Saturday, August 1, 2009
August 1st last post
Peak flow: 450
Breakfast grapefruit and ice water
Lunch: chicken strips and two mini cinnamon rolls
Dinner a bowl of grapes and yeah, two more of those little cinnamon rolls. I should, at least be honest with this.
Sat out in the sun (when it finally came out) for 30 minutes. Felt good on my sore joints.
No yoga today. My brother came by and I couldnt' do it. I didn't want to hear the snickering. I did however, do 1/2 hour of crunches, stretches and strength training so the day wasn't totally lost.
The beautiful lady was my Aunt Yvhohnee, and even though I didn't know it at the time, she gave me the best gift an aunt could ever give a niece. When I was 9 going on 30, my mother died and I became an angry confused little girl.
Thus, my aunt came to stay with us for a while.
During this time I had developed a bad habit of going around the neighborhood collecting gossip. One afternoon, after listening to two ladies chatting away at their clothes lines (it was 1967 after all) I ran into the house and announced to my Aunt Toni that I knew what the neighbor lady kept in the flask she hid in her apron pocket.
At that point, Aunt Toni handed me some cleaners and a brush and escorted me to the bathroom where I learned how to scrub a toilet until it shone.
For the next two weeks Aunt Toni worked me like a rented mule. Of course I resented it and one afternoon of beating rugs I told her she was mean. She told me quite plainly that if I had time to mind the neighborhood's business I had time to work. And so I did.
You'd think that lesson would have sunk in, but alas it was as forgotten as the rest of that summer in '67. I still have the habit...not nearly as bad as some...I don't cruise our hood in search of the juiciest gossip. I really dont; but I am bad about asking about friends and family, and giving that same old southern lady "umhumm." whenever I hear it.
Today my brother called me a busybody and sadly he's right. He hurt my feelings, but he also gave me a precious gift...The truth. And the truth is that I do mind other people's business and today that ends.
And guess what? as soon as I renounced this breach in 'right speech,' I meet three people who wanted to gossip. I didnt' want to hear it, and said so. And that will be my policy.
So this month I am going to be mindful of three breaches of right speech. Gossip of course. Listening and engaging into foolish political squabbles; especially over the internet.
The third thing is not to listen to the news but for one hour a day, and not to read the news on the net as well. The news as far as Im concerned is just another form of gossip, which breeds anxiety and fear. Sure, its good to keep informed, but I was on CNN and CSPAN almost as much as I was on the internet.
For this month, these are the three things I'm renouncing. This means I'm going to really really have to pay attention to what comes out of my mouth. To be mindful, and to think over what I'm about to say before saying it. And it means putting these flaws on the path to liberation so I have a lot of work to do.
And so I'll be cleaning out my spiritual toilets and beating spiritual rugs, but once its' done my house will be clean.
om mani padme hum.
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