Out with the old and in with the new!

Out with the old and in with the new! So far 2011 has been so much more than a new year. I have a new job, a new apartment, new semester, new improv performance, and even a new toothpaste. How much crazier can this year get? Incidentally the newness is already wearing off and I'm craving some familiarity...This year has already changed so much about my life, I'm excited to see what's to come! And maybe even a little bit of in with the old!

Today I'm grateful for new, old, and everything in between.

His+Her=Hir

One of my professors using the pronoun "hir" instead of  differentiating between "his" or "her." Another example of the fact we don't have language that describes our world accurately. Only two genders, when it has become increasingly obvious more than two exist and are a reality of our physical world. I would actually prefer to use this made-up word than the improper usage of "their" in this sort of context. Example below:
"The student brought their notebook to class." (insert cringe here for non-agreement of subjects)
"The student brought hir notebook to class."

I think I also like this rendition of old pronouns because it does end up sounding like "her" anyway and implying feminity. Should you use "her", "his", "their", or "hir", it matters more if that you are even aware enough of the fact there are options. Now if people would stop messing up "their" and "there" we might actually get somewhere...(says the snobby grammarian)

Today I'm grateful for new classes, keys to my new apartment, and productivity.

On the Tim Ferriss wheel

A few nights ago I saw Tim Ferriss at the Commonwealth Club. I've had a slight crush on him for several years since reading "Four-Hour Work Week." His ideas speak clearly to yearning people have for more time to spend on things they care about and less time at work. His newest book, "The 4-Hour Body," (I'm ignoring Chicago Style that dictates "4" be "Four") has again renewed my adoration.

The book even has an entire section on the female orgasm, granted it's about a technique from OneTaste used as a meditation, I applaud his efforts for focusing on female pleasure as a part of health. While I don't plan on sleeping four hours a night (as a section of his book discusses), I am excited to sit down and read more about his suggestions/findings. As someone who enjoys trying new things, I appreciate Tim (first name basis now that I've asked him a question in front of hundreds of people) and all he does to provide people the life they desire, while sometimes doing things that seem ridiculous.

During the interview, he struck me as kind-hearted and even quoted Thoreau (hello, fellow philosopher). I'm enjoying being the Tim Ferriss wheel and am excited to see what else he decides to do. If it includes a four-hour relationship, that might be something I could actually handle!?

Today I'm grateful for four hours, Tim Ferriss, and living in SF.

No Pants Day

What an incredible day – not wearing pants. I religiously celebrate Naked Sundays (sometimes half naked depending on how cold my apartment is), this was right up my alley. The 10th Annual No Pants on BART day. Started in NYC by an improv group…
I arrived at Civic Center and saw no one else in their underwear, or they probably were in them I just couldn’t see it. Then I spotted a gal with a long jacket and a pantless dog (as in bottoms not a way of breathing. I asked if she was celebrating the holiday. Indeed she was and we traveled to Powell station were we joined the underwear mob (after I took off my pants of course).

So there I was in Union Square station headed into the mall where security guards tried to halt the group of crazies (myself included). No such luck, the group went in and I joined, then felt guilty about their helplessness and left shortly thereafter. I enjoyed my pantless day/hour.

New Year's Re"solution"

My first post in 2011, my what a busy year it has been so far! I'm doing something different this year for my New Year's resolutions. I accept there are things about myself worth focusing on and other things...well, I can only do so much. My friend Jamie and I are commited to radical honesty in 2011.

For me "radical communication" seems more appropriate. I'm not going to just say whatever is on my mind presuming it's the truth. Nor am I going to say everything I think - I have this tendency and realize the guy I'm dating doesn't need to know every single crazy thing running through my brain. Here's what it is in a nutshell:

Communication that is direct, complete, open and expressive. Radical Honesty means you tell the people in your life what you've done or plan to do, what you think, and what you feel. It's the kind of authentic sharing that creates the possibility of love and intimacy.

Bringing hidden meanings of discussions and actions into the verbal realm solves many misunderstandings. I want people in my life to know they're hearing the authentic me. That my actions and words align. My solution to everything in 2011? Radical honesty.

Today I'm grateful for new job, new apartment and on my one year anniversary with SF!!!

Loving Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the form of yoga dedicated to creating loving devotion for the divine. Expressions of this type of yoga come from song, chanting, prayer, and for some, like Rumi, writing poetry. Listening to my Gift of Love CD with Deepak Chopra and others citing Rumi songs and I can't help but be turned on.  Below is one of my favorite Rumi poems. Like Rumi, we long for unity with the divine not having tasted it fully and wanting more:

Bittersweet
In my hallucination
I saw my beloved's flower garden
In my vertigo, in my dizziness
In my drunken haze
Whirling and dancing like a spinning wheel

I saw myself as the source of existence
I was there in the beginning
And I was the spirit of love
Now I am sober
There is only the hangover
And the memory of love
And only the sorrow

I yearn for happiness
I ask for help
I want mercy
And my love says:
Look at me and hear me
Because I am here
Just for that

I am your moon and your moonlight too
I am your flower garden and your water too
I have come all this way, eager for you
Without shoes or shawl

I want you to laugh
To kill all your worries
To love you
To nourish you

Oh sweet bitterness
I will soothe you and heal you
I will bring you roses
I, too, have been covered with thorns

This desire for romantic love on a physical level, made of hormones and pheromnes, becomes the telos of life and an illusion on the spiritual level. When my procreation urge becomes strong it’s also signal to turn to my bhakti yoga. Thinking of romantic love as chemicals in the brain isn't romantic, but it certainly makes  for a nice distraction when I don't meditate.;) When we are nourished by something larger than our desires we allow the divine to enter and give us exactly what we crave.

Today I'm grateful for Rumi, bhakti yoga, and Coleman Barks.

Mind the body

Last week I felt sick - mentally and physically. I had chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, nausea, dizziness, and overall malaise. After a trip to the emergency room and being told I had hyperventilation episodes, my body continued to tell me something was wrong. Turns out I had carbon monoxide poisoning for a week and assumed my illness was all in my head. What a relief things didn't get worse and I am still here to write about it. The dangers of living in old buildings - good with earthquakes, not so good with gas leaks...

My body screams at me when something is wrong and I have begun to despise its loudness. Then I realized it screams because I don't listen. Since I was a child I've had a "sensitive constitution," Ayurveda philosophy considers it vata energy and water element in Traditional Chinese Medicine. I don't like to be in my body, as Beethoven used to say of his illness, "That green monster, my dreadful health." (I'm writing a paper about him and was hoping to just now inspire myself to finish it.)

Many times I've exclaimed how I wish I didn't have a body, I avoid having to be in it by not eating a lot or ignoring it. In general pretending my existence is based in my head and soul. Our bodies can be a source of pleasure or pain, and sometimes both. Having a body allows us to enjoy life and at the same time reminds us of our humanity. Maybe that's why I get frustrated; sometimes I want to be more than human. However, to avoid the body is to avoid the existence of my life in this world. Suggestions on bringing myself back to Earth, from my acupuncturist (who's amazing by the way):

-eating foods rich in Earth element
-surrounding myself with symbols of Earth
-being in nature
-having a body-mind practice
-noticing sensations in my body
-conscious exercising
-eating consciously

So here I go again minding the body, and not just my mind.

Today I'm grateful for body, mind, and soul.