Fall is here.
The rains have started.
The days are much shorter now.
The winter wheat planting has started.
Mr. Moose has been around looking for Mrs. Moose.

 
As Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes said, day by day nothing seems to change, but pretty soon everything’s different.
Including us.

Clearly we are living in troubled times. How we are is a reflection of how we act. The last part in the Buddha’s teaching called The Five Remembrances is “my actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.”  Finding a way to act that is helpful can be a challenge. I don’t have any answers. Silence is my teacher.

“It has been a troubling week. People keep asking me what they should be doing. My advice is still the same: get out of debt … and invest in learning — spend your time and money learning essential capacities that will make you resilient no matter what … Learn how to grow and make and fix and maintain your own stuff, and do so in community with people you love and trust (contrary to the old western movies, loners perish, while people with strong caring networks do well). Buy goods that are more durable, even if they cost more. Buy less. Value your money less and your time and relationships more. And pace yourself … the Long Emergency has clearly, now, begun.”

Dave Pollard How to Save the World

Dear Dan,

Dan, you are an inspiration. Thanks for putting your Moonlight Chronicles online! Yahooo! I applaud your effort to save the trees. I sure hope this method works for you. It sure is nice getting a daily dose of the adventures of the Moonlight Chronicles.

A big fan.
Will

Confluence of the Grande Ronde and the Snake Rivers
Oregon, Washington and Idaho

I’ve become more and more aware that the quality of life is a reflection of the focus of attention. Also, attention and intention seem to be deeply related. When an intention is expressed, attention is naturally directed towards it. Clarifying intentions focuses attention. Focused attention is quality of life. From a Zen perspective, attention doesn’t lead to a good life — attention is life!
 
Dave Pollard is a creative being who, by sharing his intentions, has motivated me to look closer at my intentions. Dave has put aside the notion of “the resolution” and taken up expressing his intentions, ten every 6 months. He has developed a three step process for clarifying and stating these intentions.  
 

So preparing the Intention List becomes a three step exercise:
 
   1. What is your intention, in order to become who you really are, and be and do what you were intended to?
   2. What’s holding you back? What obstacle is blocking you from realizing that intention?
   3. What One Thing will you do remove or work around that obstacle?
 
So, for example:
 
   1. I intend to learn to be present, live in the moment, be aware, attentive, appreciative.
   2. I am blocked from doing this by my inability to quiet my mind and avoid distractions.
   3. The One Thing I will do to remove that obstacle is to study and practice meditation, regularly and diligently.

 
Dave’s experience with this has pointed him to the notion of the “One Thing”. Often our intentions are a bit nebulous in just how we are going to actualize them. Identifying just one thing that is an obstacle to success then putting attention on the obstacle’s antidote creates movement. Don’t get hung up on “The One Thing”. It can be a trap where we feel we have to come up with the best or right one thing.  There can be lots of blocks and each has an antidote. The idea is to pick one block and focus on the antidote. If the first one doesn’t work pick something another.  
 
So enough jabbering about the process and here are my intentions.  
 

• Evolve to become more attentive to the present moment, more attuned with those around me, more expressive of gratitude, more aware of where my attention is focused, and more conversational.
• Move more.
• Live simpler by owning less, consuming less, desiring less, doing less, and having more fun.
• Develop my creativity by playing in the woodshop.
• Reduce ’screen time’ — increase ‘nature time’. With what screen time remains, focus on sharing by + blogging, + posting photography, + help on #ubuntu, + Zen shanga website support, and + raven communication.
• Mentor myself at work to apply professional development techniques including improved delegation, improved training, improved documentation and practice “one kind thing”.

 
Well, there you have it. My attempt to bare myself a little more nakedly. I’ve ordered these intentions by relative importance to me and I have been vague about how I’ll actualize them.  
 
Now I can start the process of looking at each one and see if I can identify ‘one thing’ that blocks these intentions from existence and coming up with an antidote.
 
I’m not worried that I only have six intentions. I feel I’ve thought pretty big here. What a ride this would be if the blocks for my six little intentions where dissolved.  I feel free to modify, add or drop any intention at any time. I’m not stuck on reviewing these in 6 months or a year, in fact, a much more frequent, even weekly, review and reset will keep my intention in the focus of my attention.

I’ve found out that Michael, the author of the blog One Foot in Front of the Other has died Jan 15th after a long struggle with cancer. He is an inspiring photographer, poet and human being. Michael, you have opened my eyes to the intimacy of life and death. Thank you.

I’ll reprint his last poem. It his hugely moving to me. I’m swallowed up. Can I feel the life spark? Can I feel the life spark? I’m afraid that I might not.

