“Trying to be happy by accumulating possessions is like trying to satisfy hunger by taping sandwiches all over your body.”
~ George Carlin
Another hazy morning here in the VI, with more tropical storm busting sahara dust in the air. While I appreciate the storm busting – as we have another entity that just launched off the coast of Africa – I’ve been waking up with a very scratchy throat. All this dust can’t be so great for our lungs. No wonder I’ve been waking up early, as 3AM-5AM is lung time on our biological clocks … Lungs are ready for that clean mountain air I’ll soon be enjoying 🙂
“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
~ Yogi Berra
What a beautiful still morning it is here today. No cat fights to wake me up. I was up on my own, before my alarm, and did a bit of yoga out on my yoga deck before the sunrise, followed by a bit of random web surfing before writing my post here, and as always, came up with some interesting things following what meditation revealed to me. Life if good
So I’ve been having little bits of déjà vu recently. And it’s interesting that there aren’t really too many quotes on the subject. And a read of the wiki on the subject matter is just as vague.
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
~ Buddha
So I spoke yesterday about some of the mental factors that contribute to our own unhappiness. In short, Buddha grouped these states of mind into what he called The Three Poisons: Greed, Hatred (or Aversion) and Delusion (or Wrong View). There are actually 51 specific states of mind that the Buddha came to realize falling under these main three states.
For me, the good news when coming across the Buddha’s teachings was that I was not alone in my sad, sorry state of mind. Most everyone has these states of mind, some stronger than others. What this begins is a sort of letting go of self-hatred. Compassion towards oneself is extremely important as we begin this practice. No more thinking the “bad” thoughts, then following that up with negative self talk such as “Victoria, what a horrible person you are … A yogi shouldn’t think or act like that.” This is not helpful.
Ah, so nice to have my peace and quiet back this morning. Love villa guests, but how I missed my little time alone. So while my sitting for the sun was peaceful, my morning started out as anything but peaceful …“Praise and blame, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. To be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all.”
~ Buddha
As you might recall, our cat Gabby was quite sick a while back. She’s doing much better, still a bit thin, but back to her normal rambunctious, lizard stalking, princess self. Her one paw finally festered to reveal the cat bite, which the vet was fairly certain was the cause of her illness. New neighbors moved in a while back, with two cats. One they lost immediately. They then proceeded to get two new kittens, which resulted in their second cat abandoning ship. And stalking the neighborhood. He’s a beautiful cat, you can tell, wanting only to find a loving new home for himself. So he’s fighting with Gabby. Gabby wants nothing to do with him in her territory. Her house, her people, her food.