2010.10.24 19:00 - Qualities without Names

The Guardian for this meeting was Calvino Rabeni. The comments are by Calvino Rabeni.

Mitzi Mimistrobell: Hallo darling!
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I'm trying to make a dramatic entrance here.
Calvino Rabeni: (!!!)Boing!
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I wanted to splash right in the middle of the fountain ...!
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Quiet evening so far?
Calvino Rabeni: Very .. so far
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Ah. Well I'm unwinding all my stress and feel rather mellow this evening.
Calvino Rabeni: So what will it be Doll Face - Meditation or Altercation?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: You know, there's that little dot of yang in the middle of the yin. So each includes the other!
Calvino Rabeni: Hehe Yes, that's fortunate isn't it
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Truthfully I have no idea how I feel. Tired, and a bit endorphin-floaty.
Calvino Rabeni: Same here ... would you like to try 10 minutes sit first (before we start the altercation part of the program) ?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Really not too mental. Maybe I could respond to your provocative statements ...?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: TEN MINUTES!!!
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I'll probably fall asleep in that time period.
Calvino Rabeni: What is that like forever?
Calvino Rabeni: Not long enough for a good nap :)
Mitzi Mimistrobell: It's .... like ... forever!
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yeh, and you're really multitasking and not mditating on your end!!
Calvino Rabeni: Ok 5 then, until the PaB bell period is over ...?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Your av does this interesting hed nodding ... is that deliberate? or happens automatically?
Calvino Rabeni: I promise not to multitask any more than my brain already does
Mitzi Mimistrobell: OK five it is!
Calvino Rabeni: (nods) SL makes me do it :)
Calvino Rabeni: Five then ! ... GO !!!
--BELL--

Mitzi Mimistrobell: I did some lovely being time today up on a peaceful mountain ridge ... it really worked.
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I could feel the tension melting off me.
Calvino Rabeni nods
Calvino Rabeni: Sometimes it is like a forgetting and a remembering
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yes, that's a nice description.
Calvino Rabeni: It becomes a familiar sequence
Calvino Rabeni: so the forgetting part seems validated by its place in the whole process
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I was so relieved because I thought I had forgotten how to relax.
Calvino Rabeni: even if it isn't the whole story
Calvino Rabeni: hehe yes
Mitzi Mimistrobell: If something is important I've learned that it will return. I don't have to grasp onto thoughts or insights as if they are fragile, fleeting treasures.
Calvino Rabeni: Right that's good to know isn't it - that knowledge is not "held together" by subtle continuous effort
Calvino Rabeni: I remember that from college
Calvino Rabeni: at first I'd cling to learned insights
Calvino Rabeni: because it seemed they might not com back
Calvino Rabeni: or were work to construct
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I still like to write things down that flash by but I'm not frantic about it. If it flows by and is foggotten, that's all right.
Calvino Rabeni: but in a way if they're true and natural they have their own durability that stands outside the efforts of the (small mind thing)
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yes. This idea reminds me of the Tibetan idea of "terma" - treasures that are waiting to be uncovered.
Calvino Rabeni: I like writing these little notes .. and sometimes just keeping mental notes ... but the purpose is sometimes more about acknowlegment at the time, than about remembering for later
Calvino Rabeni: It sounds like a good thing for the vocabulary
Mitzi Mimistrobell: oh yes! I like to write things down to groove them into myself, mostly. I might look at it later, but that's not the main purpose.
Calvino Rabeni: Right, same here. It's the naming ritual perhaps
Calvino Rabeni: What might be fun or even useful, would be to create a vocabulary by writing the definitions first, and leaving the terms open
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I love that idea!
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Another way to do it is to use placeholder terms temporarily
Calvino Rabeni: by marking them as such
Mitzi Mimistrobell: how would you mark it? what's an example?
