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.

Happy Valentine's Day: World Sound Healing Day Feb 14, 2014 + Some Poetry

It's no secret singing makes you feel better. Sound vibration — whether you're chanting or singing in the shower or part of a choir — is going to alter your felt sense somehow (usually for the better).
Coinciding with Valentine's Day, a tribe of sound scholars, healers and singers have organized an international event around healing sound: World Sound Healing Day! The 12th annual event — where people from around the globe are invited to 'sound' a healing note in unison at 12 noon (local time)— is today, February 14.
"Join thousands throughout the planet for the 12th Annual WORLD SOUND HEALING DAY on Friday, February 14, 2014. At 12 noon (local time in your time zone), sound forth for 5 minutes with the “AH”, created and projected with the energy of compassion and love."
 
Heal your heart, heal the world! Healing Sounds pioneer Jonathan Goldman offers a free sounding mp3 for those who want to join in.  Find a list of in-person events here.

I once heard a writer instruct her students to carry a book of poetry everywhere. I've followed her guidance at times, always happy when I do. Poetry just gives. To whit:

The Quiet World 

by Jeffrey McDaniel

In an effort to get people to look

into each other’s eyes more,

and also to appease the mutes,

the government has decided

to allot each person exactly one hundred   

and sixty-seven words, per day.

When the phone rings, I put it to my ear   

without saying hello. In the restaurant   

I point at chicken noodle soup.

I am adjusting well to the new way.

Late at night, I call my long distance lover,   

proudly say I only used fifty-nine today.   

I saved the rest for you.

When she doesn’t respond,

I know she’s used up all her words,   

so I slowly whisper I love you

thirty-two and a third times.

After that, we just sit on the line   

and listen to each other breathe.

                           —Jeffrey McDaniel, “The Quiet World” from The Forgiveness Parade. Copyright © 1998 by Jeffrey McDaniel. Reprinted with the permission of Manic D Press.

Everyday peace

I'm not so good at keeping track of months going by. I'm still writing 2012 some days and I'm a little bewildered that it's already September. So it didn't quite dawn on me that another, sober, anniversary was around the corner until I picked up my pen this morning to write the date. 9/11/13.
Has it really been 12 years? I thought, flashing on the memory of that day in New York, where I happened to be, waking innocently for a yoga workshop and going to bed restlessly and too-in-shock-to-be -scared, marveling at the fact that I was still alive, feeling oh-so-well how fragile it all was. I wrote about that day for me soon after the fact, here. Today I'm feeling more quiet and pensive, scanning the years and seeing how much those events impacted the world's actions and my own personal ones. It's easy to feel powerless in the face of events like 9/11 (or the current Syrian crisis) but if there's one thing I started to learn 12 years ago, and know more now, peace is not so much a noun but a verb, an everyday activity, a practice, and that everyone has the power to make that choice. And of course, peace starts with the individual. Some everyday activities that tend to keep me aware of the bigger picture and that I've come to believe contribute to a more peaceful world include:
1) Do some yoga  (one of whose limbs is Ahimsa, aka nonviolence)
2)  Vote. CA residents can register here.
3) Connect to your local community. Volunteer. Join a group. Get to know your neighbors.
4) Get out in nature. It's a beautiful world.
5) When in doubt, take a breath.

100,000 Poets & Musicians for Change in San Francisco: Alex Walsh, Deborah Crooks & Malaika Thorne 9/29/12

As part of the international 100,000 Poets & Musicians for Change, Alex Walsh and I along with poet Malaika Thorne are presenting an evening of music and poetry at The Bazaar Cafe on September 29. This event will take place in many cities, all over the world, on the same date, indoors, outdoors and it will be televised. If you're in SF come to the Bazaar Cafe! 

Saturday, September 29th, 2012 Bazaar Cafe  100 Thousand Musicians for Change Day - 7pm Alex Walsh, Deborah Crooks & Malaika Thorne

5927 California St
San Francisco California 94114
US

Price: $5 suggested

For more information check out http://www.100tpc.org/