One thing that's hard to bear about the work week for me is the fact that I work at the computer all day, and it gives me plenty of opportunities to go on the online news media to check daily news. To me, most news are toxic in different ways.
Is news reality or reality check or distraction? Most news are negative. Someone's misfortune or misconduct stirred up interests of the mess, and every news agency starts chiming in on the latest development as well as detail breakdown analysis. The media grows on others' misfortune.
How about the readers like me. Am I encouraging the media? I would have to say guilty as charged. However, bad news is so draining and depressing. Why do I take it upon myself to endure such negativity?
The solution? Stop dwelling into news, and focus on the now and what's around me.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
My Meditation
How do you meditate? How do you learn to do it? I have some Yoga and relaxation books that talk about meditation, but I don't think you can learn how to meditate by reading books. Just like it's hard to learn how to dance by reading a book, eventually you have to do it.
I've been to Yoga classes where the teacher teaches meditation. The idea is to keep the mind focus on one thing, one phrase or one idea. When you realize your mind drifts away, you catch yourself and put the mind back to the original thing. Slowly over time, your mind is calm and peaceful focusing on the one idea, without drifting away.
One night I was awake until late, because I played on the computer until late and had some strong tea at dinner. It kept my mind restless. I was tossing and turning thinking about many random things. When the clock showed 2 AM, I decided it was time to try falling asleep, so that I could have a normal work day tomorrow.
To calm down my mind, I lied on my back with Savasana pose, and started breathing deeply. In my mind I wrote the Chinese character date - 日 - and I breathed slowly once with every stroke. Every time when I finished writing the character in my head, my thought would already be wondered away from the writing, and thinking about plans or fantasies. So When I started writing the character again, I intentionally brought my thought back to the character. The first ten to fifteen times when I wrote the character 日, my mind continued to wonder away somewhere in the middle of the writing. However after a while, my mind slowed down, and I was able to stay with the character. Slowly, the character morphed into a donuts, then it morphed again into a piece of cloud. All the ideas became irrelevant for the moment, and I eventually fell asleep.
I've been to Yoga classes where the teacher teaches meditation. The idea is to keep the mind focus on one thing, one phrase or one idea. When you realize your mind drifts away, you catch yourself and put the mind back to the original thing. Slowly over time, your mind is calm and peaceful focusing on the one idea, without drifting away.
One night I was awake until late, because I played on the computer until late and had some strong tea at dinner. It kept my mind restless. I was tossing and turning thinking about many random things. When the clock showed 2 AM, I decided it was time to try falling asleep, so that I could have a normal work day tomorrow.
To calm down my mind, I lied on my back with Savasana pose, and started breathing deeply. In my mind I wrote the Chinese character date - 日 - and I breathed slowly once with every stroke. Every time when I finished writing the character in my head, my thought would already be wondered away from the writing, and thinking about plans or fantasies. So When I started writing the character again, I intentionally brought my thought back to the character. The first ten to fifteen times when I wrote the character 日, my mind continued to wonder away somewhere in the middle of the writing. However after a while, my mind slowed down, and I was able to stay with the character. Slowly, the character morphed into a donuts, then it morphed again into a piece of cloud. All the ideas became irrelevant for the moment, and I eventually fell asleep.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Importance of Shoes
Are you a shoe person or a purse person? It's very sad but true, shoes and purses are my guilty pleasures. It's comforting to know, however, I'm not the only woman who possesses such obsession. In fact, it's probably quite normal for our population, except for a few outstanding individuals I know and admire, who have unsurpassed self discipline and self control to disregard material things. I continue to strive to become one of those exceptional people.
I try hard to reject the temptation of those things, but in my weaker moments, finding good pairs of shoes and a nice purse brighten my day. Until the next good find comes along, which haunts me at night.
I try hard to reject the temptation of those things, but in my weaker moments, finding good pairs of shoes and a nice purse brighten my day. Until the next good find comes along, which haunts me at night.