Calvino Rabeni: I only know of one philosopher who did something like that
Calvino Rabeni: Mark it by some arbitrary means, such as parentheses
Mitzi Mimistrobell: but you kind of would have to use some letters or something in between the parens
Calvino Rabeni: The philosopher used ellipses for that purpose
Calvino Rabeni: but I'd suggest adding a little more suggestion could be useeful too
Calvino Rabeni: yes, ok we could try examples
Calvino Rabeni: For example, you get an ... that you could come back to later and find something valuable in it
Mitzi Mimistrobell: as long as the conversants both hold the context within which that empty term can make sense
Calvino Rabeni: I think if one pays attention to normal speech patterns they are full of blank terms like that
Mitzi Mimistrobell: oh yes ... like "god"
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, they have to hold (some version of) the context
Calvino Rabeni: And one can mark those terms as placeholders
Mitzi Mimistrobell: new words pop into being as soon as there is need of them
Calvino Rabeni: As in, I feel closer to (god) than I did a year ago
Calvino Rabeni: which has more information thatn
Calvino Rabeni: I feel closer to ... than I did a year ago
Mitzi Mimistrobell: parens are more enutral than quotes - which indicate irony or some such
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, someone called them "scare quotes" in a recent session
Calvino Rabeni: so if we agreed to discuss mindfulness it might be taken to refer to some unknown definitional context
Mitzi Mimistrobell: naive makers of ads sometimes use quotes just as emphasis, same as boldface or an underline. Then educated types make fun of that.
Mitzi Mimistrobell: You mean if we agreed to discuss (mindfulness) ..."
Calvino Rabeni: but if we agreed to discuss (mindfulness) then it would say - the context is not simply unspecified, but is open to discussion also
Calvino Rabeni: Or if we agreed to discusss (mind)fulness it would be different yet
Calvino Rabeni: because it might really mean (mind-and-body) fulness
Mitzi Mimistrobell: ... I feel that the term within parens denotes a cloud of unspecified related concepts that hover around a magnetic center
Calvino Rabeni: what it comes down to, is language is not ...
Calvino Rabeni: yes I go along with that notion
Calvino Rabeni: language is not a query on some dictionary we assume to be present but just out of reach
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: It's a performance of speech acts in an immensely complex human context
Calvino Rabeni: that context is what supplies the significance
Calvino Rabeni: Perhaps we could consider a definition without knowing the term yet
Calvino Rabeni: Specifically
Calvino Rabeni: You know there are many approaches to teaching a particular skill in a particular context
Mitzi Mimistrobell: the only difference between a word and its definition is that the word is shorter ...
Calvino Rabeni: Not sure I follow that reasoning
Calvino Rabeni: Anyway, for example ...
Calvino Rabeni: Can you take out various aspects of the complete context?
Calvino Rabeni: OK, I went to a voice workshop this weekend
Calvino Rabeni: what does that mean?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: ... this is getting a bit abstract ... I'm not sure what we're talking about precisely
Calvino Rabeni: someone wants to interpret my speech act
Mitzi Mimistrobell: OK, voice workshop! Now that's relatable
Calvino Rabeni: they are thinking - (yes this is an example)
Mitzi Mimistrobell: When you use those words, I have various scenarios in my mind
Calvino Rabeni: the are thinking - what did you do there and what was it about, etc.?
Calvino Rabeni: Right, you have different scenarious
Calvino Rabeni: but don't really know yet
Mitzi Mimistrobell: yes, I don't know whether you used your voice in front of others ...or you sat and watched someone talk about voices ... or what?
Calvino Rabeni: And possibly, none of the scenarios is accurate to describe the significance of what happened
Mitzi Mimistrobell: how many people were there, how large the room was ... all those specifics loom large in my visualization
Calvino Rabeni: We can guess about what scenarios would be "popular"
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yes, those are just probable projections based on ,my own past experience.
Calvino Rabeni: Concrete aspects of the scenario - the room, eg.
Calvino Rabeni: or something like - what was the purpose
Calvino Rabeni: or what skills were being practiced, etc.
Calvino Rabeni: what was it intended to be applied (for)
Mitzi Mimistrobell: That is important, ... also, hearing your story where you share what impacted you, what you felt about it, vignettes you thought interesting enough to share etc.
Calvino Rabeni: how was it taught, ....
Calvino Rabeni: what was the "content "
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yes, the how it was taught is of intrest. The intention behind it is interesting too, but I wouldn't expect you to bring that up in telling your experience necessarily ... seems secondary to some of the other aspects.
