Mindfully Jealous

Last night I was reading Franklin's latest post about how his Zen practice is bringing noticeable changes to his demeanor. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous of people who live a "normal" schedule and can integrate that sort of practice into their schedules.

I'd ask why there aren't more sanghas for those of us living the vampiric lifestyle, but I suppose the answer is fairly obvious - a)there aren't enough of us to sustain a community, and b)after working all night, most of us just want to go home and sleep. On top of that, my schedule has me working different nights each week, so that trying to do anything on a given night becomes difficult to sustain. Hell, I haven't even been able to sustain getting to the gym regularly of late.

It's not really as though I need to adjust my demeanor. One of the things I'm generally well known for is my even temper. I do try to be mindful and deliberate in how I deal with people, even though it is sometimes at odds with my more typical Aries tendencies. Nonetheless, I would like to develop some regular practice, as I feel it would help with some of my chronic pain issues.

A while back, Ted sent me an interview with John Kabat-Zinn, who founded the Stress Reduction Program at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass School of Medicine. Kabat-Zinn said in the interview that the program has been very helpful for people with chronic pain issues, so I've really been considering signing up for it. It would take a bit of planning, but Worcester is only a 1.5 hour drive for me.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about trying to set up a meditation corner at home. We don't have a lot of room, but there's a corner of the bedroom that would work well. I was looking around online for meditation cushions and came across this article, which I found very interesting.

Shopping Spree

When we got back from Louisville Monday night, I found another Amazon gift certificate in the mail. Of course, my first thought was Barbara Walker's Second Treasury, but the prospect of having to wait another month for it to arrive wasn't appealing, so I just ordered it directly from Schoolhouse Press and used the Amazon certificate to order Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks and Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. While I was at it, I hopped on over to eBay and got me some Addi circs especially for doing socks - a pair of size 6's (4mm) and a pair of size 0's (2mm). The cost of the four circs, plus shipping, came to $33 - $8.25 each. Not too shabby, I think.