Read “The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are” by Alan Watts. I’ve always appreciated Alan Watts’s take on things, our role in the universe, etc… Very cool book.

Been exploring more Zen lately. Reading Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry W. Phillips right now. My wife and I love playing poker and we are always drawn to the energy of unconditioning our minds and seeing reality clearly. Zen is really something I resonate toward although I admit I struggle to live each moment in a zen like state. Fears I guess. I often dream in a zen like consciousness. My meditation is taking on more and more zen qualities. Acceptance of all things. Difficult for some reason but I do understand how suffering of practically any kind or perhaps even any kind would dissipate entirely with the acceptance of all things. Judgements, discriminations of right/wrong, good/bad, holy/evil, hero/villain, Any determination of dualism becomes quite meaningless outside of feeling the vibration of any situation, circumstance, ideology, etc..,. Once the vibration is felt, either choose to be drawn nearer to it or if possible, move away from it if one does not resonate toward any particular vibration. If one can not move away from or remove a vibration that one doesn’t resonate toward, acceptance/zen is the answer. Resistance to things brings suffering according to the Buddha and from my experience I agree. Unconditioning myself to not resist is my task I believe. More later.

Watched some older movies yesterday. St. Elmo’s Fire and the Long Kiss Goodnight. In the middle of watching The Cincinnati Kid with Steve McQueen also. Looking forward to going on a short road trip with my wife. Gonna do some rock and gem exploring and the spend a couple days playing poker out of town. This is a different kind of post but just thought I’d put my thoughts down like a journal. Fun stuff.

Saw the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” about Mr. Rogers. It was nice to get a reminder of how hard some people can try and succeed at thinking and choosing to act in a deliberate way that helps others to grow, feel forgiven, feel worthy and feel accepted. Despite all the world’s contrary messages and unwelcoming responses to simply being unconditionally loving and kind to everyone without exception or judgment, Fred Rogers demonstrated that all of us have within us unconditional love and a selfless spirt. Although it takes constant effort and constant daily intention to do so, Fred proved we all could show the angelic side of ourselves more frequently while finding more positive ways to express our darker energies.

Playing the game is strongly imprinted in sentient beings. Waking up or remaining asleep or unconscious is simply what is, not right or wrong but again, simply is. One chooses to continue to play the game if this suits them or if not, to choose to awaken and see all as one and glorious without labeling it, defining it, judging it, or trying to evaluate or control it in any way.

56 years ago today, we lost President JFK

This is my first thought I’m writing on my new blog. Wish me luck! Now I’ll go back to see if it worked.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.