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, how I felt, what did I experience, how did I interpret that experience in context of my life, goals, aspirations, objective for being there ....
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Probably of more salience to you ... most people don't care about that
Calvino Rabeni: Perhaps true, or not ... occasionally I think that's mainly what people want to know
Calvino Rabeni: was it cool
Calvino Rabeni: did I have a good time
Calvino Rabeni: was it fun
Calvino Rabeni: would they have enjoyed it
Calvino Rabeni: what kind of people were there
Calvino Rabeni: did I meet someone interesting
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Right ... I always want to hear what impacted people.
Calvino Rabeni: "soft" considerations
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I was at a Tibetan charity fundraising event / dinner earlier tonight.
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I sat next to someone I didn't know, who had been trekking in Nepal. So I asked him,
Mitzi Mimistrobell: what struck him the most about his experience there?
Calvino Rabeni: They might have certain assumptions, like, that such "skill sets" are pretty separate for different applications
Calvino Rabeni: like, was it for singing?
Calvino Rabeni: Acting?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Since I knew I wouldn't have much time to talk to him. I'm curious to extract the impact from them in the short time of a conversation.
Calvino Rabeni: Public speaking?
Calvino Rabeni: Interpersonal communication?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Yes? So what was the intended application of your workshop?
Calvino Rabeni: was it metaphoric, like, a writer finding their "voice"?
Calvino Rabeni: storytelling?
Calvino Rabeni: And then assume, it must have been just one of those
Calvino Rabeni: that is, the practice and facilitation perhaps, is specialized
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: Right, I've teased a little, and you want to know the specific application ..maybe to get a "what type of ..." idea about it.
Calvino Rabeni: I went through this process in reverse, in my city
Calvino Rabeni: looking for a voice coach
Mitzi Mimistrobell: uh huh
Calvino Rabeni: and not finding one of sufficient scope
Calvino Rabeni: I kept getting into one narrow area or another
Mitzi Mimistrobell: yes
Calvino Rabeni: like - singing coaches are in that box ...are you in a choir or a performing professional?
Calvino Rabeni: No
Calvino Rabeni: I sing for fun
Calvino Rabeni: "why"?
Calvino Rabeni: OK, and more than that ...
Calvino Rabeni: OK how about storytelling?
Calvino Rabeni: Oh, are you an elementary schoole teacher?
Calvino Rabeni: No
Calvino Rabeni: I just like telling stories?
Calvino Rabeni: Well, how about doing characterizations, impressions, emotional expression
Calvino Rabeni: Oh, are you an actor?
Calvino Rabeni: No
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I would think in Seattle there would be people more out of the box in terms of voice coaching
Calvino Rabeni: Work in radio broadcast?
Calvino Rabeni: No
Calvino Rabeni: etc. etc.
Calvino Rabeni: SO I finally got dead ended ... the voice coach's main activity was
Calvino Rabeni: "how to promote your business as a voiceover actor" or something
Calvino Rabeni: there was NOTHING available outside specific professional and commercial contexts, all for the purpose of making money
Calvino Rabeni: See, all these fragmented boxes
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I know at least two very out of the box voice people but they are not in Seattle
Calvino Rabeni: No one could say - I'm a voice coach, you're a human with a voice, I know how to facilitate you using it for the many deep things a normal human uses the voice for in an ordinary but rich human life
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, I'm exaggerating my "complaint"
Mitzi Mimistrobell: But I know ... this is just an example ... I am looking for a (voice / expression / helper / coach / storytelling / metaphysician)
Calvino Rabeni: to make a point...
Calvino Rabeni: but I did find an excellent teacher with great scope
Calvino Rabeni: just not in my city
Calvino Rabeni: and I'm trying to get somewhere with this
Calvino Rabeni: see basically, her approach was totally "somatic" in nature
Calvino Rabeni: you know that word as defined by the late T. Hanna
Calvino Rabeni: So it was all about the awareness and use of the entire soma, the bodymind as experienced both first person
Calvino Rabeni: and interpersonally
Calvino Rabeni: So it came from the "big space of possibilities" available to a mindfully aware person - actually a group
Calvino Rabeni: ...
