2012.01.08 _ 20

Watching thoughts come and go, in the bullet train between Kyoto and Tokyo, trying to follow them simply by counting them; whether they were shy or miffed at being counted I don't know, but they grew quite, in hiding, leaving a vivid sense of colors and shapes of people and things around me, in silence and openness.

I forgot to post yesterday. I was busy doing things but some weren't that important. I just forgot. Maybe I better post as soon as I think of it each day. Quiet calm day here, but haven't been outside since Friday morning. Maybe I should but haven't got a reason to.I had a nice 35 minute meditation, but not directed in any way.Letting go of disciplines and schedules I guess.

Meditation in the morning. 15 minutes of sitting meditation. Tried out a new (for me) technique where you try to catch what your upcoming thought is before you put it into words. Interesting.

Today included a walk through the monastery of the great outdoors, the hallway of appearances. Walking there steadily, 100% analog, with senses wide open, is being in a limitless container, but container nonetheless.

On a related note, we watched Terence Malik's "The Tree of Life" film last night. It is a mostly non-verbal filmic expression of how we experience our experience, how we hold memories, etc: what happens when we pause, and also throughout. I nominate it as a RL retreat movie (ie, in past retreats we've gone to see "Avatar" (in San Francisco) and "Inception" (in Nova Scotia)), and as one to watch in any case.

Oshugatsu festival in perfect weather... slow walking, lingering on benches, snapping pictures. Pheonix-like sunset led the return, greeted by a haunting full moon. Noticed a sitting at the wall quality in entire day, just restful appreciation.

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Going into the kitchen to take echinacea drops for my cold, I take a look at the time. It says 4:44 on the stove. I love these numbers, even though it was in fact 16:44. #timestamp