SoL (community)

Peace Ones,

I attended a fundraiser last night with a friend who was gonna read his poetry as part of the evening’s speakers/performers for the Peace and Dignity Journey runners as they arrived in San Diego.

Highlights

• Hearing about the former president/chair of Viejas tribe speak about his journey to Peru to work with and learn from the shamans of that land, and to be fully expressive of his experience with energy medicine and acting from a place of compassion.  Compassion is a verb, he repeated, and folks and strangers feel compassion only when it gets enacted, and they become the recipient of it.
• Hearing one of the Chicana elders from the community speak about 2012!  I was all smiles!  YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!  We are the ONES!
• Seeing such a diverse group of peoples supporting and lending presence and enjoy a great meal together, listen together, perform together, pray together.  It was a warm and welcoming environment, warm spirits shared between all in the spirit of Community.
• Talking with a brother towards the end of the evening.  He works with all the major concerts and shows around town to coordinate and set up sound, lighting and effects.  He’s a Native brother and somehow, we ended up talking about culture and how it keeps us grounded; family and commonalities amongst all our communities.  “We aren’t that much different, you and I…” he repeated.  It was that kinda space you know.  Open hearts, summer of love.  I miss spaces like this..the kind that I was reborn into through the UCSD Cross Cultural Center and other cross-cultural, coalition building communities back in da days!
• Seeing old friend, Quyen, from CPI and finding out we’ve got mutual colleagues, friends!  Even saw an old professor of mines, who I did not fully recognize!  Apparently, CPI wil be honoring teachers/educators locally in their next fundraiser.  Go teachers!

(I had my camera, should’ve taken pictures.)

SoL (Bahay v.2)

Summer of Love (Bahay v.2)

Chairs from the swapmeet experiencing a staining project today.  I got 3 out 4 done although they are in need of one or two more coats.  I chose this color, Bombay Mohany, deep, deep, dark color.  It ain’t turnin’ out like that, at least not yet, but all good.  We’ll see how the stain and wood match and settle with one another through the night.  Needs about 6 hours before next coating.  I have a feeling though the satin finish will be shinier than I’m gonna like, so we’ll see.  I’ve been at Home Depot consecutively for the past several days.  What a trip!   Luckily, it’s close by to the bahay.  Painting with oil-based is no fun!  Definitely got all these drips all over the place.  We’ll see if I can sand down or something.   Oh well, it’ll be all right…I HOPE!

And I’ve been lookin’ at Craigs List for a dining table to join the four chairs.  No hurry though.

After the chairs, what’s next???

Fence painting project.  I’m leanin’ heavily towards my green palette.  My whole house is gonna turn some shade of greeeeeen inside and out!  Gotta get a grip

Summer of Love 2008!

Chainsaw, trees and mulch

Peace Ones,

Woke up this morning and visited front yard plants and said a prayer and kind words to tell them that today, I would be borrowing chainsaw and doin’ some cuttin’ out…

A pine tree right close to the house wasn’t doing so well…

Two overgrown jade plants (my bad) were right up against a retaining wall, that isn’t retaining anymore…

Those palm trees which grow and do not shed their fronds and end up dried and droopin’…

Another pine tree in the backyard…

Now, there are big piles of tree cuttings and hopefully there’ll be a mulcher I can rent from Home Depot that I can use to shred/mulch these cuttings…

I hope so

Friend said that in Thailand, it is believed that trees house devas and devatas. Luckily, there’s a statue (Buddha roopa) beneath one of the trees and he said that a Buddha roopa can house all of the devas, especially the ones that have had to transfer based on our cuttings and clearings today.

Inspirations for what to do in the front yard are coming up…

I am leanin’ towards having a deck built in the front. And painting the fence and the exterior of the house. Right now, thinkin’ dark brown fence stain and dark earthy blue on the exterior of the house. Or green! Oh and bought two lil’ lavender plants. Gotta stay within some budget (????) this summer…though its been a fun day of movin’ the energy around the front yard. Because Dear Pine Tree in the Front Yard is no longer with there, more sunlight during the afternoon now enters the house. I used to have this bamboo shade in the main window which I might need to re-install. The trees definitely provided a sense of “privacy”, moreso that now, but then again, there is a feeling of more openness with this current phase. I like it! Thanks, Brother F. for helpin’ me out.

I have the chainsaw until tomorrow morning, maybe I’ll be inspired to do some more cuttin’ …

SUMMER OF LOVE around the front yard!

