2009.12.23 07:00 - The Year of Loving Kindly

The Guardian for this meeting was Eliza Madrigal. The comments are by Eliza Madrigal who was joined for this wonderful session by Zen, Eden, Storm, and Yakuzza.

Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zen :)
Zen Arado: Hi Eliza :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Eden! :)
Zen Arado: Hi Eden :)
Eden Haiku: Good morning Eliza and Zen!
Zen Arado: getting dark here !
Eliza Madrigal: Is it?
Zen Arado: where I am in RL I mean
Eliza Madrigal: :) I always have a little adjustment when there seem to be time changes... take a few weeks... like SL lag I guess
Eden Haiku: chuckles
Eliza Madrigal: :) How are you both today? Topics in mind perhaps?
Zen Arado: not bad

Cat training? :) 

Zen Arado: I just came in to train my new cat
Eden Haiku: I'm fine. Snowstorm here today.
Eliza Madrigal: Oooo, so nestled inside then Eden?
Eliza Madrigal wonders how to train a cat and crinkles her eyebrows at the idea
Eliza Madrigal: hahah
Eden Haiku: No, I have to go downtown but later.
Eliza Madrigal: Though, my cat does fetch
Zen Arado: well...the one I got can defend the property
Eliza Madrigal: !?
Zen Arado: imagine being attacked by a pussy cat :)
Eden Haiku: I have an hilarious cat Christmas video. I will send it to you Zen.
Zen Arado: don't think I ll use that feature
Zen Arado: sure
Eliza Madrigal: SL cat then?
Zen Arado: yes
Eliza Madrigal: ahhhhh
Zen Arado: should have said that :)
Eliza Madrigal: now it is coming clear
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Eden Haiku: SL cat wow!
Zen Arado: it has AI apparently
Eliza Madrigal: as do we all
Eliza Madrigal: hahaha
Zen Arado: no mine is real :)
Eden Haiku: AI?
Eliza Madrigal: artificial intelligence
Zen Arado: aetificial intelligence
Zen Arado: it cost 2000 L
Eliza Madrigal: Eden, I read that you'll be going back to India soon. Is this a spiritual kind of trip?
Eden Haiku: You ahve a real artyificial intellignece Zen. You mean you are from another planet? How interesting. I'm all ears ;-)
Zen Arado: wish I could script and animate
Eden Haiku: Typos this morning...
Zen Arado: trying to think what artificial means...
Zen Arado: in this context
Eden Haiku: Partly yes Eliza. But the occasion is an invitation as a lecturer in French departments of Indian universities.
Eliza Madrigal: yes it is an interesting word to contemplate a bit...
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, very nice Eden! :)

Language in SL...

Zen Arado: ah vous parlez bien le Francais?
Eden Haiku: And I plan to go to Dharamsala for a while then In Varanasi to meet a friend.
Eden Haiku: Oui, je suis francophone Zen.
Eliza Madrigal: apologies, brb
Zen Arado: quelle est 'Francophone?
Zen Arado: comme 'Francophile?
Eden Haiku: Ma langue maternelle est le français. Commepour 80% de la population ici.
Zen Arado: ah
Eden Haiku: Did you study French in school Zen?
Zen Arado: je ne parle pas bien le FRancais mais
Zen Arado: I had a French girlfriend for a while in SL
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eden Haiku: Ah, SL is a nice place to practice languages.
Zen Arado: j'essaie apprendre
Eden Haiku: Did you use the simbolic translator?
Eliza Madrigal: That's a lovely use of it I've not explored yet
Zen Arado: yes
Zen Arado: it helps
Eliza Madrigal: I tend not to approach things until I'm really ready to dig in
Zen Arado: I always liked French things
Eden Haiku: I will send you both the link Gaya gave me. You can go there and dwonlaoad for free. It is easy to use.
Zen Arado: and like learning the language
Zen Arado: but you need a motivation I find
Eliza Madrigal: As with PaB, once I was sure that I wanted to be here I was rather all in :)
Eliza Madrigal: Eden, thanks. I believe you did give me that card.
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Zen Arado: I have it already Eden
Zen Arado: I used it quite a lot
Zen Arado: but with caution

We shift toward limitations and loving kindness...

Eden Haiku: Ah ok ;-) I understand what you mean Eliza. So many things to learn at the same time. One has to draw limits ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: yes, or let them draw you... hehehe
Zen Arado: the French girl spoke to me in English and I spoke to her in French
Eden Haiku: Yes, the translator is not always right, I noticed ;-)
Zen Arado: and Simbolic helps with vacabulary
Eliza Madrigal: That's how I'm approaching the New Year... finding expansiveness within limitations
Eden Haiku: ;-)
Zen Arado: vocabulary
Eden Haiku: Ah beautiful. I have been thinking about a New Year resolution.
Eden Haiku: Yours is beautiful Eliza.
Eliza Madrigal: I find that one of the most interesting things here is that there are so many overlaps in languages that we talk in the gaps sometimes
Eden Haiku: Yes, we do .
Eliza Madrigal: amidst our typos and vocabularies, et
Eliza Madrigal: :)
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you Eden
Zen Arado: I miss so much because of my slow typing
Eliza Madrigal: What kinds of resolution have you been thinking of Eden?
Eliza Madrigal: *kind

An interesting idea...

