2009.10.28 07:00 - Mindful Moment to Moment

The Guardian for this meeting was Eliza Madrigal. The comments are by Eliza, who sat with Yakuzza for a while, discussing the weather, tv, mindfulness, pauses, and various ways of using our senses.

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Yakuzza :))
--BELL--
Yakuzza Lethecus: hi eliza
Eliza Madrigal: Nice to see you
Yakuzza Lethecus: i hope ur day started well
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, a rather nice, normal day so far
Eliza Madrigal: You?
Yakuzza Lethecus: work was horrible, nothing really worked out today
Yakuzza Lethecus: but the sun is shining :)
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, bummer.
Eliza Madrigal: Sun is shining, and the temperatures?
Eliza Madrigal: Cool?
Yakuzza Lethecus: not really
Yakuzza Lethecus: about 12 degrees
Eliza Madrigal checks her tables
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, rather cool
Yakuzza Lethecus: for florida ppl yes :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: or for hawaii :P
Eliza Madrigal nods... still like Summer here
Eliza Madrigal: Maybe that's why I'm fond of overcast and rain :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: by the way, do you watch the show dexter ?
Eliza Madrigal: Hm, no I don't think I've seen taht
Eliza Madrigal: *that
Yakuzza Lethecus: never mind, it´s funny and it plays in miami :P
Yakuzza Lethecus: but it´s the protagonist is a serialkiller so i dunno if thats ur taste :)
Eliza Madrigal: oh my!
Eliza Madrigal: :) There are a few tv shows I really like, and even those I haven't been watching lately... like Project Runway
Eliza Madrigal: or cooking shows... Top Chef... those kinds of things
Eliza Madrigal: I've meant to dvd Mad Men, too
Yakuzza Lethecus: i started with the first season med men but then i lost track of the storyline
Yakuzza Lethecus: i still consider the only positive aspect of those shows that they improved my english :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Well, I was hooked on West Wing for several years, and Mad Men seems styled in a similar way
Eliza Madrigal: Funny to notice "WW" "MM"

Book Chat/ Ethics

Yakuzza Lethecus: today is the reading club again `?
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, might you make it?
Yakuzza Lethecus: maybe since it´s earlier this week
Eliza Madrigal: I read the second part of the book this week and it really clicked
Yakuzza Lethecus: i see when my rl phil session is over
Eliza Madrigal: What are you discussing there?
Yakuzza Lethecus: oh, next topic is wolfgang leznzen, wozu analytische philosophie
Yakuzza Lethecus: and jeremy bentham, das prinzip der nützlichkeit
Yakuzza Lethecus: why analytical philosophy and the principle of utility ?
Yakuzza Lethecus: freely translated
Eliza Madrigal: Is there something you can say about the principle of utility?
Yakuzza Lethecus: utilitarianism ?
Eliza Madrigal: Sure
Yakuzza Lethecus: oh gosh, it´s a wide topic, is still like to hear lectures those topics as well, when they calculated the possible pleasure for the people out of some action :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: and are some pleasure´s worth more then others ?
Eliza Madrigal: Are some pleasures worth more, or some people's pleasures worth more?
Yakuzza Lethecus: is reading a good book and feeling pleasure better than having fun watching any housewife talkshow with annoyingly silly people ?
Eliza Madrigal: Ahhhh
Yakuzza Lethecus: but i just like to hear and habituate trying to get more contact with those topics
Yakuzza Lethecus: as well as i try around here
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: I wondered if it might tie in with the Varela book Eos and I have been talking about, which has to do with ethical action as a natural outflow of awareness I guess. For instance, an Aware person, I wonder, might find as much value in a silly housewife show as an 800 page philosophy book...
Yakuzza Lethecus: hihi, good point :)
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: but maybe the 'smart' thing to do would be to calculate that others wouldn't..
Yakuzza Lethecus: varela really talks about many traditions
Eliza Madrigal: I'm just beginning to read him actually
Yakuzza Lethecus: he even mentions piaget and all 3 eastern contemplative traditions
Eliza Madrigal: yes, true
Eliza Madrigal: I like that he factors intention into things
Eliza Madrigal: 'where' decisions flow from
Eliza Madrigal: I think it matters. Some think it can be calculated reasonably
Eliza Madrigal: but I like this idea of each moment being something we interract with?
Eliza Madrigal: There are quite a few overlaps with Stim's workshop in this topic too
Eliza Madrigal: and Eos has a nice way of talking about these ideas, which he's considered in depth it seems :)

