Daily Tao /003 – Devotion

On By myunfablifeIn Daily Tao MeditationsLeave a comment

Path[1]

 

Make the crooked straight,
Make the straight to flow.
Gather water, fire, and light.
Bring the world to a single point.

If we have devotion — total faith and commitment to our spiritual path — our determination will naturally build momentum. Fewer and fewer obstructions will come before us. Our path becomes like a crooked one made straight. No matter what tries to keep us from our purpose, we will not be deterred.

Proper devotion lies not simply in a headlong course. It also requires fortitude. Our bodies, our hearts, and our spirits must be totally concentrated upon what we want. Only by uniting all our inner elements can we have full devotion.

If we see our path clearly and our personalities are completely unified, then there is no distinction between the outer world and the inner one. Nothing is faraway anymore, nothing is not open to us. That is why it is said that the world is like a single point : So strong is devotion that there is nothing that is not a part of it.

First Cardio day …

On By myunfablifeIn fitnessLeave a comment

Precor-AMT-835 Precor-AMT-835-console

 

did my first day of cardio-only as recommended by my trainer.  1 hour-ish ( a bit longer i think ),  did about 30 minutes of HIIT cardio using Cardio Coach ( R.I.P. Sean O’Malley ) , then another 40 of just fat-burn … wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be (even with a migraine) the time went fast and burned about 600 calories.

Have found out that according to my body type ( endomorph ) that I really need to watch what I eat and do cardio.  Unlike my roommate who can eat anything put in front of him and just lift …

Hopefully by March I’ll be down to my fighting weight and can then concentrate on putting size back on …

Daily Tao / 002 – Ablution

On By myunfablifeIn Daily Tao MeditationsLeave a comment

ablutionwuduk

Washing at dawn:
Rinse away dreams.
Protect the gods within,
And clarify the inner spirit.

Purification starts all practice. First comes cleansing of the body — not to deny the body, but so that it is refined. Once cleansed, it can help us sense the divine.

Rinsing away dreams is a way of saying that we must not only dispel the illusions and anxieties of our sleeping moments but those of our waking ones as well. All life is a dream, not because it isn’t there, but because we all project different meanings upon it. We must cleanse away this habit.

While cleansing, we naturally look within. It is believed that there are 36,000 gods and goddesses in the body. If we continually eat bad foods, intoxicate ourselves, allow filth to accumulate anywhere outside or inside of ourselves, then these gods abandon us in disgust.

Yet our concerns must ultimately go beyond these deities in the temples of our bodies to the universal One. After we clear away the obscuring layers of dirt, bodily problems, and delusions, we must be prepared even to clear away the gods themselves so that we can reach the inner One.

Daily Tao / 001 – Beginning

On By myunfablifeIn Daily Tao MeditationsLeave a comment

the_beginning_by_marc_adamus

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment : our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.

In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life’s travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.

photo credit: Marc Adamus – The Beginning

Daily Tao / 1 – Beginning

On By myunfablifeIn Daily Tao Meditations, Deng Ming-DaoLeave a comment

开始

man-walking-down-road-alone-640x376

This is the moment of embarking.
All auspicious signs are in place.

In the beginning, all things are hopeful. We prepare ourselves to start anew. Though we may be intent on the magnificent journey ahead, all things are contained in this first moment : our optimism, our faith, our resolution, our innocence.

In order to start, we must make a decision. This decision is a commitment to daily self-cultivation. We must make a strong connection to our inner selves. Outside matters are superfluous. Alone and naked, we negotiate all of life’s travails. Therefore, we alone must make something of ourselves, transforming ourselves into the instruments for experiencing the deepest spiritual essence of life.

Once we make our decision, all things will come to us. Auspicious signs are not a superstition, but a confirmation. They are a response. It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. In the same way, once we choose to commit ourselves to spiritual practice, even the mountains and valleys will reverberate to the sound of our purpose.

Resolutions , or how I’ve given up and am learning to live with myself …

On By myunfablifeIn My Rants and RamblingsLeave a comment

I will…

1) I will give up chocolates – totally. 100%. Completely. Honestly!
2) Stop drinking orange juice after I just brushed my teeth.
3) Stop licking frozen flag poles.
4) Watch more movie remakes.
5) Watch less T.V…. in standard definition
6) Switch my username to “password” and my password to “username” to make each a lot harder for hackers to figure out
7) Help kids stay safe by not texting on my cell phone while eating McDonald’s and speeding through crosswalks in school zones with a frost covered windshield
8) Keep it to myself that I have trouble with authority when I’m being interviewed.
9) Spend less than $1825 for coffee at Starbucks this year.
10) Claim all my pets as dependents on my taxes

Daily Tao – 365 / Continuation

On By myunfablifeIn Daily Tao MeditationsLeave a comment

Upon completion comes fulfillment.
With fulfillment comes liberation.
Liberation allows you to go on.
Even death is not a true ending.
Life is infinite continuation.

Always finish what you start. That alone is discipline and wisdom enough. If you can follow that rule, then you will be superior to most people.When you come to the end of a cycle, a new one will begin. You might say that completion actually begins somewhere in the middle of a cycle and that new beginnings are engendered out of previous actions.

Completing a cycle means fulfillment. It means that you have achieved self-knowledge, discipline, and a new way of understanding yourself and the world around you. You cannot stop there, of course. New horizons are always there. But you can reach out for those new vistas with fresh assurance and wisdom.

With each turn of the wheel you go further. With each turn of the wheel you free yourself from the mire of ignorance. With each turn of the wheel comes continuation.

Turn the wheel of your life. Make complete revolutions. Celebrate every turning. And persevere with joy.

Britekite – iRovr – Share

On By myunfablifeIn reviewsLeave a comment

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Once upon a time there was Britekite. A fun little (local) social media/sharing site that was one of the, if not the best, on the ‘net. Then someone got greedy and sold it and the powers-that-be decided that the best thing for a location-based check-in app was to take away the ability to check in.  R.I.P. Britekite.      Enter iRovr and drama.I quickly left iRovr for a myriad of reasons, not the least being that I didn’t really enjoy interacting with the community that formed there.

But  a couple of days ago a friend invited me to try Share. Share? Yes Share. I’d never heard of it I told him, it’s the old iRovr he said. I patiently explained all of my reservations about iRovr, chiefly that supposedly “private” streams were hardly anything but and was told that this was new and improved. Much better. So I joined.
I should have realized that things wouldn’t go smoothly when the helpful intro screen said ( I paraphrase) “welcome, things are going to seem pretty confusing at first, but give it some time”. This “app” is a mess. There is no logical rhyme or reason to how things are laid out. It takes 4-5 screens or button pushes to get to a comment screen after you receive a notification. When grumbling about this in-app you get “just start pushing buttons, it’ll all make sense after a while”. Well it shouldn’t have “make sense” after a while. While I’m no dope and I can figure out pretty much anything, I don’t really have the time or inclination to waste figuring out this thread or where that comment is. There are too many other social-networking sites that are a breeze to use, super intuitive and have great built-in communities. If you can’t make one that that’s going to be different ( in a good way ) why bother. Just because everyone from an old service gravitated to this one doesn’t make it good, sheep people.
The old Britekite magic was there for the taking, sadly you missed the brass ring and came up with a handful of air …

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