Went to Home Depot and saw all these folks in the nursery, carts filled new starts, flowers, etc.! Fun, fun, fun! Not sure I wanna go in that direction right now, but all good to see all this plantin’ . . .

Earth Bodhisattvas!

Lookin’ forward to learning about place, pace and space, on my knees, dirt in my hand, and finding the dharma praktis in connecting like this to my living environment.

Thank you Trees and Jade Plants and other living things who have been with the front yard..and happiness to the new growth that will be happenin’ in these areas!

Summer of Love

Summer of Love 2008

I feel energy to continue finding the groove that will allow me to keep writing and communicating.  This is my 5th or 6th attempt at bloggin’ regularly.  Some attempts have been more fruitful and consistent than others.  Constancy.  Like daily praktis.  Daily praktis as self-care, self-love, nurturance praktis.  Listening to my voice, the Voice within.  Daily praktis.  Connection and devotion to the Divine Moment.  Making this moment a miraculous one.

I’m all over this lil’ “theme” I created for Self (Self created for me) this season—THE SUMMER OF LOVE.

SUMMER OF (((LOVE))) means…

• Expanding compassion within and expressing this compassion outside myself.  Like an in-breath and an out-breath.  In and out.  In and out.  In compassion.  Out compassion.  “What does this look like?”  I know, what does it look like?  Summer of Love 2008 – exploring the boundaries and boundarylessness of Love as they have configured themselves in this lifetime, in this brain, in this body, in this heart, in this soul…
• Revisiting my relationships (particularly in relation to my Nanay, and all other relationships that have taken shape with myself, and others because of this)
• Reflecting on my daily life praktis and the ways that Love expresses itself in my daily to-dos
• Holding gently, breathing through patiently and finding the Calm Wisdom and Right Thinking, spacious compassion for the intensities that the Year 2008 has brought to me and to the world (social, political, cultural, environmental points-of-no-return!)
• Celebrating summer days and nights, afternoon naps and late night blog postings, YouTube adventures, Northgate Market aguas frescas, outings with friends…
• Studying the “Four Immeasurables” (love, joy, compassion, equanimity) and finding ways to BE with these teachings in concrete ways (specifically equanimity and compassion…Oooooh, come visit me, please!)
• Remembering my teachers both old and new and celebrating spiritual ancestors who show me a better way to live in this life.  Recalling Refuge as Part of the Path.
• “Renunciation” and offering up of “ego hurts” to no longer be such loud parts of my story.  Expanding the story, releasing old stories.  Releasing, releasing, releasing, letting go, letting go ego.  Sun Die Ego in San Diego.  Recalling the sacred Noble Truth of Suffering.  Suffering can be used skillfully to nurture my Awakening.  Awakening to the mystery of myself, the gaps in between, the “sacred wound” and immersing Self in the love and compassion and space and healing of the praktis to reclaim my suffering and transform it.  It “makes sense” then, within this wisdom-context.  No mud, no lotus.
• TRANSFORMATION AT THE BASE!!!  (Oh, goooodness!)
• “Expiration dates” – for stories, narratives and ways of thinking and relating that no longer serve.  Evolving, growing, Being so as not to prolong the experience of suffering within.
• The deep praktis of STOPPING.
• Healing of my “emotional body”, “inner child”…
• Becoming the “Father” within; I am the continuation of my father, my mother, my teacher
• New red studs + tattoo of “non-regression” in Sanskrit
• ANCESTORS AND ANCESTRIES, LINEAGE AND BECOMING THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR…

Bullet pointed list makes it seems like it all makes sense to me.  Oh, form.  Actually, I’d like to come back and write about these “points” in more detail as the Summer of Love 2008 continues for me.

Some friends along the path who have been kind guides and dear kalyanamitras, giving context and support even when they did not know I was leanin’ in, even when I did not fully know what was goin’ on..

Palms together, in gratitude.

Michael Dove (http://www.thedesertawakening.com/)

Thich Nhat Hanh on Fathers, Mothers, Teachers as Continuations of Ourselves (http://bluecliffmonastery.org/html_files/teachings/transcribed/Thay/Nov-12-06.html)

JK Rowling on Imagination and Failure (http://harvardmagazine.com/go/jkrowling.html)

TheGraceLight.com teachings of Dattatreya Siva Baba (http://youtube.com/user/DattatreyaSivaBaba)