Sunday, February 16, 2014

Wisdom Accrual: 16 notes to myself on my birthday



It's not a particularly big birthday this year, but it's far enough down the road that of course I'm taking stock after my latest turn around the sun. Have I learned anything useful past the 'all I learned in kindergarten?' Yes, some of those lessons carried through: daily painting (or art-making) sessions and naps are still a great idea. Bikes and birds are joyous things, being nice matters, and its best to watch out for boys like Charles Hoff who made a game of chasing girls by running them down and grabbing at them.
Mostly I learned in kindergarten that my existence was the tiny tip of a large iceberg of humanity stretching far beyond the scattered houses, canyon roads and apple orchards of our smallish town....which eventually led me through and to the BA, countless hours of post-graduate/extra-curricular study, 26 states, four continents, four guitars, two marriages, two houses, two cats, multiple dogs, multiple deaths, multiple therapies, multiple stitches, Catholicism, Buddhism, yoga, omnivorism, vegetarianism, veganism, pens, paper, art, music, bikes and birds to here, now.
What to make of this?
Notes from the road thus far:
  1. Do your practice. (Everything is a practice, whether it's feeding the cat, chanting the sutra, taking a shower, loving your mate, facing the page, stepping on stage, etc. et al)
  2. The forgiveness business. Even if it's painful as hell.
  3. Have your feelings. 
  4. Know what's yours.
  5. Listen.
  6. You can rewrite the story
  7. Get clear. Be clear. (Are you in or out?)
  8. Get out in nature. (The moon! The stars!)
  9. Laugh.
  10. Moderate consumption of all kinds.
  11. Don't wait. 
  12. It, everything, will change.
  13. Honesty.
  14. Gratitude.
  15. Reverence. 
  16. Love.




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