Be open to the gifts of the universe

January 22, 2019 Will Simpson

What spirituality means to me.

Spirituality is the position where wonder, exploration, adventure are dominant. A sense of the possible, a resting with the gift of life. A deep connection to what is, what happens, the desire to be open to whatever occurs in the moment. The drive to improve, to work toward this openness or the closest approximation I can manage.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Sam Harris

This journal is meant as a reminder to encourage my future self. Where I work on my mental fitness and ‘adulting’. A reminder to him to operate in the world with love and compassion and some tips put together in a moment of clarity to help him when he is less clear and caught up in stuff the he can’t control. Continue the conversation anytime: will@kestrelcreek.com.

Changes in workflow

January 21, 2019 Will Simpson

I’m almost continuously tweaking my workflow trying to get back to that feeling of flow I remember. Lately I’ve been wondering why. Even as I’m retired and the social cues are to chill out and relax, I still plan and track my day in minutia. I think I can remember what must have been the dopamine rush associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow” when things went according to plan. I think I can purposefully steer myself toward this by meticulous planning and tracking. But its not working that way.

Am I addicted to this feeling of flow? Most assuredly.

Is this ego driven? Holding on to the past.

Is my memory my wrong? Of course memory is fallible and unreliable.

Is reducing my resistance the answer? Works in plumbing, flow and resistance inversely related.

Should I give up? No.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Raw Data

January 20, 2019 Will Simpson

Not all feelings need to be paid attention to. Don’t waste time with feelings that are not helpful to leading a flourishing life. Similarly not all thoughts are worth following.

Sensations are made of both raw data and our concepts about them. We usually focus on our concepts about sensations that arise. Often we are told to work with our concepts, rather we are attracted to the sensation or repulsed. But I never thought to just drop all that and look at the raw data of a sensation. Pre-consept. Interesting. I only caught a glimpse but this has captured my interest.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Sam Harris

Lojong

January 19, 2019 Will Simpson

Yesterday I started a fresh round of Lojong Practice. 59 slogans. This round will be a little more complicated logistically. My study is in conjunction with listening to Be Grateful to Everyone: An In-depth Guide to the Practice of Lojong audio book featuring talks from a 6 week course taught by Pema Chödrön, a Tibetan Buddhist nun.

My current plan is to listen to 10 mins a day and take notes like I was attending a lecture. These notes I’m going to transfer to my Zettelkasten. As a sample here are today’s (day 2) notes.

It is not that we have to learn new behaviors but more a unmasking to expose our natural innate wholeness.
A heart felt smile is the sharing of bodhicitta or the wish to attain enlightenment motivated by compassion.
Surprise! We don’t always pull off our intentions to be present.
Atisha (980 and 1050 CE.) the monk who spend Lojong teaching to Tibet in traveling he "heard the people of Tibet were very good-natured, earthy, flexible, and open; he decided they wouldn't be irritating enough to push his buttons. So he brought along with him a mean-tempered, ornery Bengali tea boy. He felt that was the only way he could stay awake. The Tibetans like to tell the story that, when he got to Tibet, he realized that he need not have brought his tea boy: the people there were not as pleasant as he had been told."
Look at the ornery situations I meet as my “Bengali tea boy”.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Pema Chödrön - Be Grateful to Everyone: An In-depth Guide to the Practice of Lojong

Others are the same and others are different

January 18, 2019 Will Simpson

Knowledge is good when it contributes to our understanding of how to live our life.

Contradictory notions held at the same time. This is hard and we seem to be wired to do crazy things when confronted by two opposing notions. We likely chose one to stand with and one to vilify. But what if they both are true?

We all are subject to the curse of knowledge. What we know, we think everyone knows. When someone around us does or says something we know is wrong or will lead to negative outcomes, we think the person somehow knows better but is freely choosing to go against what they know to be true. We ascribe malicious to their behaviors rather than notice that they are but uneducated and if you had their level of knowledge you’d do or say the same.

The second notion to hold at the same time is what Seth Godin calls asserting anthropomorphism. Creating a homunculus, a person pull the levers of our life, a puppet in the brain. Someone behind the curtain that benevolently and accurately to life’s rewards. We are quick to say our “puppet master” steers us towards truth and virtue but not so easily see how this must be how everyone else’s “puppet master” is steering them.

In the first example we see everyone as the same and problems of compassion arise and in the second example we see everyone as being different and separate and have more problems of compassion arise.

Two opposing notions held at the same time. What we know everyone knows and we are guided by truth and virtue but we are not so sure about others.

What is the antidote?
See things as they are.
Don’t project.
Look and see the illusion we call the “puppet master”.
Realize we live in "a complex system, one we can understand a bit better if we test and measure and examine it closely."

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Seth Godin

Tilting at windmills

January 17, 2019 Will Simpson

I am a small person. Wanting to operate in the world without recognition. Ego pulls and tugs. Wants are endless and this includes the desire for recognition. But given how small I am, and how much the ego wants, how is this even possible, even desirable? It is like tilting at windmills. Thats a interesting notion. The ego, the untamed self, the immature self, is busy scheming and attacking imaginary enemies. While life goes on. You can chose to interact with the ego or just watch as the wonder and mystery of life unfolds. Please chose the later.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — The 59 Lojong Slogans - Atisha's mind-training techniques. Commentary by Judy Lief Tricycle Magazine 2010

Don’t be frivolous

January 16, 2019 Will Simpson

If you fail to invest the time and effort to find a better path, it's unlikely you'll find one.

Look at how you spend your time, what you think about, and how your invest your energy. Are you engaged in frivolous activities? Do you have a laissez-faire thought process? How wisely do you invest your time?

Frivolity can be confused with light-heartedness but is really a unwillingness to look closely at your subjective experience. Frivolity shouldn’t be confused with innocent unattached curiosity.

You should also watch for the opposite of being frivolous, being seriously stogie. Life, balance and humor lie in the zone well between being frivolous and being seriously stogie.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — The 59 Lojong Slogans - Atisha's mind-training techniques. Commentary by Judy Lief Tricycle Magazine 2010