Zumwalt Prairie

This photo was taken at the Zumwalt Prairie in Wallow County, Northeast Oregon. We were shown this wonderful place by our good friends Bill and Dianne French. Their interest in native prairies is infectious.

During zazen this morning, I saw my arrogance. I’m learning about myself and that is exciting. Sometimes we see things in ourselves that we are surprised by. I don’t know why I’m surprised by my arrogance. Maybe even that is a little arrogant. Funny how I now see it everywhere. How arrogant of me to deny my arrogance! A vicious cycle from which there seems no escape but there is and it is so easy. What do I mean by arrogance.

an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions
Merriam-Webster Online.

I can act this way. I can feel superior although I usually call it confident but there is a subtle difference. Confidence doesn’t have to mean “I’m right” or “I’m better”. It can be more restful. It can be more like the wind. The wind is not superior or inferior to anything else. It is confident in its windness without any sense of right or wrong.

Overbearing is a qualifier here and provides a bit of an out. Does the superiority have to be overbearing to be considered arrogance? Maybe in the classical sense but in my world I don’t fell like I can use any excuse for my arrogance. Overbearing or not arrogance is just arrogance.

I find it interesting that in the definition above there is the antidote to arrogance. Presumptuous assumptions are at or near the root of our arrogance. Presumptuous assumption means that we take mental constructs that are based on other mental constructs and say that that is reality.

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Here is the audio of the inspiring commencement address given by Steve Jobs. In it he reminds us that death is always with us. Great stuff. Here is a text article on the speech.

Sweetheart: So good to have her home again.

Dog: Energetic and this morning a little too boisterous in protecting is rawhide treat. He barked at the cats who were all safely upstairs. It was only 5am and the sweetheart was still in bed trying to sleep. Now the dog is sleeping soundly on his chair and peace is restored.

Cats: All the cats are old but do not show their age.

Homestead: Got the stove working properly again. Carbon build up on the thermal coupler. The Northern Red-shafted Flicker (Colaptes auratus) are back and they drive the dog crazy with their tapping on the walls of the house. It is a moral dilemma as what to do about them. They are destructive yet it is we who have invaded their habitat and it is we who actually put out feeders that seem to attract them. Talk about being the cause of your own suffering. We continue to struggle with what to do about a tractor. The snow season is on us and we can not plow the drive.

Work: My responsibilities are expanding as the department is growing. We now have one off site facility and are looking at constructing a second. Staffing, equipping and training are going to be a big focus. Over the last several weeks we have been going through a corporate wide disaster planning and business continuance process review. It is no fun dreaming up possible disaster scenarios and planning responses. Necessary but no fun.

Practice: My zazen supports me. My back pain has returned. I am convinced that it is stress related. In the morning - no pain at all. As the day progresses my back becomes tighter and tighter. By the time I get home from work, I have a difficult time sitting for 25 minutes because of the pain yet as soon as I stand up and move around the pain is gone. When I’m on retreat there is no back pain. This pain is not some structural defect in my spine but a muscular tension caused by my mental states and probably a relaxed attitude to my posture.

Adventure: Getting ready to make brunch. Poached eggs with roasted roots. Yummy. Sunday Brunch is my thing. This morning we are going out snowshoeing with our friend Pat. This will be the first time this season we have gone out. Today should be good snowshoeing over on the mountain. The forecast for today is: “SNOW LIKELY. SNOW LEVEL 2000 FEET. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 80 PERCENT”. The forecast for tomorrow is rain with highs in the low 50’s. Tomorrow will not be a good day for snowshoeing.

Traffic was heavy coming off the bridge
and I took the road to the right, the wrong one,
and got stuck in the car for hours.

Most nights I rushed out into the evening
without paying attention to the trees,
whose names I didn’t know,
or the birds, which flew heedlessly on.

I couldn’t relinquish my desires
or accept them, and so I strolled along
like a tiger that wanted to spring,
but was still afraid of the wildness within.

The iron bars seemed invisible to others,
but I carried a cage around inside me.

I cared too much what other people thought
and made remarks I shouldn’t have made.
I was slient when I should have spoken.

Forgive me, philosophers,
I read the Stoics but never understood them.

I felt that I was living the wrong life,
spiritually speaking,
while halfway around the world
thousands of people were being slaughtered,
some of them by my countrymen.

So I walked on–distracted, lost in thought–
and forgot to attend to those who suffered
far away, nearby.

Forgive me, faith, for never having any.

I did not believe in God,
who eluded me.

– Edward Hirsch