Creepy Things
#1 The two Tans
Jack's 3rd Ave. kiteboarding webcam was down for close to half a year now, because someone dropped it when moving it. As the kiteboarding season started this year, more and more people were noticing the absence of the webcam, and emails inquiries came to Jack's mailbox.
One day Jack told me Tan offered to donate his home computer to host the webcam server, so we wouldn't have to rely on the company hosting the webcam. Jack refused it a few times, because the hosting server was not the root cause of the problem. Jack just needed to get the webcam fixed and get it back on line. After a few times of unsuccessful engagement and many technical suggestions, Tan stopped emailing Jack with further offerings. Both Jack and I were quite amazed what a persistent person our friend Tan was.
Last week Jack came home and told me, "this guy walked up to me and said: it's good to finally meet you." It turned out it was the Tan who was emailing Jack, who was a different guy from our friend Tan.
#2 Confused about the singer
Finding out my favorite love song from high school was sung by a man rather than a woman.
#3 Are you alright?
One day I found Jack in the bed room lying on his belly. I was startled thinking he was fainting.
I screamed: "Are you alright?"
He looked up and said, "yes, I'm fine."
It turned out he was trying to deflate an inflated globe, and he was lying on it to squeeze the last bit of the air out of it.
Jack's 3rd Ave. kiteboarding webcam was down for close to half a year now, because someone dropped it when moving it. As the kiteboarding season started this year, more and more people were noticing the absence of the webcam, and emails inquiries came to Jack's mailbox.
One day Jack told me Tan offered to donate his home computer to host the webcam server, so we wouldn't have to rely on the company hosting the webcam. Jack refused it a few times, because the hosting server was not the root cause of the problem. Jack just needed to get the webcam fixed and get it back on line. After a few times of unsuccessful engagement and many technical suggestions, Tan stopped emailing Jack with further offerings. Both Jack and I were quite amazed what a persistent person our friend Tan was.
Last week Jack came home and told me, "this guy walked up to me and said: it's good to finally meet you." It turned out it was the Tan who was emailing Jack, who was a different guy from our friend Tan.
#2 Confused about the singer
Finding out my favorite love song from high school was sung by a man rather than a woman.
#3 Are you alright?
One day I found Jack in the bed room lying on his belly. I was startled thinking he was fainting.
I screamed: "Are you alright?"
He looked up and said, "yes, I'm fine."
It turned out he was trying to deflate an inflated globe, and he was lying on it to squeeze the last bit of the air out of it.
What Happened in the Car
One day Jack and I drove to 3rd Ave. I was holding a coffee, because there was no cup holder available in the car. As we talked, I made all kinds of hand gestures as my usual animated self.
At the red light, I turned to look into the blue truck next to us, and the driver was also looking at me. I looked away as Jack and I were still talking about an exciting topic. All of a sudden I lost grip of my coffee and it almost flew out of my hands. I spilled coffee all over me. In a hurry, I wiped myself and from the seat belt. I turned to look at the guy in the blue truck again, he was looking straight ahead, bouncing his head with the music from his radio, while shaving his mustache with an electric razor in a nonchalant kind of way.
Just the other day in the car, I saw the driver of an SUV pouring coffee from one Starbucks cup to another.
You'll be surprise what you found people doing in the car nowadays, and it is ever so amusing.
At the red light, I turned to look into the blue truck next to us, and the driver was also looking at me. I looked away as Jack and I were still talking about an exciting topic. All of a sudden I lost grip of my coffee and it almost flew out of my hands. I spilled coffee all over me. In a hurry, I wiped myself and from the seat belt. I turned to look at the guy in the blue truck again, he was looking straight ahead, bouncing his head with the music from his radio, while shaving his mustache with an electric razor in a nonchalant kind of way.
Just the other day in the car, I saw the driver of an SUV pouring coffee from one Starbucks cup to another.
