Check In

OK, So how am I doing?  I have been following the practices I ascribed to: Integral 3-2-1 Body Workout, 30 minutes of sitting meditation and devotional reading including A Course in Miracles, Whitman's Leaves of Grass,  A Pocket Full of Miracles by Joan Borysenko, Ph.d., Mathew Fox's Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations and occasionally The Second Coming of Christ by Paramahansa Yogananda.  

I have had a difficult time sticking with The Koran/Quran due to it's extremely punitive nature. Dov Seidman in his book How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything says, "There are only three ways to generate human connection and conduct: You can coerce, motivate, or inspire."

Coercion seems to fall into

Lawrence Kohlberg's  

Level 1 (Pre-Conventional)

1. Obedience and punishment orientation

(How can I avoid punishment?)

2. Self-interest orientation

(What's in it for me?)

(Paying for a benefit)

Motivation seems to fall into 

Level 2 (Conventional)

3. Interpersonal accord and conformity

(Social norms)

(The good boy/good girl attitude)

4. Authority and social-order maintaining orientation

(Law and order morality)

and Inspiration relates to

Level 3 (Post-Conventional)

5. Social contract orientation

6. Universal ethical principles

(Principled conscience)


I'm sure there's motivation and inspiration in the Koran/Quran just as there is in the Bible (which has it's fair share of pre-conventional ethics) but I haven't stuck with it long enough to get past those pre-conventional aphorisms.  Any Muslim brothers or sisters out there, please feel free to chime in with thoughts, ideas, opinions or suggestions at any time. I commit to researching on the internet and in books the history of Islam is and it's evolution into it's various forms and sects. I need to find local Muslim's and Imam's who are reaching out to non-Muslims in order to educate them. I know there are groups out there. Here are a few sites:

http://www.islamreligion.com/    

 http://www.discoverislam.com/default.aspx?v=DID2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadiyya

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunni_Islam

Please, if you are Muslim let me know of other sites and/or books and information that might help me in my quest.

I started riding my bike to work for the first time this year on Friday the 13th. All went well for such a cold day. I dressed appropriately and stayed warm. I caught a bus home with little or no problems. The plan is to ride Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Meditation is still filled with monkey mind, micro-movement, and neck and shoulder pain. I try to spend a few minutes getting physically settled so that I'm not needing to shift much throughout the rest of the sitting time.  Cali (our cat) is getting used to me being up early and has settled down so that I do not have to lock her in the garage.

I need to begin a daily Shadow Work post each evening. I have done some Shadow Work journal-ling in a written notebook which I can and will transfer and share on the blog soon.  Whenever I catch myself emotionally getting upset about a situation or person(s), etc I try then and/or later to say to myself, "this is me, I am this, I own this."   Area's of personal ego projection are Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Males (favorite song by Tod Snider); alcohol consumption (especially beer); porn (objectifying women and their bodies); my son's incessant chatter...  I have not even really thought or had enough alone time to think or be drawn to porn. Alcohol consumption has remained outside the home but I have been more mindful of it's effects on my mind/body, bloated, relaxed but fuzzy.

There are still plenty of days that I have periods where I am overwhelmed by negative emotions, mostly anxiety, that exhibits itself as irritability. Letting go involves practice and there are stages of skill acquisition: 1st- cognitive conceptualization, 2nd- associative practice, and 3rd- autonomous automatic stages. I realize/know I have these emotions that get the better of me, now I must become evermore mindful and catch myself then cognitively slow down and step back and watch them come and go. Do this enough and all will become automatic. I commit to begin a series of mindfulness practices that will target these strong  thoughts and feelings.