Straight thinking leads to straight living

Image by Will Simpson

Ever thought about the difference between the cloud of consciousness and focused awareness.

Neither have I.

Look closely at something like the sensation of your tongue against your teeth. Notice all the sensations. Focus awareness on the tongue and teeth. Also notice that you still hear sounds and there are a mix of other sensations that occur at the same time as this exploration of the tongue and teeth.

This focused awareness is appearing mixed in with the cloud of consciousness. They are not the same.

Interesting...

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Sam Harris

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

I woke up again this morning

Fate has come through. I am awake. Another day in which to be human. Do human things. Be subject to humanness in the world. I get to choose between being awake, making choices that foster growth in me and others and the path of struggle. I see where I am bombarded with negative messages through advertising and media and friends - want more, want your own, want this. Want want want is the message that keeps me walking in the dark. Wake up and want less. Less stuff but more clarity. Wanting is so insidious.

Hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

While I still can, I love you.

Image by Will Simpson

The one surefire way to give meaning to life is an awareness of death. 

The quality of my attention to death dictates the quality my whole life, really. 

When I forget about my death and the death of all those I love, my life goes off the rails and I can sleepwalk for hours. 

I become predictable in my moods and actions. 

My actions are the consequence of my moods and feelings. In turn my moods and feelings are the consequences of my thoughts. 

Thinking about my death and the death of everyone I love puts my mood in a space where things are put in their proper relevance and not some ego driven hierarchy.

While I still can, I love you.

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Sam Harris

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

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

Deep Work Plan

This is the plan I am working on implementing for what I’m calling Deep Work Days. We’ll see how this develops.

Spoon rejects saved in shop.

Image by Will Simpson

Habit chain Deep Work Days with Fasting Days

Set up Habit Tracker in Evernote

What would a deep work day look like?

• Monk Morning

• Short Morning Walk

• Journaling

• Travel to town - leave around 9:00am

• Library in Moscow, University of Idaho 

• Reading

• Longer Walk/Saunter or Nap

• Zettelkasten writing

• Private and protected from intrusions 

• Home around 3:00pm

What kinds of things would I concentrate on during these deep work cycles?

• Currently read books

• ‘Stoic App'

• Zettelkasten KM scripts

• Writing

• Blog Posts

  1. Bigger Project

  2. Memoir

• Put All My Energy Into 2–3 Core Strengths
  

• Revising backpacking routines/habits

• Self Reflection

• Meditation

What would the impediments be?

• Feeling like I was not spend enough time with:

• Mary

  1. Zivon

  2. Woodworking

• Scheduling conflicts

• Holidays

• Backpacking

Hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

Begin Again

Instead of wanting, just start, begin and see what happens.

Everything just appears on a single stage. Thoughts, the breath, sensations, moods, sounds, smells, and the feelings of my position in space. This stage happening is where only one thing at a time is reflected in the mirror of consciousness. A single but big stage so to speak. It happens rather I lean in or not, rather I wait or not, rather I try to anticipate or not, rather I want it to or not. 

Hope you have an awesome day!

Credits — Sam Harris

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

Setting learning goals

Image by Will Simpson

Set goals for what we want to do along side goals of what we want learn.

I’ve picked up knowledge willy-nilly. Todays slogan suggests there might be another way. Rather than focusing only on todos, focus together both on learning goals and what we what to accomplish through the days and weeks of our life. If my todo list looks like yours, it is filled with the tasks wanting attention. Involvement in our family and community often dictate the things on out todo list and mine is so full usually that I have a hard time even checking them all off. 

We are never too old to have goals to want to accomplish things, even if it is just to make a dinner or share a conversation. We are not too old to learn new things, even if it is just how to cook a new meal or improve our conversational skills. I’d like to make a habit of learning something new every day. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering, it can be small and mundane. 

I’ve long tried to direct my goals by making todo lists and project lists, but I don’t remember ever focusing on what I want to learn specifically. 

As 2019 approaches, take time to look at what I’m putting on my todo lists and make a separate ‘learning goals list’.

Hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.

Precious Keystone Relationships

Be careful that special care is given to the people close to me and be sure they don’t lose the preciousness that attracted me to them in the first place.

Image by Will Simpson

A friend and I have been having an ongoing conversation about our relationships to our wives.

Seems a favorite topic among old men.

Our discussion has centered around our own behavior and our wondering why we say and do things that we wouldn’t say or do to complete strangers but say and act out in the keystone relationship that is the most precious to us. We discussed familiarity as being a possible cause, we have explored how our own behavior over time, slowly reinforces feelings of distrust, inadvertently and on all sides. 

What we have come to is that it our own personal responsibility to care, to care for the other, to be of service, to be accepting and reach out with love. This is what to love means.

The conversation continues.

Hope you have an awesome day!

This journal is meant as a reminder to my future self. 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.