You'll be surprise what you found people doing in the car nowadays, and it is ever so amusing.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Uke Lesson
During my Kauai trip, I made an appointment to take a beginner's Ukulele lesson from an accomplished Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele player. I can't tell you his name until I become a good uke player myself.
My appointment was at 10. Jack drove me to find his place, and we were 30 minutes early, so we parked the rental car in the neighborhood community center parking lot. About 5 minutes before 10'clock, Jack said: "Did you clip your nails?" I showed him my left hand's finger nails, and he said they weren't short enough to play a Ukulele. I didn't bring my nail clipper, so we had to drive across the street to a convenient store to buy a nail clipper.
My teacher was very good and he was very serious about teaching, so Jack and I were very serious too. He said Jack could sit in the room while I was taking the lesson, as long as he stayed quiet.
My appointment was at 10. Jack drove me to find his place, and we were 30 minutes early, so we parked the rental car in the neighborhood community center parking lot. About 5 minutes before 10'clock, Jack said: "Did you clip your nails?" I showed him my left hand's finger nails, and he said they weren't short enough to play a Ukulele. I didn't bring my nail clipper, so we had to drive across the street to a convenient store to buy a nail clipper.
I bought a Ms. Manicure brand pink nail clipper. We only had 2 minutes left, so Jack drove straight to the class, while I carefully clipped my nails.
"This is a good nail clipper. Look, my nail is so smooth now." I said, as I was carefully clipping methodically starting from my thumb.
Jack took a look at my hand and started laughing: "You don't have to clip your thumb nail!"
Friday, April 1, 2011
Yoga home practice
When I first met Jack's mother, Sue, who was in her 70s and a retired Yoga teacher, I was amazed at how straight her back was and how strong she was, because at the time I was in my early 30s, I was already slouching and bothered by back pain.
I determined to revert the pain and prevent premature aging, I started to practice Yoga. I go to Yoga and Pilates class weekly, and a third day in the week I do cardio exercise plus extensive stretching. It is funny, when I was younger, I never had the patience to stretch before or after exercises, as I didn't see it any use. I actually feel that my body a living organism, like a machine, all the moving parts need proper care, and stretching of the muscles is to prevent stiffness so that they don't have to remind me their existence. I have done this exercise routine for over three years. After a good Yoga or Pilates class, I would fell that my body was "lubricated". Now as I walk around, I can proudly feel my back is straight, my abs tight and most of the time my muscles are OK.
I have always wanted to add home practice to my normal routine. It can be challenging to do, when you don't have the right frame of mind or the discipline. It's not impossible, but it is hard for someone like me, who have been avoiding order and organization in life. But I never stop trying despite multiple failures over a long time.
During our Spring Kauai trip, I actually had a breakthrough and possibly found the tricks to building my own Yoga home practice.
To have a good home Yoga practice, the first thing is to give in to your normal lifestyle, if it is the stressful kind - rushing from home to the office; rushing to finish the email at the same time responding to multiple chat windows; rushing to head to the gym or make an appointment on time; rushing to go home and make dinner and feed the dogs. Like learning new things after you already know quite a lot of other stuff. You have to give up certain things on your plate so that there is room for the new stuff.
Try to give up the need of meeting all the deadlines and obligations, you will find that you and others which demand your time will survive, then you can find some space and energy to do this wonderful practice. Yoga is rejuvenating because it gives you a chance to empty your mind; to breathe deep into your heart and lungs, send all the much needed oxygen - the life source - to your whole body, your limbs and your brain. At the same time, your muscles from head to toe got properly stretched, building strong muscles and joints.
Removing the obligations from life? Easier said than done, right? Yes, that's why I could only get a breakthrough during my vacation, when I dropped everything from my work and life, went to a remote island and have plans of doing nothing. Then I could quiet down and figure out my needs and design a program that fits that need.
Namaste.
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