Calvino Rabeni: Hi Paradise :)
Calvino Rabeni: Wow .. BIG Doggie :)(
Paradise Tennant: hiya cal mitzi :) gtsy :)
Paradise Tennant: listens :)
Calvino Rabeni: I think, we are talking rather broadly about awareness-based approaches to facilitation
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Paradise! You present yourself differently tonight ... is it because it's the season of the witch?
Calvino Rabeni: specifically in this case of voice skills
Calvino Rabeni: I wonder of this Snoopy Dog could wear one of those nice gossamer dresses?
Paradise Tennant: smiles no was taking a friend through the avatar sim and decided it would interesting to have a change this is a free to share avatar .. I will drop one in your inventory if either of you would like a copy ..
Paradise Tennant: a very old one from 2006 :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles would be an interesting canine fashion statement :)
Mitzi Mimistrobell: I'm good without for now :)
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: awareness based approaches to facilitation :)
--BELL--

Calvino Rabeni: For instance, you've heard the saying "water the root (to enjoy the fruit)"
Calvino Rabeni: So the "soma" or body-mind is like the root
Mitzi Mimistrobell: yes
Calvino Rabeni: and facilitaiton based on it, would be broadly applicable to many things, voice, running, psychotherapy, music, presentations skills in business, martial arts, acting ....
Calvino Rabeni: You name it
Calvino Rabeni: Transformational use of the body, for example
Calvino Rabeni: which is a little more general than thosse applications
Calvino Rabeni: but rooted in the same place
Paradise Tennant: is blinking a bit ..
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Truly. Just about anything really, including business, academic and indoors activities.
Calvino Rabeni: heheh
Paradise Tennant: facilitation throught connecting to our ..
Paradise Tennant: through
Calvino Rabeni: Yes, indoor AND outdoor activities :)
Calvino Rabeni: So we have lots of partial disciplines - awareness-based this and awareness-based that ... body-centered this and body-centered that ...
Paradise Tennant: body mind which is ...
Calvino Rabeni: What's the common aspect of it ?
Calvino Rabeni: Earlier we were talking about being able to make defintions without having a term already in mind
Calvino Rabeni: So how about that for something in need of a definiton?]
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Hmmm ... an attempt to integrate aspects of human experience that were poo-poo-ed 100 years ago?
Paradise Tennant: smiles at mitzi .."poo poo ed " ?
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Should have spelled it "pooh-poohed" perhaps! :))
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Calvino Rabeni: OK,we have a definition of a rather approximate nature ... the (poohpoohed aspects) or (something)
Paradise Tennant: how does the soma facilitate ?
Calvino Rabeni: Now all we need to do is add a little precision :)
Calvino Rabeni: That's a good question Paradise, although I'm not sure if it is the one you meant to ask
Calvino Rabeni: Here's an answer however
Calvino Rabeni: there was a deck of cards labeled with general quality words
Calvino Rabeni: and, a group of people, and three singers
Calvino Rabeni: each singer had the card at random
Calvino Rabeni: (you've heard this before, I don't think Mitzi has?)
Paradise Tennant: smiles and listens
Calvino Rabeni: So the three singers sang together, giving their singing the "quality" on their secret card
Calvino Rabeni: singing the same song at the same time but with different qualities in mind
Mitzi Mimistrobell: you are correct, this is new to me ...
Calvino Rabeni: and the viewers task was to listen and "name" the quality being put into each of the 3 singers' version of the song
Calvino Rabeni: And clearly, the quality was communicated
Mitzi Mimistrobell: wow! sounds intriguing
--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: it does would be a good theme session in voice :)
Calvino Rabeni: as evidenced by the listeners getting the quality words pretty close or exact
Mitzi Mimistrobell: really?!? I'm a bit surprised
Calvino Rabeni: How was it expressed ? By the singer's bodymind (or soma) .. how was it "heard" - the same way, as a soma-to-soma communication ...
