I've decided to give up 10 p.m. television. The hardest part of this is the part of me that believes this hour to be the only exciting thing in my life. In a day in our urban world, spent inside, comfortable, vaccum packed rituals, this is true. 10 p.m drama does give our lives drama.
This morning I went back to my willow. I didn't think there was much point when I looked outside. It was a dull grey day, but warmer than I expected. I sat under the long, yellowing boughs, the last few leaves before winter. I huge wind began to roil. The boughs were whipping around me. There was such a deep sense of how powerful the atmosphere was. And it hit me. That my standing meditations have the potential to be so much more exciting than anything I see on t.v. That a life, well rested and alert is one with so much more real energy and passion than what is manufactured on film. But if I'm not living it, I can't know. So it's so easy to get trapped on this hamster wheel, for months, years, decades. A whole life passes never really knowing the wind. So tonight I skip Prime Suspect. I can watch it online, or on mystery channel or whatever. At nine oclock I put the control up on a top shelf somewhere. I take out a good book. A truly exciting book, and I climb on the wheel of awareness and wake up powerful