PaB Pause Practice

Eliza Madrigal: May I ask how your practice is going Yakuzza?
Eliza Madrigal: Do you find the pauses any more natural?
Yakuzza Lethecus: no, i am still a bit alienated from the practice
Yakuzza Lethecus: but i am really facinated by the topic of mindfullness
Yakuzza Lethecus: and i like to see it as a reminder of becoming more mindfull and live from moment to moment
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, yes... nice wording
Yakuzza Lethecus: i still can´t ,,just switch" in a concentrated state
Yakuzza Lethecus: often falling into a situation happens by accident
Yakuzza Lethecus: i mean falling in a pleasant way
Eliza Madrigal: Yes, I heard that in a pleasant way... think that's part of it actually...
Eliza Madrigal: noticing all the different ways of cultivating awareness and attention
Eliza Madrigal: sometimes a pause is lively and sometimes soft...
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: Mindfulness in the context of ethics seems to me more and more about tapping into a wider range of choices, in a way?
Eliza Madrigal: rather than saying __ is 'correct' and __ is 'incorrect' and trying to calculate properly... legalistically
Yakuzza Lethecus: i am still exploring what mindfullness is
Yakuzza Lethecus: i am often too much multitasking and too much stuck ,,wanting something" to be actually where i am at that moment
Eliza Madrigal: Me too definitely
Yakuzza Lethecus: where is the line between acceptance and grasping
Yakuzza Lethecus: that´s for example a question of mine
Eliza Madrigal nods... like sometimes we drop worrying about the past so much, only to fall into fantasies about the future in a kind of automatic way
Eliza Madrigal: and either one of those things takes us/our energy/attention 'away' from what is?
Eliza Madrigal: AND, we 'have' to multitask don't we... so it isn't enough to do 'one thing at a time' unless we are up in the mountains with all obligations set aside for us :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: yes, but where is it still useful to be in the future or in the past
Eliza Madrigal: yes, we have to factor those things somehow without getting stuck there... lost in loops?
Eliza Madrigal: Thus, the pauses. Thus, 'stop and remember that you are more than whatever is 'going on' "
Eliza Madrigal: to me there is a real cumulative effect to PaB... it seems that pausing so often is even a distraction and then I subtly notice that there is a kind of default 'checking in' that just happens
Eliza Madrigal: though I like longer meditations too

Distractions, endless chattering, spirit of the senses...

Eliza Madrigal: (lots of people flying around today, have you noticed?-haha)
Yakuzza Lethecus: no
Yakuzza Lethecus: my radar is somehow invisible
Eliza Madrigal: There was a red plane, then two others... swooping around
Eliza Madrigal: people I mean, just one plane :)
Eliza Madrigal: You remind me that I should send a notice about the book meeting
Eliza Madrigal: I think I've gotten the chairs settled better. :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: maybe bleu will also join the session today
Yakuzza Lethecus: at least she already read that book
Yakuzza Lethecus: :)
Eliza Madrigal: That would be nice. Is she part of the philosophy group in Kira?
Yakuzza Lethecus: no, spirit of the senses
Yakuzza Lethecus: gaya is the in kira philo session
Eliza Madrigal: Ah
Yakuzza Lethecus: all overlapping today
Eliza Madrigal: I've met Bleu a few times but we've not really talked :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: it´s at 1:30 today
Yakuzza Lethecus: book session at 2
Yakuzza Lethecus: pab at 1
Eliza Madrigal: Oh.... Hm... we meet at 2, yes... so maybe not possible
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Tell me about spirit of the senses, Ya?
Eliza Madrigal: I dare not add another workshop, but I love that title :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: she´s doing salon´s all couple of weeks
Yakuzza Lethecus: but usually they are to late for me, spirit of the senses isn´t a SL project
Yakuzza Lethecus: it´s a RL project which just came to sl because piet and bleu met at princeton
Eliza Madrigal: Ohh, what sort of project though?
Yakuzza Lethecus: last sunday was a salon i could attend
Yakuzza Lethecus: it´s about art, but also about science
Yakuzza Lethecus: http://www.spiritofthesenses.org/
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, sounds like a wonderful collaboration
Eliza Madrigal: makes 'sense' in the context of SL, too
Eliza Madrigal: :))
Eliza Madrigal will get to meet Piet and others at Princeton soon...
Eliza Madrigal: And you are attending Malta, right?
Yakuzza Lethecus: you are going to the short retreat ?
Eliza Madrigal nods
Yakuzza Lethecus: i was really about to book but i haven´t booked the flight yet
Eliza Madrigal: The information is gorgeous. Were I closer I'd definitely try to attend
Yakuzza Lethecus: my enthusiasm went down a bit, also knowing that i should fly somewhere sometimes :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: i never flew
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, well then it is a chance to do a few things you've never done, at once!
Eliza Madrigal: I like flying, for the most part
Eliza Madrigal: and certainly there is time and scenery to recover from flight nerves in Malta :)
Eliza Madrigal: And since you listen to audios, you're set
Eliza Madrigal: :))

No, I was not inebriated this morning, just light hearted...

Eliza Madrigal: btw, Do you know what a palooza is?
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: haha... nevermind just looked it up... wanted to title today's log "ElizaYakuzzaPalooza" but that doesn't make any sense
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Eliza Madrigal: (just playing with sounds)
Yakuzza Lethecus: now i know what palooza means
Yakuzza Lethecus: but i don´t party all day :D
Eliza Madrigal: hehehe
Eliza Madrigal: Being plays all day
Eliza Madrigal: moment to moment and all the time
Eliza Madrigal: Or that's what Bolonath suggested in his theme session I think :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: i gonna take a nap
Eliza Madrigal: Okay.... I'm gonna let you
Yakuzza Lethecus: cya, eliza
Eliza Madrigal: I chattered you to sleep
Eliza Madrigal: Night Ya :)
Yakuzza Lethecus: hehe, work did
Yakuzza Lethecus: i just came home and joined the session
Eliza Madrigal: Ah, Rest well and Recover