A Life of Wonder

There’s something wild and unpredictable beating inside…is that how you want to start? Start as the romantic? Start in this classic, and in my opinion, very boring way? Sure, let’s start this way.

So there’s this wild and unpredictable beating inside-inside this house is this man lacing up his polished brown shoes on a dusty floor, everything is wood, mirrors on the wall, a few windows and gardens when you look through. There’s no music here, just a man putting on his Sunday best brown shoes, when she enters. It’s the perfect entrance…you know the moment when an animal notices another animal is near? It’s that entrance. First, her straight black hair. Next, her tiny ankles. Finally, her face, he doesn’t know how to look at it without staring, without falling deeply into it like a village boy falling into a well. And thus he falls, tumbling, as they say, head over heals, into the cold water with no one near him to hear the splash.

-ZJB

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Surrounded for Illuminations, originally uploaded by mrhayata.

The woman I loved walked into the sea with
Her black hair, white clothing, a note to me

She walked from her village
Small toes against cold rocks
She walked passed men awakened by her beauty

And women doing the wash
She walked with a note to me

Into the sea she went
small toes into the wet sand
into the sea she went
tan legs, neck, nose submerged
and the note from me lost
to the sea.
-ZJB

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Tree #1, originally uploaded by Lance Shields.

1. Do you know how to talk to trees?
2. No.
1. First, you acknowledge them, show them you are listening.
(pause) Then you touch their bark, and they will listen to you.
2. Do you talk with trees often?
1. Yes, they are my children.

I wonder if the tree see him, as he sees them.
I wonder whether they need to physically touch one another for energy to change form.
And I wonder why I so easily and fully accept that this man can talk with trees.
Of course he can, I thought, of course.

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From the Washington Post’s interview with the DC Sniper.

Rarely do I quote from people I don’t respect. Something about this sentiment, said from this particular person, made me want to capture it here.

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This is one of the most beautiful, colorful, and heartful movies I’ve ever seen. It’s on my list of the top 25 movies of all time. A deaf man in India, with the charismatic energy of Roberto Benigni, falls in love an unattainable young lady, who can’t overcome her parents and societies pressures to accept his marriage proposal. Their paths cross throughout their lives, as she becomes the wife of a successful but emotionally unavailable man, and he finds in his childhood autistic friend, a beautiful woman worthy of his love. Scenes are filled with music and passion: each is a painting; each is a poem.

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The sun is in my eyes. That’s exactly where it needs to be. Shortly now, the sun will set and the holiest day of the year will begin. I’m deciding now whether or not to fast. It makes sense, fasting that is, actually changing your state of mind which forces you to think differently during a holy day. Then there’s the productive discomfort of a day without food.

What is a day without food? Especially when our fast ends, with the next days, and others remain in the state of fast without their choice. The fast connects us to something more universal, something basic and human.

And the day itself is about atoning for sins, a forced pause to reflect on actions committed, thoughts cultivated and transgressions committed.

The sun is in my eyes, exactly where it belongs.
Welcome, this clarifying light.

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dark side of the moon – peter zumthor, originally uploaded by seier+seier.

There’s a vast difference between outcome and intention. Outcome driven thinking, and approaches, drive towards goals explicitly. They are “head-driven,” and feel linear to me. Intention thinking can achieve an outcome; however, in a much different way, through mindfulness and focus. The former (outcome driven) is like planning exactly where a tree will go in the yard and planting it right there. The latter (intention) is cultivating a seed, watering it love, and letting that seed grow as it will.

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Never call me an incurious man.

I heard a beautiful interview with Mike Wallace recently where he calls a politician an “incurious man.”

That stuck with me as a sad and lasting insult.

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One of my best friends decided a few months ago he needed to cage fight. I tried to talk him out of it. In the end, he went through with it. I protested up to the day of the fight. That evening, I decided that I needed to support him regardless of whether I agreed with his decision.

The cage fight was held in the suburbs. Muscle cars, tattooed women with big earnings and men sporting tight shirts with slogans like “fight to kill,” filled the parking lot and lobby.

This type of fighting is called “cage fighting” for a reason. The fight takes place inside of a large black cage evoking primary imagery. After sitting through 5 fights, my friends finally stepped into the cage.

For years I’ve seen him grow as a martial artist through rigor and discipline. He successfully competed in many sparing events where points were awarded for his skills. Unlike a system of earning points, cage fighting rewards only last man standing.

Watching him fight, I quickly understood his primary motivation to enter the cage: to deprogram himself. The over emphasis on scoring had taught him bad habits making him feel less skillful.

While I do not endorse cage fighting as a method to deprogram oneself, I am fascinated with his ability to recognize, and then take action on, forces he felt were limiting him.

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Check out this typewriter over at the This is Colossal blog.

I love the concept of typing colors.

What else can we create by replacing the keys on the typewriter?

What if each key were an emotion and typing it would change your feelings. See more about the typewriter here.

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