Meditation

[mfh]

I love it also, Anne!!! Very cute! Glad I taught you something...you are one tough student and I know you are going to say that I am also so consider it said.

[feralfae]

That is soooo cute and funny!

fae

[MartyT]

"Studies show that meditation is associated with improvement in a variety of psychological areas, including stress, anxiety, addiction, depression, eating disorders and cognitive function, among others. There's also research to suggest that meditation can reduce blood pressure, pain response, stress hormone levels and even cellular health. But what does it actually do to the body?"

Meditation Health Benefits: What The Practice Does to Your Body

[kayc]

Thank you for that great synopsis, Marty! One of the things I've noticed is it helps me think outside the box...which could even improve my Scrabble score! Seriously, meditation is something all of us should do for ourselves...AND each other. It makes us calmer, more likely to give apt response, just better to be around...our gift to others.

[mfh]

Super article, Marty. You are really finding the gold nuggets today. I love the chart...and the slides and video. Thank you. Mary

[enna]

Thank you for the article, Marty. A whole lot to digest. I'll need to read it more than once - I think I'm still dealing with a little bit of brain fog!

[feralfae]

Thank you Marty, I am going to go mediate some more right now!

*<twinkles>*

fae

[mfh]

Good article in the Huffington Post by Tara Brach:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-brach/shift-perspective_b_3055774.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

Link she includes to a meditation:

I found it interesting as I read this piece about awareness of the background, that men are cutting a tree down across the street, creating the roar of saws in the entire neighborhood...so I had to go bigger by focusing on the planet instead of my street on this planet. Notice if you go to the YouTube link, that there are many meditations listed down the right side of the page.

[feralfae]

Dear Mary,

Thank you, I am watching part 1 and 2 of this . Seems to be right on time for me.

Thank you.

fae

[kayc]

Alas I run across these videos in the daytime when I don't have sound and forget to check them out in the eve. when I'm on my own computer!

[feralfae]

Kay,

Can you send yourself an email with the link, so it is on your computer when you get home? That is what I do between desk and home computers.

fae

[kayc]

fae, that's a good idea!

[feralfae]

good.

I am painting dragonflies, flowers and stuff on the rainfly of my VE24, a NorthFace tent, one that I have been hauling into the mountains for 30 years or more. Old tent, still a superb design by Buckminster Fuller, a geodesic design, very lovely, and roomy. It makes a perfect base camp tent. I hope to take photos when I am finished with decorating it. It is not a yurt, though, but an entirely different concept of construction from a yurt.

Kay, I hope you are having a good day. I am thinking I may do a Tara festival of her wonderful videos. Thank you Mary!!!

Time to get ready to go to PT.

fae

[mfh]

OK, I know this site has value but after Marty's joke and after trying to help my ADD friend with her smart phone, I am feeling a bit nutso...and when I went to this site I just had to laugh out loud...especially when the breathing started. It was posted by someone I really respect but right now it is just making me laugh.

Here is the link: (Feedback please)

http://doasone.com/BreathingRooms.aspx?RoomID=1

It has lots of bells and whistles. you can change the color, design, intention, volume (much needed feature...try it loud and you will see why) and I just know it is valuable...but....I am still laughing. It reminds me of a time years ago when I was teaching a meditation class and had a tape running that sounded like a creek running water over stones. One woman just started laughing and could not stop so I stopped the meditation and she said "Mary, I am sorry, it just sounds like my toilet which runs constantly and needs fixing." And I discovered there is a stream on this one too.

[feralfae]

Hi Mary,

I get a message saying server error when I try to use the link.

If it works for you, it may be my laptop.

fae

[mfh]

I will fix it...give me a minute.

[mfh]

It should work now. Let me know. Sounds like an iron lung to me....opinion???

[feralfae]

Hi Mary, first of all, the article on trust is absolutely excellent, and so very well communicates our ability to recognize when we are "in touch" with our own Path. I can usually tell when I am following my heart, as we would say.

But this article truly does make some very good points.

Thank you, now I will go check the other link.

fae

[feralfae]

The link is fixed to the breathing site.

Yes, the sound of the breath is exaggerated and mechanical-sounding to me, if that is what you meant by iron lung, which I do not think I have ever heard. I joke here, but if it is a Oneness of Breath with many people all over the world, who knows how that would sound. I think it would be softer and a bit more tuned, myself, if I could set the sound.