Eden Haiku: Sometimes I do usually in the week before January 1st is to list my accomplishments of the year past. Do you do that too?
Zen Arado: how about showing yourself more loving kindness ?
Eden Haiku: I always try to find a very simple one that I can remember all year long.
Eliza Madrigal: Ohh I used to do something similar on my birthdays, but found that I wasn't very gentle with myself
Zen Arado: maybe I will do that :)
Eliza Madrigal: That's wonderful, Zen. We might all see something there
Eliza Madrigal: Eden, more like a context then?
Zen Arado: listing accomplishments is a form of that maybe
Eliza Madrigal nods. It could be!
Zen Arado: pat ourselves on the back sometimes
Zen Arado: instead of being critical
Eliza Madrigal: :) yes
Zen Arado: care to share any?
Eden Haiku: That would be a very good resolution for me Zen. Thanks. I will reflect on that.
Eliza Madrigal: So using a resolution as a framework or window of focus seems far more gentle and than using it as a linear kind of list
Zen Arado: a list would be too.....
Eden Haiku: Well, certainly for me this year, having joined the PaB experience is one of them.
Zen Arado: rigid?
Eliza Madrigal: :) Eden, Me too!
Zen Arado: me also
Eliza Madrigal: yes we could make the list rigid... and use it like a stick to beat ourselves up with...
Zen Arado: exactly
Eliza Madrigal: seeing what we 'didn't' do that we 'wanted' to
Eliza Madrigal: but hmm... that's why PaB is so freeing... dropping 'goals' in that sense and attending to play?
Eliza Madrigal: goal as path is quite another thing! :))
Zen Arado: yes or just having one goal....the next thing
Eliza Madrigal: hmm, yes... something to work with
Zen Arado: or even doing the best wit current projects and seing what evolves
Eliza Madrigal: This has been a very beautiful year for me... strange and wonderful...

Eden elaborates and we all, at first, raise eyebrows at '100 Things!" :)

Eden Haiku: What I do is I list 100 of my accomplishments (took that in a makeover book somewhere, My boyfreind ad I have been doing this for years now and we read our lits to each other,
Eliza Madrigal: Oh Wow
Zen Arado: wow 100 !
Eliza Madrigal: Do you find it hard or easy to come up with 100?
Zen Arado: I would !
--BELL--
Eden Haiku: 100 yes, Not easy... could be like: i have nicer to the cat, understood her better ;-)
Zen Arado: Hi Storm
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Storm!
Storm Nordwind: Hi everyone :)
Eliza Madrigal: Maybe it causes you to look for accomplishments out of the ordinary sense of the word?
Eden Haiku: Hi Storm!
Eliza Madrigal: Storm, Eden was telling us about listing '100 accomplishments' for the New Year
Zen Arado: I was thinking of more major things
Eliza Madrigal: Well, it is fascinating when we realize the miniscule things ARE the major things :)
Zen Arado: but small accomplishments are important
Zen Arado: yes
Storm Nordwind: 100 sounds ambitious beforehand, but actually in retrospect I suspect most of us have achieved similar
Eden Haiku: Yes, it is a list of all the little, minute accomplishments of daily life as weel as the biggest one. And then it covers work but also relationships, organization, material matters and so on.
Eliza Madrigal: Maybe we wouldn't see it if we didn't take a moment to see it..
Zen Arado: what about failures?
Eden Haiku: Let me boast about one I'm thinking of right now. Still have more than a week before I can say I sticked with it. ;-)
Zen Arado: go ahead Eden
Eden Haiku: NO point about failures Zen. We remember them so easily...
Zen Arado: ye :)
Eliza Madrigal: Hi Green tea and Yakuzza :))

Every moment speaks to us...

Storm Nordwind: Every moment speaks to us and holds the seed of unexpected future accomplishment in its fragile hands. To resolve beforehand about what to do (other than to welcome those hands) is to ignore them or knock them away.

Zen Arado: Hi Yaku :)
Eliza Madrigal: Oh Storm! Beautiful!
Eden Haiku: The point is to give yourself loving kindness by noticing all you did that was good for yourself and for others,
Zen Arado: nice Storm
Yakuzza Lethecus: hey everyone :)
Eliza Madrigal: Cheers to Loving Kindness in the New Year!
Zen Arado: failure are good too though
Eden Haiku: Before taking a new resolution for the coming New year.
Zen Arado: shows we are still trying :)
Eden Haiku: Hey Yakuzza!
Eliza Madrigal: and Now and Always
Eden Haiku: Yes!!!
Eden Haiku: I did not write my list yet by the way. But here is one of the examples I would write down.
Zen Arado: maybe we learn more from failures

Storm Nordwind: mindfulness, thankfulness, and a willingness to be shown - I think those have been the most precious accomplishments that carry me everywhere, every day

Eliza Madrigal: "a willingness to be shown" seems a gentle way of learning... from successes, failures ... successes as failures and failures as successes!
Eliza Madrigal listens, Eden :)

A wonderfully concrete example!!