Paradise Tennant: so it opens up the opportunity for us to select qualities and express them not just through voice but speech posture .. awareness in our connection and interreaction with others with a confidence they will get it :)
Calvino Rabeni: And to answer the question about facilitation ... the teacher was showing the students how to do the exact same listening that she did as facilitator, as a facilitation skill
Calvino Rabeni: Yes confidence is useful, both to encourage the practice and as a recognition later of its general effectiveness
Paradise Tennant: I can go around being an affectionate dog :) for example :) listening .. quality listening ... would be a stellar application can you say more
Mitzi Mimistrobell: Quality listening is a highly appreciated skill by most anyone ... a good way to connect with others.
Calvino Rabeni: To use some rather vague but true terms ... it's awareness based .. your "resonate" with it ... and at the same time it helps to have discriminating reflective awareness about what do do with that knowledge
Calvino Rabeni: In hypnotherapy practice, it's called rapport
Calvino Rabeni: It's being studied in more scientific frameworks, e.g. at MIT media lab
Paradise Tennant: we know when someone really hears us .. or gets us so to speak
Calvino Rabeni: they put measurement devices on people and can correllate those physical measurements with qualities of a very general and social nature, like "charisma" and "persuasiveness"
Paradise Tennant: nods
Paradise Tennant: hard to understand sometimes how persuasiveness works
Calvino Rabeni: although the business application doesn't appeal to me, personally, as much as the idea of deep or empathetic listening
Paradise Tennant: thinks of more effective adverts and shudders
Calvino Rabeni: because we know its application is sales and money :)
Calvino Rabeni: but still, it's the same "bodymind" involved
Calvino Rabeni: the same basic neurological "equipment"
Paradise Tennant: what other kind of qualities work with this approach best :)
Calvino Rabeni: the same cultural background (underneath the setting like business or personal)
Calvino Rabeni: It's an open field for research
Paradise Tennant: seems like there would be great potential for confict resolution
Paradise Tennant: there is enhanced understanding
Calvino Rabeni: Basically, I think the notion of "quality" in general might be defined as a property that is holistic and distributed - and therefore not easily measured - but physical nonetheless, not an abstraction
Calvino Rabeni: Better conflict resolution ... yes ... maybe better manupulation too ...
Paradise Tennant: manipulation is an interesting topic
Mitzi Mimistrobell: "holistic and distributed" very nice
Paradise Tennant: we see it frequently
Paradise Tennant: sometimes blink at how pervasive and effective it can be
Paradise Tennant: why do we choose to be manipulated
Calvino Rabeni: But the intersting aspect of recent research is that they label this communication "honest signals" because they aren't really as subject to conscious manupulation and "faking" as one might presume
Calvino Rabeni: That would be a good thing to know
Paradise Tennant: we usually almost always know ..
Paradise Tennant: right there is a kind of spidey sense to it
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Calvino Rabeni: that we wouldn't necessarily need to "fear" the ones who were acquiring knowledge, and concern it would be used to abuse power
Calvino Rabeni: Yes :) the spidey sense
Paradise Tennant: just like you can usually tell if someone means you harm .. or is intent on a negative goal
Paradise Tennant: it would makes sense that you could discern the opposite too the postive ..
--BELL--

Mitzi Mimistrobell: You two are so enjoyable ... but my attention is fading ... so I think I'll fly away ... thanks as always, and lovely to see youboth.
Calvino Rabeni: Good to see you too, Mitzi
Paradise Tennant: smiles at mitzi :) always a pleasure .. I look forward to ;)
Calvino Rabeni: Thanks :)
Paradise Tennant: goodnite
Calvino Rabeni: Paradise, are you familiar with the work of Christopher Alexander, in architectural patterns?
