Today, I am grateful for….
1. Despite one snafu on my part, a relatively easy day at work.
2. Two Amazon Prime orders arriving in one day.
3. The week almost being over.
4. Having a small stage management army at my disposal tonight.
5. Siobhan on American Idol.
6. The long battery life on my macbook.
7. How awesome our slow cooker is.
8. Potato chips with only three listed ingredients.
9. Cecil Taylor.
10. Free food.
11. Pork fat.
12. Greg Fitzsimmons.
13. Patton Oswalt.
14. Bill Simmons.
15. Discovering yet another new BBQ place in town.
16. How Nilay always underestimates my wine knowledge so he always finds himself impressed with me.
17. Building momentum in getting things done on the home front.
18. Not worrying about running out of firewood
19. All new No Reservations.
20. Not having to file FSA claims anymore.
21. Alex Ross coming out with a new book.
22. Finishing seven pages of writing.
23. Being able to hold down the fort while my boss has been gone.
24. Warmer weather.
25. Driving with the windows down for the first time this year.
26. My newly greased bike chain.
27. Making it through a work night without a break for dinner.
28. MS Office 2008 not pissing me off yet
29. My earbuds at work.
30. Being able to check at least one item off my to do list on each day of this week.
31. A new set of restaurants to check out in town.
32. A cheerful Mark Morris.
33. Slowly figuring out what to give a shit about.
34. The possibility of the unknown affecting my life in the near future.
35. DVR
36. The self imposed deadline I gave myself for my book.
37. Vince Wilfork and Tully Banta Cain resigning with the Patriots.
38. Learning new things about old friends.
39. My PC still working well enough to use it for MS Money.
40. How quickly this week went.
41. Being productive.
42. Job security
43. A great part time job that gives me constant contact with creativity of the highest order
44. The great folks at Cook’s Illustrated
45. Some semblance of financial security after some scary and lean years
46. Jessica - everyday I am surprised at how much we love each other
47. Not worrying about where my next meal is coming from
48. Going a day without Facebook to distract me.
49. How exciting this year is shaping out to being.
50. How Jessica and I can’t seem to stay mad at each other for very long.
51. The Les Halles Cookbook
52. How much Jessica and I make each other laugh
53. The seasons and all the lessons nature can teach us through them.
54. Breathing
55. Any form of nuanced thinking
56. Active wear
57. Keeping my cynicism in check
58. Still not completely believing in the concept of being comfortable
59. The ability to have some fucked up and entertaining dreams – Having dinner at Everest and every person I would think of immediately showing up afterwards.
60. Having a washer and dryer in our apartment
61. Mike Ross, the director of Krannert Center
62. Foreign languages
63. Life forcing me to multitask
64. The new colleague I’ll be working with at work.
65. The rush of positive thoughts and feelings I have every time I see Jessica
66. Tiki
67. My smart and talented friends old and new
68. My increasingly reliable intuition
69. My Brita filter especially on those days when Illinois Water decides to put WAY too much chlorine in it
70. The music playing in my head – This is It
71. Competent and dedicated coworkers at both of my jobs
72. How great I feel after riding my bike to work
73. This computer stand from Ikea
74. Jessica's cute faces
75. How Jessica can pick me up when all seems lost
76. How good of a listener Jessica can be
77. Google Wave
78. Suits that hide my potbelly.
79. Bill Simmons
80. No longer worrying if today will be the day our car will completely fall apart
81. My new Ted Baker glasses
82. The moktak that my mom sent me
83. The copy of the Korean Zen Buddhist prayer CD that my mom made me
84. How good cracking various joints feel
85. My new earmuffs that don’t mess up my hair
86. Jackson 5 version of "Who's Loving You"
87. Everything I have yet to learn
88. My passion for music slowly returning
89. Our Simmons Beautyrest
90. The bizarre yet surprisingly effective baby talk that Jessica and I have developed for communicating
91. Jessica's hourglass figure
92. Memories, good and bad
93. The pavlovian response Jessica induces in me when I hear her keys just before she opens the door when coming home from work
94. My desire to seek out the positive in my life
95. Sensodyne
96. Space heaters
97. My orthotics
98. Not having to worry too much about what to wear for work
99. Having hope
100. Completing my eighteenth post
Object of my metta practice - none
Reflection of the Day – I worked a seventeen hour day. Didn’t have much time or energy for contemplation. Currently, I’m trying to rewrite the introduction to my book which has been intimidating me for almost a year. I think I’ve made some encouraging progress last night. I’ve been wanting to complement my metta practice with another form of meditation and I will try to get that going on Saturday.
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A new daily devotional journal influenced by a Buddhist and a Jewish practice.
For the past twelve years I've been writing a book about my time at Brandeis University where my interactions with the religious Jewish community inspired me to become a more spiritually committed Buddhist. Lately, my Buddhist practice has all but slowed to a halt. I'd like to once again draw inspiration from Judaism in order to rekindle a once strong Buddhist practice. So, I've come up with a new practice that combines both traditions. First, some background info.
Meah Brachot literally means 100 blessings in Hebrew. Each Observant Jew is supposed to say at least 100 blessings each day. The implication is that if you can't find 100 things to bless each day, you're not paying attention.
Metta is the Pali word for loving-kindness. Interestingly enough, Hebrew has a word for this concept, too - Chesed - one of the ten attributes of G-d according to followers of Kabbalah - Jewish Mysticism. You begin the practice by repeating to yourself a set of affirmations:
May I be filled with loving-kindness
May I be well
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy
You do this for 15 - 20 minutes a day. Once you cultivate loving-kindness within yourself, you move on to loved ones, acquaintenances, then to your "enemies" and finally to the whole universe.
Each entry will begin with a list of 100 things that I am grateful. I will then list the focus of my metta practice. As time permits, I may include a reflection of the day. I hope you enjoy this devotional journal and feel free to cheer me on!
Meah Brachot literally means 100 blessings in Hebrew. Each Observant Jew is supposed to say at least 100 blessings each day. The implication is that if you can't find 100 things to bless each day, you're not paying attention.
Metta is the Pali word for loving-kindness. Interestingly enough, Hebrew has a word for this concept, too - Chesed - one of the ten attributes of G-d according to followers of Kabbalah - Jewish Mysticism. You begin the practice by repeating to yourself a set of affirmations:
May I be filled with loving-kindness
May I be well
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy
You do this for 15 - 20 minutes a day. Once you cultivate loving-kindness within yourself, you move on to loved ones, acquaintenances, then to your "enemies" and finally to the whole universe.
Each entry will begin with a list of 100 things that I am grateful. I will then list the focus of my metta practice. As time permits, I may include a reflection of the day. I hope you enjoy this devotional journal and feel free to cheer me on!
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