be a whole layer of the world there that we are blind to.

Walking the dog as spirituality, I never would have thought of it!

Taking the diet to the next level.

Posted by on June 14, 2008 No comments

Well, I’ve been fully veggie since the 1st May, which Im very proud of, but I needed to make sure I was getting the right mix of nutrients in the right amount.

While browsing a vegetarian forum a few days ago, I came across Sparkpeople. It’s a site that does a food diary for you, including vitamins and other nutrients, an exercise log and the ability to track personal goals. There are forums for support and even a mini blog, all told this is just what I needed, just when I needed it.

I’ve started to track my meditations on there to make sure that I don’t miss it, I’m also going to start working with the Microcosmic Orbit again, as I’d fallen off the bandwagon on that one.

A few more thoughts on Meditation.

Posted by on May 20, 2008 No comments

I was thinking about meditation last night after my regular sitting, especially the “Sitting quietly, doing nothing” aspect.

I was thinking that people go into meditation for any number of reasons, but if you go into it with expectation of a reward, you turn it into a standard chasing after the payoff type activity of the sort we do every day. But if you’re focussed on the payoff (no matter how nice it is), then you’re not meditating properly are you?

My line of thought is that by simply meditating for it’s own sake, without any grasping after a reward, the exercise will help us reduce our level of attachments and ego.  But there is more to it, I’ve found that I pay more attention and notice things more since I’ve been doing this, if I’d been focussed on the payoff would I have started to learn to do this?

It seems there’s more to sitting quietly, doing nothing than anyone thought…..

Made the leap.

Posted by on May 12, 2008 No comments

It been a while since I posted here, I suppose you could say I’ve had another case of “Bloggers Block”.

I made the jump to being fully vegetarian in the last fortnight, I feel much better in myself and I have to say that it’s made me much more aware of what’s in the food I’m eating and the issues surrounding it.

I’ve also become more aware of corporate and cartel power and it’s involvement in our lives than I was before, it’s as if this has spurred a blossoming of awareness, but not in a meditative way.

I’ve post a few links to some interesting Google videos when I get time.

Scientific evidence for meditation

Posted by on April 1, 2008 2 comments

I’ve been very interested by a story on the BBC which details the findings of scientists who are studying meditation. You can find the article here. It seems that the days of waiting for hard scientific evidence for the positive effects of meditation may well be over!

As a person who considers meditation to be an absolutely valuable practice this is music to my ears, I notice that they suggest it may help people struggling with substance abuse, and promotes happiness and enthusiasm.

I can certainly relate to that, I know how I feel when I miss my practice for a few days, I feel that my creativity and ability to engage properly with the world declines without meditation.

How do you feel your meditation practice benefits you? Drop me a comment.

Trying to go veggie, third time lucky?

Posted by on February 13, 2008 5 comments

Well, I’ve decided to make the effort to go Vegetarian again.  I started this a little over two weeks ago, this’ll be the third time in my life I’ve tried, all these attempts have been recently in the last couple of years.

My reasons are for health and because of my Buddhist / Taoist views.  It also feels right on level that I can’t articulate, I know that if I fail this time, then there will be a fourth attempt.

I’m trying a gradual change, my breakfast is already fully veggie, lunch is my next target and I’ve already achieved it.  I just need to get my diet right to sustain my gym activity before I start to move my evening meals over.

It’s interesting that I seem to be eating a greater quantity of food and experiencing some light headedness.  A vegetarian friend tells me that the greater volume is normal and I think the light headedness is because I need to get my dietary balance worked out fully, but this is exactly why I’m doing a gradual change. 

Last time, it was my exercise habits that beat me, but from what I can see there’s no reason whatsoever that a Vegetarian can’t be a bodybuilding or triathlete or whatever.

I’ll keep my blog updated with the things I learn as I go along, hopefully my trial and error will come in handy for someone else!

I am, am I?

Posted by on January 29, 2008 3 comments

I had the Buddhist view of the self re-explained to me the other day, it made a bit more sense this way.

The example I was given previously was by Alan Watts and was of a man in a railways station who buys a ticket, sits in the queue and then finally gets on a train and leaves.

The point Alan makes is that at each moment the man has extra experiences, his metabolism has moved on, he’s had extra thoughts about things, etc. So at no point is he a static entity, the man who buys the ticket is not the man who entered the station. The man who waits is not the man who bought the ticket, and so on. A consistent self is not present, as at each stage the man has changed in any number of small ways, and thus cannot present a consistent entity.

So I’m reading “An End to Suffering” by Pankaj Mishra, it’s an interesting read so far. It’s autobiographical and is covering a bit more of the history of the British and European discovery of Buddhism than I’ve seen elsewhere. The Buddhist view of the self is presented here by way of a short story, which uses the example of a chariot.

A chariot, like anything, is made from components. But no one component can be said to be the whole of the chariot.

The question is asked “Are the wheels the chariot?”, and answered “No”. Then, “Are the reins the Chariot?”, again the answer is “No”, and so on. It becomes clear that the chariot is really the relationship between it’s parts, it can only be said to exist when the parts are together.

The same is true of a person that we are truly the relationship between our physical and mental parts. My appendix for example, is not me, just one part of me. If I have my appendix (or tonsils) out, then I am certainly not the being I was before as I am minus some parts, but those parts cannot be said to be me.

Again the point is that my “self” is really the relationship between the constantly changing components of my body and mind, not anything concrete. But there is another dimension that the author has not touched on yet, which I think underpins Buddhist ethics. It’s something I’ve mentioned on here before, the South African principle of “Ubuntu” or “I am who I am because of who we all are”.

A very important part of the relationships that make me who I am is my relationship to my environment, the society I live in and to other people within those. This makes the precepts and the eightfold path even more urgent, as they not only change my body and mind relationship, but they directly change my relationship with these external things, thus not only changing who am I am, but ultimately who we all are.