Posts tagged as:

thinking

Chop Wood, Carry Water

by David on December 21, 2009

chopping

When the mind is not crowded
By imaginary things,
It is the best season of your life.
-Kabir
I just chopped twelve hundred needless words from this article, which is fitting, because the point of all that blathering was to warn against getting lost in abstractions.
I think too much. Virtually all of us do, it’s no secret. Anyone who [...]

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What Passion Will Buy You

by David on December 8, 2009

studio

There is an interesting discussion brewing in the blogosphere at the moment. My friend and fellow blogger Lisis Blackston of Quest for Balance wrote a controversial article last week about the feasibility of dropping your day job to pursue your passion.
We’ve all witnessed a growing culture of people who are quitting their lukewarm office careers [...]

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What Five Days of Silence Taught Me

by David on November 5, 2009

Just before flying to Thailand, I spent five days at a retreat community called Hollyhock. It’s a humble, rootsy little hamlet on the relatively remote Cortes Island. I knew very little about the program I’d signed up for, only that it was about Buddhism.
It turns out that it was a rather intense regimen of meditation. [...]

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The Easiest Way to Suffer

by David on October 29, 2009

Post image for The Easiest Way to Suffer

Since I left on my trip, I’ve had quite a few deadlines to hit. Bus at 07:50. Ferry at 15:45. Plane at 14:30. Pick up the key after 5:00 and before 6:00. Meet so-and-so here at 7:30.
I’m also constantly checking to see if I still have my crucial items: passport, laptop, wallet and tickets. Occasionally [...]

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Secret Lessons From Sesame Street

by David on July 20, 2009

Big Bird with Pat Nixon

It was not until I was an adult that I realized that behind Sesame Street is a grand conspiracy.
It’s been on the air for forty years now, and we’re all familiar with the format: short, simple skits involving muppets, neighborhood human cast members and the occasional celebrity.  Each skit has an obvious educational point to [...]

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How to Get Comfortable Not Knowing

by David on June 11, 2009

The unknown

When I sit down to write an article for Raptitude, I always try to pick a topic that I can resonate with at that particular time.  I’ve got a folder full of great ideas for posts.  At any given time, I’m only in the right headspace to write something decent about maybe ten percent of [...]

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There’s Nothing Small About the World

by David on June 1, 2009

smallworld

“Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.”
~Zen saying
I don’t watch the news anymore, and I don’t get the paper.  It took too much time to read, and often it would put me in a bad mood.  There was too much to disapprove of, too many unsettled and unsettling stories.  So I cut [...]

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Do Something

by David on May 25, 2009

creepy cpr faces

The first thing I heard was the crash.  I spun around on my stool, and she was already crumpled on the floor, head bent against the radiator.
Her eyes were open and blank, and she appeared to speak, but it was just part of the seizure.  She wasn’t there at all.  Her movements were so stiff [...]

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rainy day

Rich man crying ‘cause his money is time / Poor man smiling ‘cause he knows he ain’t blind
~ Sam Roberts, “Brother Down”
I can remember more than one night I spent wide awake as a child, frightened from a scary movie or some other show I wasn’t supposed to watch.  As scared as I was, I [...]

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Buddha dog

David began a 30-day daily meditation experiment on April 6, 2009.  The original post is here. David’s progress log is here.
Well, the first official Raptitude experiment has come to an end.  I just got up from my final meditation session. As far as I can tell, I am not enlightened.  I can neither hear the [...]

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