The Practice of Your Life

The Exercise and Pursuit of a Consciously Created Life

Simplexity

Jun 27
2008

Damn! What a great word. Wished I had coined it. Kudos to Jeffrey Luger though. He’s the mastermind behind the book of the same name.

Luger’s point is that the world around us filled with examples of things that appear simple and are enormously complex in their operation and vice versa. He cites a common houseplant with its microhydraulics and fine-tuned metabolism as being more complex than a manufacturing plant.

I particularly like his example of how very complex algothirms and systems can make something very simple e.g. the experience of shopping at Amazon. From the actual searching for what you want, to the ordering and it shipping to your doorstep. In addition, the system is smart enough to make useful recommendations based on

Routines and measures

Jun 26
2008

Working for yourself presents unexpected challenges. Being on my own has taught me the value of routines in my daily life.

Without the imposed routines that come from a corporate job that starts at 8 or 9am every day, you find yourself pondering when to take showers, exercise, meditation etc., in addition to whatever work it is you do.

And yes. When to take a shower can actually become a major decision point in your day when you don’t have a regular 9 to 5 job. Hell, sometimes wondering if to change from by Bugs Bunny boxers to my Daffy track pants (very comfy both) is a half hour debate with myself.

Then there is the thought given to what shall I do for exercise, or how will I meditate today when I… Continue reading

Learning to love the “plateau”

Jun 24
2008

George Leonard has a book called “Mastery” that is essentially about living your life as a practice, and in it he talks about the nature of developing mastery in any chosen endeavor. According to Leonard, you develop in fits and spurts characterized by periods of apparent no-growth or “plateaus” as Leonard calls them. This I think is a fundamental concept that must be fully understood and integrated into a life practitioner. It is simply not possible to experience constant progression when you’re growing. It is the nature of growth and development to have periods where you experience no-growth or even decline.

Leonard points out that this doesn’t mean that you’re not growing, but rather that it takes some time before the growth you are undergoing manifests itself.

Therefore the challenge… Continue reading

Embrace Your Big Fat Ass

Jun 19
2008

You heard me! It’s big, it’s round, it’s talked about, it’s yours. So learn to love it.

Would like to say this is a quote from “Embracing Your Big Fat Ass: An Owner’s Manual,” but I haven’t read it … yet. Actually I probably won’t but it is possible. While big fat asses are not high on my issues list, the book is well written and funny. How do I know that? Well, the authors (Laura Banks and Janette Barber) read excerpts to the biggest audience at a Barnes and Noble book signing short of a Harry Potter release. And they had the audience rolling.

I knew I was in for a good time when my good friend Donna Moore

The window

Jun 15
2008

From my bed I can see the Chrysler building through my bedroom window. What a magnificent structure. It seems to blend the best of the old with the new and I’m struck by the paucity of words that I have to describe the beauty of the building. As I look at the buildings around the Chrysler building I realize that there are other beautiful buildings that I know nothing about. I don’t even know their names.

Interesting. My window affords me this wonderful view of one of the greatest cities in the world, and after two years of looking through it I know no more about the buildings that I look upon than on the day I first looked at this view.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

I now… Continue reading

Breakdowns

Jun 13
2008

Don’t they make life interesting? I’m tending to quite a few at the moments, and I am finding it interesting to notice where I make life more difficult than it needs to me. My biggest breakdowns are in the area of technology. I was advised that a complete reinstallation of my operating system on a new hard drive was the best solution to my desktop problems. Well this has resulted in a host of new problems not the least of which is the loss of all of my playlists and song ratings on itunes. Can I solve this? Most definitely but at what cost?

I’m reminded of the book “e-Myth” where the author talks about the importance of systems. He could not be more correct. The primary goal of systems should… Continue reading

Who is this person I’m in a relationship with?

Jun 09
2008

I’m a big fan of the movie Crash because it did an excellent job of illustrating this point:the greatest good and the greatest evil lies within us all. What got me writing about it now is a couple that I know that is going through a rocky period. I’m not going to describe details … suffice to say that it has a very familiar story line and it got me thinking of a common relationship story. They mostly follow a set path: excitement, everything fits/works, you have so much in common, you look at stuff the same way, until one day …. something happens and it’s clear that this person is not who you thought they were. How could that be? How could you have been so mistaken?

I think for… Continue reading