It's all Connected to Myth

I was looking around the computer room this morning. It has become nothing more than a place to put things we don't want the baby to get and the toys we take from him because he's using them to hurt/threaten us or the dogs. There's no room for my books so I have been making the pile smaller and smaller whenever I can. Today I saw Transformations of Myth Through Time by Joseph Campbell. I bought this book years ago hoping to read it and get ideas for fantasy novels I would then write. "Hmm," I thought, "I probably won't be writing fiction anytime soon, I want to concentrate on studying yoga right now. I should get rid of it." So I picked the book up and started flipping through the pages in hopes of convincing myself to part with it. My eye lands on this line: "So the function of yoga is to release us from the time-space commitment, introduce us to the transcendent." Holy crap! So I continue to flip and see the word yoga mentioned several times. I finally read the Table of Contents and find:

• 7. From Id to Ego in the Orient: Kundalini Yoga, Part I
• 8. From Psychology to Sprituality: Kundalini Yoga, Part II

Wow. Talk about finding what you need when you need it. There are also chapters on Buddhism, Native Americans, and King Arthur. I started reading the book immediately. Here is a quote from the first chapter (In the Beginning: Origins of Man and Myth.)
      "When one can feel oneself in relation to the universe in the same complete and natural way as that of the child with the mother, one is in complete harmony and tune with the universe. Getting into harmony and tune with the universe and staying there is the principal function of mythology."

I am going to enjoy reading this book.

Wordless Wednesday

Time for Gratitude

I read the book The Happiness Project by Gretchin Rubin at the end of last winter. I made plans to start my own happiness project and then made it impossible to get to the monthly lists that I spent so much time composing. Part of the lists were in a notebook buried in the piles of the computer room and the other parts were on the computer which was having troubles so I didn't dare turn it on. I decided there were more important things to worry about so I just went back to trudging through my life, most of the time on autopilot.

So when I read the July 30th post, Follow a Threshold Ritual, I thought, I can do that. This will not only make me appreciate all the wonderful things in my life more, but it'll increase the mindfulness I've been cultivating the past couple of years. Now I just need to make a list of trigger events/times, and actually keep the list out where I can read it, until I have a habit formed.

When I write, I will remember how fortunate I am to have gone to a good school with excellent English teachers.

Wordless Wednesday: First Fair

Green Thumb, Here I Come

I asked myself a question Sunday afternoon, "If I could only study one thing for the rest of my life, what would it be?" Yesterday, while driving home from work, I answered my question: "Plants." Plants make the world go. Everything that happens in this world is because of plants. For far too long I have stood back, watching my husband plant, transplant, build garden boxes, and care for all the plants in our house and on our land. I said I didn't have time, but I now know the truth is that I am afraid of doing something wrong. I am afraid of killing the plant. Why? Am I afraid a great googly-eyed plant monster is going to come after me for killing a seedling? Plants are more forgiving, and tougher, than that. If you've ever tried to kill a burdock or a poke plant, then you know what I'm talking about.

It's time to really slow down, and not just hear my husband when he talks about gardening and plants, but to actually retain what he tells me so I can benefit from it. So the entire family can benefit from it.

Monday, Now with 10 Percent More Happiness

My morning started out pretty crappy. The bug took forever to go to sleep last night, then woke up crying twice, then it started raining so I had to close all the windows (which is terrible right now because our central air is broken and it was 92 yesterday.) All this before I woke up later than I planned and skipped practicing yoga and got to work just on time even though I'd left early.

I off kilter. I didn't want to be at work and I was on the verge of having one of those, "poor me, why do I have to work away from home" days, then at lunch I watched this on Wil Wheaton's blog:

• The Art of Being Furiously Happy

I am amazed. It makes me want to be silly like I was as a child. When I was kid I used to play music outside near our busy road and dance to it. Hoping to entertain the drivers, hoping Michael Jackson would drive by and I could tell him how big a fan I was, or maybe hoping someone would actually give me money so I could buy toys. I don't know, that was 30 years ago. Now I'm scared to say anything to anyone because they might think I'm being silly. I really need to work on letting my silly guard down. I have added the The Bloggess to my iGoogle page so there's my first baby step.

This is a blog I read regularly: The Happiness Project. I bought the book before discovering the blog. I even made my own happiness project, but I got off track nearly as soon as I started it. This afternoon I find myself wanting to draft a new happiness project and get to work on it ASAP. Maybe one month will just be finding ways to be silly.

Of course music is always a way to be silly and happy too. Crank up some crazy ABBA tune like "Dancing Queen" and go for it.

Wordless Wednesday