Eden Haiku: I refrain from telling my father: 'I told you so' every time he complained about his earing device even though I had done research for him about the best place to get one (from a friend whon used to work in that field). He did not listen (he is quite stubborn...) but I refrain from telling him: Ah aha ah... And sometimes, I would like to teach him a lesson. But I think he might get it better if I don't confront him to his stubborness. ;-) Thats is alittle thing but we have a very good realtionship my father and I ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: OOOH!!! That's a wonderful accomplishment!!
Storm Nordwind: Hooray!
Zen Arado: yes
Storm Nordwind: I love the ironic "He did not listen"!!! :))
Eliza Madrigal: haha, yes
Zen Arado: :)
Eden Haiku: Yes. But I still have one more week to refrain...;-) And he is having Christmas's Eve dinner with bus. And he will complain ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: And as he complains you will smile :)
Eden Haiku: Right Storm. Maybe he did not hear me ?
Storm Nordwind: Sorry pardon?
Storm Nordwind chuckles
Eliza Madrigal: que?
Zen Arado: I used to get angry with my father too and I would hate myself for it afterwards
Eden Haiku: My boyfriend and I smile at each other every time my father complains about his hearing device which is almsot all the time ;-)
Eliza Madrigal: and it helps no one to hate oneself... to get caught up in the familiar loop
Zen Arado: I know
Storm Nordwind: One can get oneself into endless trouble (and insight) in seeing physical ailments as metaphors for personality "characteristics"
Eliza Madrigal: haha, Eden :) Those are the things we remember... that become our best stories, in a way
Eden Haiku: Yes ;-)

How to spell mischievous! Funny that I wrote it right the first time then erased it to before sending out... hahah Oh SL, what are you doing to us? >Grin<

Eliza Madrigal: Your comment Storm, reminds me of my daughter telling me that 'meditating has made you mischevious"
Eden Haiku: He wrote us such a beautiful Christamas card this year.
Storm Nordwind: That is a wonderful comment Eliza - I think we should all remind you of that from time to time!
Eden Haiku: Mischevious?
Eliza Madrigal giggles
Zen Arado: your true nature coming out Eliza ?:)
Eden Haiku: You are, your daughter is right!
Storm Nordwind: mischievous
Eden Haiku: Mischevious and mysterious.
Eliza Madrigal: yes that too.. hehe
Eliza Madrigal: Well I was perhaps too 'serious' in their eyes before
Eden Haiku: *Mischievous, sorry.
Storm Nordwind: Maybe you are more of a kindred spirit to her now!
--BELL--
Eliza Madrigal: I didn't realize it. One of the first things PaB practice did for me was cause me to laugh louder!
Eliza Madrigal: So yes, the little things :) Something that has reverberations within a most significant relationship... or two... or three... or thousands...
Eliza Madrigal: we never know :)
Eliza Madrigal: like noticing the love poured into a Christmas card ;-)
Storm Nordwind: "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless."
Eliza Madrigal: MM, yes
Zen Arado: I am only beginning to understand some things about my father now that I have reached older age myself
Eden Haiku: Yes. And for a man who never wrote himself in a card while my mother was still alive ;-) We were so moved!
Eliza Madrigal: empathy and understanding don't seem things we can rush
Eliza Madrigal: Oh, Wow Eden that's lovely. Surprises
Storm Nordwind: Zen, that reminds me of Mark Twain's famous quote
Zen Arado: yes?
Storm Nordwind: “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years.”
Eden Haiku: Yes, my father seems to be able toget in touch his feelings better in old age.
Eliza Madrigal: hahahaha
Zen Arado: ah yes :)
Eliza Madrigal: What a gift, Eden

I needed to be across town in thirty minutes time, and wow, made it! It was a sublime day in a garden/sculpture setting, and I spent much of it talking with a lovely new friend who lost both parents in the last few years and deeply feels their absence this holiday season.

I'm sure this session helped me to hold a more sensitive place.

Eliza Madrigal: I must apologize, such a lovely conversation and yet I have to duck out early to take my children to an event
Zen Arado: have a nice time Eliza
Eliza Madrigal: I have claimed the log, and wish you all a magnificent holiday and restreat/restful season
Eden Haiku: Yes, Eliza. I will have to leave the session too.
Eliza Madrigal: Thank you all so much!
Storm Nordwind: You too Eliza. :))
Eliza Madrigal: Bye for now
Zen Arado: thank you
Zen Arado: bye
Eden Haiku: Wishing you Happy Holidays Eliza!
Zen Arado: Eliza leaves a big gap
Eden Haiku: She does ;-)
Storm Nordwind: I will add a small gap to hers and say farewell too
Zen Arado: ok
Storm Nordwind: Bye for now!
Zen Arado: I better go too then
Eden Haiku: Wishing you happy holidays also! Bye for now!
Zen Arado: bye all
Eden Haiku: Bye Yaku!
Yakuzza Lethecus: bye everyone