Paradise Tennant: no :)
Paradise Tennant: listens
Calvino Rabeni: I was going to make a connection with something we were talking about
Calvino Rabeni: well maybe there's one takeaway
Calvino Rabeni: which is the idea of developing a language or rather vocabulary
Calvino Rabeni: in a specifc field like architecture
Calvino Rabeni: but using a lot of Quality words
Calvino Rabeni: in a way that puts them into play as useful rather than vague
Calvino Rabeni: but
Calvino Rabeni: the funny thing he did, was designate one
Calvino Rabeni: "The Quality Without A Name"
Paradise Tennant: remembers IBM 's internal slogan .. THINK
Calvino Rabeni: It resonates with words like Tao and Being, on a way
Paradise Tennant: smiles the quality without a name
Paradise Tennant: the oneness
Calvino Rabeni: And it also works as a speech act, to give people permission to use other quality words, without automatically feeling ashamed in a philosophical sense for "vagueness" :)
Paradise Tennant: what type of qualities words for example
Calvino Rabeni: hoping to google something up
Calvino Rabeni: and some of them are not really designatable with words
Calvino Rabeni: As an architect I guess, one' is sensitive to lots of aspects of a built space that can't be named
Paradise Tennant: hm yes
Calvino Rabeni: for example, if there are windows of different sizes, it feels one way
Calvino Rabeni: compared to if they are the same
Paradise Tennant: there is light ..heavy .. open .. conflicted .. colour .. movement ..
Paradise Tennant: all take form in space
Calvino Rabeni: if there's a secret passage, then it gives the occupants a certain feelng
Paradise Tennant: thinks of the bridge of sighs in vencie
Paradise Tennant: venice
Paradise Tennant: there is a resonance there
Calvino Rabeni: Or if there's a collection chairs of different designs
Calvino Rabeni: I bit like - you know urban environments, some are too uniform, some maybe too different (all the buildings clash) and some have a happy balance between unity and chaos
Calvino Rabeni: Right,
Paradise Tennant: chi .. feng chui :)
Calvino Rabeni: all the signage of traditional european cities, e.g.
Calvino Rabeni: compared with the american strip mall and highway "ugly strip"
--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: thinks often it jars us because the american design is really set up to be understood or perceived from a moving car at speed while the european is set up to appeal to the pedestrian ... why it does seem to fit in the us - is we are people not people cars :)
Paradise Tennant: *not
Calvino Rabeni: It wasn't so much that alexander figured out how to name all the different qualities prcisely, as that he forged ahead to finding ways to speak of the general qualities of built spaces cities, houses
Calvino Rabeni: Yes
Calvino Rabeni: http://www.patternlanguage.com/
Calvino Rabeni: Knowing why things take their form does require insight into history and technology
Calvino Rabeni: And its social consequences
Calvino Rabeni: the way they interact
Calvino Rabeni: like the loss of alleyways and narrow roads
Calvino Rabeni: which led to uniformity
Paradise Tennant: the joys of getting lost
Calvino Rabeni: and the loss of housing diversity
Calvino Rabeni: and the loss of demographic diversity
Calvino Rabeni: and the loss of cultural diversity
Paradise Tennant: yes in some areas
Calvino Rabeni: and indirectly to social stratification, and obesity
Calvino Rabeni: or the combination of TV and AC which killed the industry of summer resorts, with their social mixing, and the outdoor play experiences for childeren
Paradise Tennant: hmmm
Paradise Tennant: those are choices
Calvino Rabeni: leading to a change in socialization
Paradise Tennant: I grew up with out a tv
Paradise Tennant: my dad bought one we kept if for about 3 days .. he did not think much of it and sent it back
Calvino Rabeni: It made it possible for people to isolate from each other and their neighbors
Calvino Rabeni: without going crazy from boredom
Paradise Tennant: did not have one in the house until my mid twenties .. a gift which I still never turn on
Paradise Tennant: hmm
Paradise Tennant: isolation ..
Paradise Tennant: also a choice
Calvino Rabeni: but led to loss of social abilities, and arts like music and conversation
Paradise Tennant: and letter writing
Calvino Rabeni: And though in theory a choice is possible, on the average people follow the path of least resistance
Paradise Tennant: smiles have some family letters that are very old and very beautifully written
Paradise Tennant: hmm
Paradise Tennant: no
Calvino Rabeni: without AC, they were forced out of their houses during hot weather
Paradise Tennant: not least resistance
Paradise Tennant: we for the most part follow the moment in many instances
Paradise Tennant: but .. sometimes without seeing the next hour the next day the next year it will lead to
Calvino Rabeni: The opportunites presented by the moment change based on our environment culture and technology
Paradise Tennant: yes
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Paradise Tennant: but ..
Paradise Tennant: there is a deeper current that is more constant I think
Calvino Rabeni: what's on your mind ?
