…after some time away.
The garden is not what I expected to have (hint: it’s all in containers), but it appears to be thriving.
Coming back…
How should we visualize the phase you’re in? Are you coming back home after a harrowing journey to the abyss? Or are you about to launch a quest straight into the heart of the dawn’s blinding promise? Paradoxically enough, Leo, you’re doing both. You’re coming and going at the same time. You’re graduating from an ancient lesson and beginning a new course of study. Hints of the future are mingled with the last gasps of the past.
— Free Will Astrology, 7/19/07
You’ve arrived at the recreate-yourself-from-scratch phase of your cycle. To celebrate, I’ve gathered three apt pieces of advice for you to scrawl on a piece of paper that you’ll put under your pillow. (1) “Almost everything comes from almost nothing.” - Henri-Frédéric Amiel. (2) “The best way to predict your future is to create it.” - Peter Drucker. (3) “Leap and the net will appear.” - Zen saying.
— Free Will Astrology, 7/26/07
Life is like stepping onto a boat which is about to sail out to sea and sink.
— Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Six Stages of a Project:
- Enthusiasm
- Disillusionment
- Panic
- Search for the Guilty
- Punishment of the Innocent
- Praise and Honors for the Non-Participants
Leo Horoscope for week of June 7, 2007
The geography of your heart is evolving. In places, coastlines are disappearing. Elsewhere, new islands have risen out of the sea. Boundaries are shifting, as some nations dissolve and others are born. Even the climate is changing, with warm winds blowing where once there was year-round chill, and monsoon-like conditions invading desert ecosystems. Roads that formerly led to the center of the action no longer do, and highways that used to be peripheral are now main routes. I suggest you take note of all this by redrawing your map, Leo. Get up to date with your heart’s new landscapes.
— Rob Breszny
Don’t believe everything you think.
— bumpersticker outside Physics Bldg.
Areas to be working on with the hypnosis/meditation:
—taking action instead of being inert; movement, initiating acts, identifying specific tasks/steps and doing them
—not getting overwhelmed by indecision; moving past anxieties, stopping the thought process of “But what if…?”, accepting imperfections
—accepting self, not being verbally/mentally punitive of self, good humor, relaxation
—that sensation of dread, anxiety, aversion, around tasks at work that have been sitting undone.
—melancholia and guilt about the past, things not done, opportunities wasted, etc.
Imagery:
—“the puppy mind” — being patient, good-humored, consistent and persistent, “calm assertive energy”, being clear about exactly what is wanted, “shaping” approximations of desired behavior with rewards/discipline
—the gardener? Keeping weeds pulled up and sent to the compost, pruning and shaping, manuring the soil and keeping it loose and well-worked/aerated. Deadheading when the blooms are finished (everything passes, be in the present moment). Being aware of cycles, letting go of what’s passing.
Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
In design this means “draw what you know.” Start by putting down what you already know and already understand. If you are designing a chair, for example, you know that humans are of predictable height. The seat height, the angle of repose, and the loading requirements can at least be approximated. So draw them. Most students panic when faced with something they do not know and cannot control. Forget about it. Begin at the beginning. Then work on each unknown, solving and removing them one at a time. It is the most important rule of design. In Zen it is expressed as “Be where you are.” It works.
— Design Observer, “Michael McDonough’s Top Ten Things They Never Taught Me in Design School”
