A Short Update - Nearing Christmas

I know there hasn't been too much activity here recently, but I have been super busy. I have been running packages for UPS during the day as a driver helper. Surprisingly, I actually kinda like it. The pay could be better though. Some days I work overtime and get home around 8pm, others it's 6pm. Then, I may have some time to read (currently reading Essential Reiki, Tao Te Ching (Mitchell translation), and The Complete Idiots Guide to Feng Shui) or I may have to cook. If Ivy happens to be home, I tend to not read. I also started working at Zoka Coffee starting today. I'll be working weekends till my gig with UPS is done. So, I hope you can understand why I haven't really had time to write. There are a plethora of things I got floating through my mind that I would like to share and hopefully once I am on a regular part time schedule with Zoka, I'll be able to do so. 

I do want to share a few things, like progress on some of the things I talked about doing when I came home from my trip. First, I will be taking a qigong class in January. I found someone that seems, on paper, a pretty good fit. I am supposed to talk to him this weekend to see about maybe trading some work for the classes or some sort of financial help since the classes are over $100. I'm still looking for a reiki master, tai chi master, and maybe someone from the Form School to teach me Feng Shui (which is super fascinating).
The idea behind my choices come from three categories of chi - healing, inner martial arts, and a deeper understanding of chi and how it moves through space and how it changes. I may not follow follow all to their end points, but I want to better understand them and see if they are right for me. Along my travels, reiki seems to have presented itself to me as a way. I feel like it was calling me to it. Tai chi (and qigong, which is similar) interests me because it not only is meditation and self defense, but it has to do with inner alchemy and interacting with chi within and without of the body. This is one that I'm not sure how far I'll go with it. My fear is that I'll get frustrated because I don't feel chi or other benefits, or that I'll "not find time" to do it. The thing is, eventually I want to move, as will naturally fall into place, into meditation techniques.
One thing that many people don't understand is that meditation doesn't have to be sitting silently trying not to think. Meditation is the silencing of thought. In doing so, the mind becomes a vacuum to which the universe fills. In other words, you are one with god, Tao, nature, pure being, etc. Athletes can tell you that at times they have felt this. They usually call it "being in the zone". At certain moments they acted without acting (what has been poorly translated, but is what is meant when sages or monks talk about inaction) - they were void of thought and their bodies didn't require conscious effort. They were connected to the universe for that instant. They'll also tell you how amazing it feels to be in the zone. I have felt that playing sports a few times - you feel an amazing connection or energy and you kinda black out without losing consciousness. I am in the zone a lot when I ski, which is probably why I love it so much. Anyway, the principle that I'm getting at is that there are two types of meditation, silencing the mind through contemplation and through movement. The reason that tai chi appeals to me is that I have a very hard time quieting my mind through sitting around trying not to think. On the other hand, I have had some success, as mentioned, through movement. I think that this may be my path to the way through meditation.
Lastly, feng shui. I experienced some things during my travels that were life changing. One was that I felt, on a few occasions, a current, or ebb and flow, of "energy". Feng shui is more than the others, an intellectual approach to understanding how chi moves and changes through space and time. It doesn't try to explain the why - that is for Taoist philosophy (Tao Te Ching and others) - just the how (see acupuncture and like healing concepts for how it moves and changes within the body). What is interesting isn't that it's scientific, at least by Western ideas of science, but that science seems to agree with it. Take for example how psychologists (which have only existed for less than 200 years really) have described how colors affect mood or how clutter raises stress levels. These things were known in feng shui over 2000 years ago, they just used different words to describe why. What I find truly amazing is that we, the West, are actually behind the East in knowledge of the natural world. Sure, their science seems a little wacky to us, but then again it goes both ways. We tend to feel like it's just a few strange cultists who believe in science performed in these fashions, but it's 3+ billion people that feel their approach is more scientifically sound. Not to mention, it's been around a lot longer than Western science. Anywho, I find it very cool and it helps me visualize a lot of things and understand some concepts about chi better. I don't think I'll go too far with it - maybe just a couple books and if I feel like I'm not getting it, maybe a class or just talking with feng shui masters. I think the most that will happen is personal practice with it within my home and a better understanding of chi.
My progress on simple living has been slow. There are things that are going well and that aren't. Taking a part time job with not a lot of responsibility is a start. I still want to do things like ski and go out occasionally for beers, and it'd be great to have health insurance. Hopefully, Obama will get off his ass and the rest of the country will pull their heads out of theirs so that we can finally have health care for all the citizens of the US. Part of the reason it's been slow is that I am living in a studio apt with my girlfriend. That means that there isn't room for anything. Most of my stuff is still in my parents storage unit. I'd like to be able to pull that out and sell most of it. Why do I have 5 pairs of skis? Why do I have golf clubs? Why do I have most of the shit I have? It's gotta go. I'm going to do my best to persuade Ivy to purge many of the things she has too, though she's going to hate me for it. Here's the basic idea, clutter sucks. If you aren't using your belongings but infrequently, that belonging is clutter and it needs to go. How do you know what belongings are clutter? Do a Pareto analysis on an annual basis (if you wanna step up your simplicity game Pareto your stuff on a monthly basis). The easiest stuff is the things that you use once or twice a year. Many clothes will fall into that category. After that you start getting into sentimentality, but trust me you don't use things as much as you want to believe you do. Learn to let go. You won't miss it when it's gone!
I haven't made much progress in the learn new and travel transferable skills. I know it's only been a month and a half, but I was hoping to get more in in this department. In particular, I want to learn bartending, basic auto-mechanics, learn better English - as in grammar, and improve my Spanish and possibly learn French (good for parts of Africa and Europe and some random other places). It's a lot to do and it'll happen at it's own pace, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it too much.
In addition to those, I am hoping that part time will afford me the time write (hopefully a novel, but I've been toying with some non-fiction ideas), start a business, and continue my studies on nutrition, fitness (I want to get my level one crossfit), agriculture, and some other things that are more just for pleasure. Some people may think I'm nuts not to try to get a full time, well paying job, esp if it's within my capability to do so. The thing is, not only am I not ready to do something like that, I have the above goals and working part time is probably the most effective (and efficient) way of achieving them. At some point, my goals may change and I may be forced to work a higher paying, soul crushing job, but for now I should take advantage of the freedom I have. The strange thing is, I actually kinda like these jobs. They pay shit and sometimes the hours aren't favorable, but they have something about them that I like that I can't put my finger on.
That's all I got for now
D