#365Gratitude Day 179: Falling in love with the Universe

Specifically I mean Steven Universe, the cartoon by Rebecca Sugar.

Steven is a young half-human boy.  He's part "Crystal Gem", a species of people from another world based on geological objects  He's sort of part super hero and part little kid.  He's funny, sweet, kind, moderately obnoxious in a charming way.  He makes up songs about things.  He loves people.

He reminds me so damn much of little mako, the other guy I carry around in my head.  I just binge watched 14 episodes of the darn thing, and am utterly and completely in love with it.  It's funny, wise, and a tiny bit transgressive.  It pokes fun at social norms.  Steven is something of an unwitting gender and culture outlaw.  He doesn't act the way he does to spite social norms - he's just sort of immune to them.

It's brilliant.  I'm glad it's around.

Check it out.  I bet you will fall in love with it too.

#365Gratitude Day 178: Words aren't necessary

#dailyThink: Certain limitations

Saw a really smart tweet this morning.

@AliceDreger said "One of my best profs said to me once: "If you haven't changed your mind lately, how do you know it is working?" That changed my mind."

That's got me thinking.  Certainty is a form of expectation, isn't it? Maybe it's a kind of "should"? I suppose that it's a tool of convenience at times.  "If I get in the shower, and the water's too hot, I should get burned."  But at other times, I can see where certainty is a big obstacle.  "Since I haven't gone running for a while, it should be really hard to get going again." or how about "If someone is of a certain political/religious/social/whatever stance, they should think the following..."

How hard is it really to go back to beginner's mind, to shoshin, and spot-check the things you're certain about? What do you lose or gain by doing so? 

I don't have any answers here, I'm just thinking out loud.

#365Gratitude Day 177: Shoshin Splints

Shoshin is the zen buddhist concept of "Beginner's Mind."  It's the conscious approach to learning and experience, no matter what your level of expertise, as if you were just getting started.  It's valuable for a lot of reasons.  

When you're an expert, you tend to do things in the tried-and-true, tested way you've always done them.  When you're a beginner, you take chances, get messy, go for the weird options.

As a taoist, and an age player, I find this immensely appealing.  

I've not been running for a long time.  Recently, I've been wanting to get back to it.  I've had a lot of expectation, regret, fitness loss, and lack-of-motivation in my way.

This morning, I said, "Well, fuck that."  I got out my running gear, and went for it.  It was just a walk really, albeit a rather fast paced one.

I'm actually pretty happy with this - 17:08/mile average pace, 651 calories.  I've done worse.

I set out with no expectations.  I ran for exactly 30 seconds, and that was just to get across a busy street.  But I walked quickly, and with purpose, up and down some hills, too.  

It was just a beginning.  But beginnings are great.  Where can I go from here? 

ANYWHERE.

#365Gratitude Day 176: I've got it to give

I've got this really good friend.  She's going through something particularly shitty.  I won't say who it is, or what, because that's not for me to do.  Right after I got home from my class today, I got a text from her.  She was in a bad way.

I called her.  We talked, for a long time.

Afterwards, she felt better.  It was not the problem-solved-everything's-great sort of better (which is usually not real anyhow) but the I-can-deal-and-I've-got-my-head-on-differently-now sort of better.

I'm glad for it, too.

I was pretty wiped after my class.  I felt exhausted.  Enough that I decided to skip the gym to come home.  But when my friend texted me, I was instantly on the case.  I suddenly had new energy to spend, to help her.  It surprised me, really.  

Other people's suffering calls to me.  Especially people I like.  The more I like you, the less I can stand your being in pain.  

I don't know why I'm like this.  Heck, maybe everyone is.  I'm just glad I am.  It feels good to me that when people need me, I can be there for them.  I like helping people to blunt the hard edges of their lives.