Paradise Tennant: that does not change so very much
--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: we recognize qualities .. we speak them express them .. live them .. that does not change ..
Calvino Rabeni: I hope we can keep connnection with those deep quaiities
Calvino Rabeni: many people I know have been complaining of sort of "forgetting"
Calvino Rabeni: lost in busyness, or tension, or task focus, or stress experiences
Paradise Tennant: hmmm yes
Paradise Tennant: it blurs
Calvino Rabeni: A little meditation seems like a pretty universal good thing :)
Paradise Tennant: but kind of like we are the space and you just need a good bell to ring ..and everything snaps back to the fundamental
Calvino Rabeni: And maybe leaving some being time, resisting getting totally caught up in activies, expecially programmed activites iand productive activities
Calvino Rabeni: yes
Paradise Tennant: sacred leisure
Calvino Rabeni: was talking to a friend about it
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: love that concept
Calvino Rabeni: sometimes just being reminded is really helpful
Paradise Tennant: to accomplish that . have to keep life as simple as possible
Paradise Tennant: have less ..
Paradise Tennant: do less but focus on being very productive and discerning in what you choose to accomplish
Paradise Tennant: create room and time for .
Paradise Tennant: the quality without a name
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Calvino Rabeni: yes ... discerning about quality
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: that quality without a name which is threaded through ones life
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: stretches :) was a very good day :)
Paradise Tennant: full of quality :)
Calvino Rabeni smiles too
Paradise Tennant: the dalai lama's teachings were ..
Paradise Tennant: very powerful
Calvino Rabeni: share a bit about it?
Paradise Tennant: but a bit chilly in the tent for such a long time .. was longing for my fleeced lined jeans
Paradise Tennant: hmm
Paradise Tennant: a lovely
Paradise Tennant: day
Paradise Tennant: 4000 people almost all tibetan
Paradise Tennant: very few non tibetan
Calvino Rabeni: really hmm
Paradise Tennant: was like a village party
Calvino Rabeni: !
Paradise Tennant: family time .. eating together listening ..
Calvino Rabeni: sweet
Paradise Tennant: 6 year olds playing vidieo games while he spoke of emptiness
Paradise Tennant: monks .. in robes on cell phones
Paradise Tennant: butter tea
Paradise Tennant: rice handed out
Paradise Tennant: wished my tibetan was better
Paradise Tennant: was translated
Paradise Tennant: but would have been wonderful to hear it as they did
Paradise Tennant: lots of joy in the crowd
Calvino Rabeni: yes, I guess you could tune into the emotions too
Paradise Tennant: yes
Calvino Rabeni: without knowing the language
Paradise Tennant: yes
Paradise Tennant: he has a great voice
Paradise Tennant: like a bell :)
Calvino Rabeni: THANKS, I'll look to hear it
Paradise Tennant: there is a 10 day mandala ceremony in washington next july .. i may try to go to :) but this was special
Paradise Tennant: makes me really want to spend more time at tibetan functions beautiful culture
Calvino Rabeni: where was that meeting, Paradise?
Paradise Tennant: todays ?
Calvino Rabeni: yes
Paradise Tennant: was at the toronto tibetan cultural centre
Paradise Tennant: indoors and outdoors in tents
Calvino Rabeni: ah ty
Paradise Tennant: one sec will find you the link
--BELL--
Paradise Tennant: hmm
Paradise Tennant: sorry slow
Paradise Tennant: still stormy and foggy here ..
Calvino Rabeni: I'm slow too :)
Paradise Tennant: having trouble opening my browser
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: time for some rest :)
Calvino Rabeni: :)
Calvino Rabeni: A nap might hit the spot ...
Paradise Tennant: came home had a hot bath then nap .. slept a really deep peaceful sleep :)
Calvino Rabeni: I might get a second wind for later tonight
Paradise Tennant: smiles
Paradise Tennant: thanks cal :)
Paradise Tennant: good session :)
Calvino Rabeni: TY Paradise
Paradise Tennant: namaste :)
Calvino Rabeni: Take care,
Calvino Rabeni: _/!\_
Calvino Rabeni: Bye :)
Paradise Tennant: byeeeee