Friday, December 08, 2006

The Day of Zen

Every day one of you dies.
One less sunrise
scrolls off the list
of time.
All your troubles,
struggles,
giggles and steps gear down and grind into nothing.
Always more things to forget.
What was palpable is memorable,
traceable but
untouchable
and in the realm of disappearance.
-Except a familiar sense of your ego,
You confuse it because it's attached to the inside of your fingertips,
That's "me" you erroneously remark subvocally
It is that which is yet unborn,
to be recycled,
reinvented and renewed.
You know you have one more chance to make it even wilder
than your wildest dreams,
tomorrow.


Yesterday was one of those days that felt complete and that I had longed for.

I woke up to the sun streaming through the windows and took myself out for lunch at a fifties-themed burger joint where I was privy to orders like the 'Jimmy Dean' that include coffee, soup and fries.

It was so bright I had to keep my blue-tinted shades on (a beautiful colour to view winter through) so I nestled into the booth and browsed articles about Canada's place in world perception. The Angus Reid index shows us as up from what we were ten years ago in terms of countries continuing to view us as a tolerant, positive, charitable country for the most part. However, most countries still fear our cold and have a skewed perception that we provide more foreign aid than we actually do.

Then, because I like Christmas browsing even more than I enjoy shopping, I took a bus ride and then looked around the downtown shops and had myself a flaneurish afternoon then stopped by the library to pick up Benjamin Britten, Neil Young and Ravel CD's.

Then, and this is a highlight: I discovered yoga for the first time.

I didn't drop a bunch of cash to join a club or anything. I just learned some moves from a friend who's pretty into it. Apparently there are different forms of yoga (or "YOGA") according to some of the cogniscentis I'm acquainted with. It seems like a pretty politically charged thing -whether one yoga is better, whether it's spiritual and the whole attitude surrounding it. It kinda gave me the impression that if I were to totally dedicate my life to yoga training, some day I would be entitled to be a snob.

I'm sure that if there is a right way to do yoga I did it wrong. Some of the movements I couldn't, with my generous figure and lack of flexibility, do. However, there were others that really stretched my muscles and felt relaxing, especially along with breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. There were, for example, "sun rises" or something like that that were a type of stretch ending in something of a sagged push-up position with your head stretched high up as far as it can go. Another involved turning your neck to the side and "stretching" your gaze by turning your body and looking as far to one side as possible. I was amazed to find out that I was capable of near 360 degree vision, looking directly behind me!!

I brought the yoga-master and Lucifer over for a refreshing taste of greek salad, made from scratch with cheddar cheese my makeshift switch since I didn't have feta. It contained the saltiest of black olives, which is my glee. Feels good to eat fresh.

So today I'm definitely feeling it. The muscles between my shoulder blades are sore but firmer and more relaxed. I have a bounce to my step and more oxygen in my brain. The world seems more attainable and even when spending hours on hold because customer accounts slip out of my control, it all washes over me.

I leave you with the history of what I call: THE SLIM SLIDE

I was musing just now about the significance, to me, of how we have a phone called the "slim-slider". It is called that because the one part of it swivels on the first. A few years ago I thought I had coined a new verb called the "slim slide" which I used as an expression for just barely getting out of tight situations. A comparable expression is "by the skin on my teeth" (and if you want to know the origin of that one, click here.) Situations where you might say that was a slim slide! are when you just barely managed to convince your boss that you were sick or get out of blind date after being informed that they are incredibly stupid or dig yourself out of a grave you were about to inhabit.

Religion

6 Comments:

Blogger {illyria} said...

an early gift, i think that was. you've described it so beautifully that i long for it and am apt to generate some inorganic sunrise. it's been gloomy here as of late.

9:32 p.m.  
Blogger Admin said...

my new blog:
www.vespersescape.wordpress.com

2:06 a.m.  
Blogger Admin said...

i love the zen writing. did you write it?

9:28 p.m.  
Blogger Prmod Bafna said...

Totally loved the Zen bit myself!! Its been quite a while since i dropped by! Hope your doing good!! I used to practice yoga before, although just for a months time when i was fascinated with all the life sciences like Reiki, kundalini yada yada.. sure was fun having gone through them all.

1:54 a.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad you made it to my Xmas party. Sorry I couldn't meet up on Sunday, had to clean the disaster that was my house.

11:37 a.m.  
Blogger sirbarrett said...

{illyria} -Thanks you. I hope things aren't so gloomy now. Hopefully this brightened things up for you vicariously. Since I'm a disorganized man, I still can't find you! Could you send me another line to direct me?

vesper -Wow you're an action hero now (not that you weren't before). And yes, I did write that. I was feeling zenny.

prmod bafna -I used to know a Reikimaster that could manipulate pendulums even when I was holding them. They would start circling like mad. I still haven't found a scientific explanation for this.

jason -Your party was great. I especially liked all the food and pretty people. Kill Skitzzee's deadbeat babysitter for me will ya?

4:18 p.m.  

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