Nice toy to play to check out all the various settings, though.

Thank you!

fae

[feralfae]

Mary,

It is time for you to go to sleep, please. Unless you are sleeping in tomorrow.

I wonder if you are resting enough, with the hours and activities you have.

Don't make us all get on your case again, please.

This is purely selfish, because your presence is a gift.

Thank you.

*<twinkles>*

fae

[mfh]

fae, I tend to be a night owl. I do sleep in and end up with 7 hours of pretty decent sleep. I do thank you and God forbid that you guys come after me again. I am honored to be here with everyone.

Mary

PS I am playing with my new phone....

[feralfae]

You, Mary, are a true techie geek.

I like to write with a fountain pen.

It is good we are not all alike on Earth.

[mfh]

Well, not a geek...I find as I age that the new software is more challenging to me and I give up or lose interest unless it is "essential" to my well being. As for writing by hand...I believe my nervous system has been affected by the stress and cortisol and not recovered yet as my handwriting is something I can not depend on....sometimes I can barely write (or paint) because I have limited control, other times it is better but still not the way I used to be able to write or paint or do work that demanded control over my writing. I hope I can get it back to where it was but not there by any means. I used to love to journal by hand but it is just too much work so I journal in Word now and have for several years. I think I blew circuits when Bill was deteriorating and then died. I find with this phone that I have not even looked at the manual yet..I usually play first, read manual later but I usually also skim it to see what the phone can do and have not done that. Apathy? Fatigue? Age? Who knows.

[feralfae]

Dear Mary,

I doubt it is apathy, fatigue or age.

How about courage, curiosity, creativity? You do all you can without assistance, before you look at the manual. That is a fine mind at work. Your circuits are probably not blown, just still resting and repairing. And, it might take another few years before you feel fully at home in your own body without Bill there to mirror you. I know I have that sense about life alone, and Me alone, without Doug.

Ah, the loss of fine motor control has been attributed to stress in some instances, a physiologist told me. Do you have the little Chinese hand exercise balls? I have a pair with chimes in them, which is nice. Otherwise, I doubt I could hold my pen. After the years of stress, by the time Doug left, I had a tremor in my hands and also my entire head would tremor. It was from stress. It is almost gone now.

Someone who plays with a new cell phone which has all the bells and whistles is, in my vernacular, a geek. But, okay, you are merely tech savvy.

My pen preference is probably partly affectation: there is something so lovely about writing a note on Crane's, and mailing it with a stamp. And people often take time to call to tell me how much they appreciate a written note card.

I have been "journaling" here a lot, by this fire, and then copy what I write and save it elsewhere. Then I print it out,and put it in my journal of writings.

Dear Mary, none of your circuits are blown: they are still recovering. I think you are doing so very well considering the days you have lived these last many years. Be gentle and optimistic for yourself. You contain multitudes of possibilities, dear heart.

*<twinkles>*

fae

[mfh]

fae, I do believe my circuits will repair themselves but thought by now that would be a done deal...ah, I do tend to push. I actually do have a hand exercise thing that I work when I watch tv or even read.

I accidentally discovered today that I have pages of icons on this phone so when one enters a hair appt (as I did after today's hair cut) I put a blow dryer there. There is even a golden retriever for his vet appts. I do like this stuff. Now i will read bits and pieces of the manual which I am told is well over 350 pages long...so I will read it on my monitor on my laptop...I refuse to print that...

Our temps are way down today...not down jacket but a sweater and a light jacket feels good and very very windy. yesterday I had the AC on and today the heat. The trees ARE leafing out but it will be a while. I love the week here where it is really spring green in Spring Green...it is amazing.

have a good one. my painter is treating my kitchen cabinets. My cleaning assistant gal helped me not only by cleaning but by helping me put things back. No pictures on walls yet...but bathroom is done. Living room tomorrow after valances are installed. Bill's office is still storage for now until tomorrow. Art room a disaster. Kitchen done but I learned I have an ironing board so got a new cover and will iron the kitchen curtains. You can tell I am not much for ironing. My office a mess...BUT the light is in the tunnel and order is growing....quickly.

Take it easy. Be as good to yourself as you are to everyone else.

Mary