Weary Wednesdy

It has been a busy few days, and somewhat of an emotional roller-coaster, but the good news is that I am running and writing. Yesterday I ran three miles, which was my first run in two weeks. And today I did a lot of writing, although not on my sabbatical projects.

I wrote a long, complex memo to the college vice president explaining why I believe our student newspaper should continue in printed form. That took many hours of composing and revising. I also wrote a short e-mail to the six students in my advanced reporting class in the Suffolk University program. They have disappointed me, and I had to let them know why. That was a difficult piece to write too.

Tomorrow is a very busy day. I am meeting a friend for tea at 8:45; I have my Jenny Craig appointment at noon, meeting a friend for lunch at 12:15, and the Suffolk class at 3:30. In the evening, I am participating in the Cape Cod Interfaith Coalition's annual Multicultural Interfaith Service 7 p.m. at the Cape Cod Synagogue.

He's back!

I had planned for this blog to be updated daily, but life gets in the way. I was on an eight-day silent meditation retreat from Feb. 8 through Feb. 15. I can back with a deepened spiritual practice and a bad cold. So I have spent the last few days resting and meditating and getting my strength back.

As for my writing work, I did manage to work on my textbook, writing about half of chapter 2 yesterday.

There is so much I want to say about the retreat, but I will simply mention one for now. The most senior teacher there, Sharon Salzberg talked about walking through an elementary school in the Washington area, where she was giving a program. She was impressed with posters promoting the school's values. On that struck her (and me) simply read, "Everybody gets to play." Yes, those are words to live by:

"Everybody gets to play."

Retreat!

5:30 a.m.:
I am beginning an eight-day silent Buddhist meditation retreat today, so there will be no new posts for a week.I am up early so that I can drive out to the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass., before the predicted blizzard makes travel impossible. Originally they asked us to arrive between 3 and 5 p.m., but because of the blizzard warning, IMS asked us to arrive as early as possible.
www.dharma.org
I am looking forward to being snowed in at the beautiful center in Western Massachusetts. Regardless of the weather, I am looking forward to a week without any Internet, cell phone, Facebook, and the increasingly frantic connected world we live in. Instead I will be immersed in Noble Silence, peace, and loving-kindness. The lead teacher is Sharon Salzberg, the world's premier teacher of "metta meditation." Metta is a Pali word usually translated as "loving-kindness."

Too busy

8 a.m.:
Fortunately, I am going on a retreat Friday. When I am not on retreat, I fill my life with all kinds of things to do. Today, for example, I have to pack for the retreat, which means doing laundry and related tasks.

I am also meeting my friend Tom at the college at 5 and my friend Suzanne at 6:30. Before that I want to take my trash to the dump (so it doesn't sit around while I am on retreat), order books for the sangha book club, and work out at the gym.

Then there is the greater to-do list, which includes getting hearing aids and glasses, getting information about retirement, doing my income taxes and all those things I keep putting off.

 Busy guy. Too busy! Perhaps I need to get away to some isolated location where I can do nothing else but write.

Meditation connects us to a universal spirit that connects us all. Good writing connects us to a universal spirit that unites us all. We are all one.

1 p.m.:
Good news. I accomplished a lot already. I researched a second agent, the Jeff Herman Agency, and I sent a revised pitch letter off to them. I also finished up Chapter 1 of The Elements of Academic Writing. Then I planned Chapter 2 and made a lot of progress on it. That feels good.

Snowy Tuesday

This morning I awoke to a gently snowfall. Not much has accumulated, and it looks lovely.
I have been trying to replace the work "but" with the word "and" whenever I can, and I see it worked very well in the previous sentence.

Yesterday I had a minor medical procedure (an upper G.I. endoscopy), which made me feel a little out of sync with time. Perhaps it all just shows how arbitrary time is. Because I was unconscious when they stuck that tube down my throat (and I am grateful for that), I lost about an hour. The anesthesia also has some lingering effects ("feeling groovy"). Anyway I ended up sleeping for about 12 hours last night, which is just fine.

The main point of I Just Want to Be Happy is that happiness is achieved by living in the present moment and not worrying about the past or future unnecessarily. I plan to do that as much as possible. Right now I know I would benefit greatly by going for a run, so I think I will do that. Because of the snow, I plan to go to the gym at the college to run on the treadmill.

Tomorrow I will find another agent and submit a pitch letter to that agent. Keep trying; never give up.

11 p.m. update: A 30-minute run on the treadmill and an evening with the drumming circle--it just doesn't get any better than this!

The Unity on Cape Cod Drumming Circle

Lazy Friday

I got nothin'.

Sometimes I joke that when I am supposed to be writing I will avoid it at all costs by deciding I would rather clean the bathroom. So that's exactly what I did today. Oh boy is my bathroom clean. Oh boy, did I produce no writing at all today. Can't have many more days like that.

Also, no running, reading, meditating or yoga, but I may be able to sneak some of those in this evening. Or maybe I'll just relax and do nothing. It is all OK.