Great Minds Think Alike (but you already know that)

Tonight's zazen went much better for me than this morning. That is, of course, a relative statement, but an accurate one all the same. Nick's suggestion reference to putting his presence on his core center and not in his head worked well. If I had to gauge my presence over the-30 minute span I would say I was relatively present for at least 10 if not 15 of the minutes. While this morning it was perhaps 5 at best. If at all.



Another thought I have tonight relates to what my own goal in practicing really is, and how it fits into the life I want to lead from hereon out.



Like that person this morning that said, they simply want to be happy, I feel the same.



Does this practice provide that? Not directly, no, but indirectly, as I measure what I feel have been positive changes in my own daily existence, I would say emphatically…. maybe.



Like trying to isolate the root cause of a software bug, if you change 5 things and the problem stops or reduces, you cannot say any one change was responsible for the result.



Between my use of the calm app, reading of the dally store (daily), podcast content, blog/Newsletter subscriptions and oh, hell yes, the leave of absence... I'm managing life in what I consider to be a far more healthy manner.



Zazen sitting takes about 45 Min in the morning and another 30 at night. Not to mention drive time when attending in person. My calm routine would take 30 minutes were I to listen to all 3 each day (which I would like to be doing). Add another 5 minutes for mindfully reading and considering the davy stoic passages, and we are already at 1:20 daily, best case if all done at home without interruption.



Even if I spend 2 hours a day on average, it's worth doing so. It's worth setting boundaries with any job and at home because the lack of time I have spent attending to my own needs for a baseline sense of stability and balance got me to this point.



I get ideas and inspiration from all of the content I consume, but the silent meditation and effort to simply "be" in the moment is allowing me to slow down and make the space in need in order to incorporate all I am learning from the aforementioned content.



Which makes me happy.