anamnesis

On the one hand: a long history as medicinal fungi with a number of alleged benefits, on the other: a parasite that mind-controls its prey into self-destruction. Decisions, decisions. Lung and kidney tonic Treatment of chronic bronchitis, asthma, tuberculosis and other diseases of the respiratory system Increases endurance Increases blood oxygenation Tonifies bone marrow Reinforces the Qi Increases sperm production Increases libido Increases longevity Clears phlegm Strengthens the lower back and knees Strengthens the immune system An antidote for opium poisoning and addiction A tonic for anyone after pregnancy or who is recovering from a serious disease Replenishes Yin and Yang Jing and restores the deep energy expended as a result of extreme exertion or stress or from aging.  A friend delivered some of this to speed my recovery. Was he being mind controlled to disseminate the spores?! A potential source , should I succumb.

"When you are going about any action, remind yourself what nature the action is. If you are going to bathe, picture to yourself the things which usually happen in the bath: some people splash the water, some push, some use abusive language, and others steal. Thus you will more safely go about this action if you say to yourself, “I will now go bathe, and keep my own mind in a state conformable to nature.” And in the same manner with regard to every other action. For thus, if any hindrance arises in bathing, you will have it ready to say, “It was not only to bathe that I desired, but to keep my mind in a state conformable to nature; and I will not keep it if I am bothered at things that happen.” -Epictetus, from Hackszine Rebooted Interpretation Before going out, set an intention for how things will go. Not for the external things, those cannot be accounted for, focus instead on how to feel. If, for example, our intention is to move through the activity serenely, cohesively, t...

Bouncing is good for us. Even without a springy tail. This month I've had to pause my normal workout, I was forced to find something to retain my conditioning for the month without my usual routines. I also needed to do some activity every 2 hours or so. And that's when I rediscovered the joys of the mini trampoline. Every couple of hours, I head upstairs to a room with our mini tramp and walk, pulse, jog, dance, jump or do happy feet for 10 minutes. It's awesome. No, it's more than awesome, it's surreal. I've ensconced it into an environment with a timer, a red light lamp, a pair of powered PC speakers and an mp3 player. Now I just put on a little rhythm on the playlists, some Brent Lewis for example: And picture this: a room glowing red like a primordial cave, the pulse of the drum, a body in arcs of weightlessness, hitting 1.5 to 3 G-force on the way down and effectively floating at the peak. This strengthens every cell and tissue of the body s...

Today I was thinking about that title. Meditation has shown me a certain default. Which I use to think was me. Or, at least, was the situation at hand. Turns out it was neither. Any moment, THIS moment, for example, is carrying a certain momentum of mood, of ideas stirred, ripples of stones dropped earlier in the day, undulating as a wave, unfolding as a line, not destined to veer from the course set by all those causal arrows. All the beliefs we've built, all the experiences and memories we've stored ...what else could happen, how else could we be feeling and experiencing this moment other than the last domino in that cascade? Our day may start like a ball at the top of the pinball machine. A little bit chance, a little bit how we got out of bed but mostly it all filters through the same bumpers and lanes. As the ball drops, and the world rotates, the same familiar collisions in our brain light up and ring, bounce back and forth down narrow chutes, we score points we lo...

at least every thirty minutes, anyway. A longitudinal study of over 17,000 Canadians revealed a relationship between sitting and mortality. Which is researchese for the longer we sit the sooner we die. Well yeah, just another pitch for more exercise right? Nope. Had nothing to do with the amount of exercise, age (well, a little to do with age), smoking or how fat we are. All else being equal, those who sit the most die the soonest. Further studies determined " The greater the number of breaks taken from sedentary behavior, the lower the waist circumference, body mass index, as well as blood lipids and glucose tolerance." Even if the physical activity and sedentary times were otherwise the same. So what's the take-away? Set a timer for 30 minutes, get up, stretch, scratch your head, pace the floor for a few minutes. If you really want to get productive, use Pomodoro and make this a natural break between units of intentful activity. Doesn't have to mean pr...

Read a strange quote, on a forum I attend regularly, it went like this... (this forum) makes me like people I've never met, while Facebook makes me hate people I know in real life. I don't think it's quite that bad, but perhaps personal blogs still have a purpose ;) I can say different things here. Without spamming friends' feeds. It's fun sometimes just to put thoughts out where we can see them. And if we look at what we put out and think, ahh... that really isn't it. That's kind of silly. There's no need to clarify, because time does move on. You can never step in the same river twice, someone once said. Probably after busting their ass because they'd crossed this stream every day but today that nice rock-step midstream was curiously absent. But hey, wisdom earned is wisdom gained. Which brings me to some pondering I've been doing of late over the differences and similarities between wisdom and understanding. But I think that's for anoth...

It's in Iceland though, still trying to convince wifee that this is the one.