fireside

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Sitting by the fireside, tonight was the first time in a long time (it seems...) that I haven't had somewhere to go, something to fix, someone to watch, someone to teach, something to cook... you know the drill. "Its always something", right? And even as I hear myself saying those words to people in my life dealing with challenges, struggles, failures, or even the price of success, the acute nature of personal experience leads us to the  somewhat unstoppable feeling that... "I am the only one that feels this way. There is nobody out there like me.**

So... sitting by the fireside, I have every ball of yarn ever purchased surrounding me, a chubby old cat curled around my legs, and several patterns printed out to occupy my evening! Bliss! Joy! Extreme satisfaction. Nancy Ricci's  Getting Purly With It website is the primary provider of entertainment tonight. 

This week in yoga class I spoke about Santosha, or the yogic concept of contentment. I feel that as a byproduct of gratitude, contentment is an effortless state of being. Gratitude inherently requires a bit of effort, we are asked to "Cultivate gratitude", or "Bow the head and find a sense of gratitude." Contentment is just IS. And isn't that all we really want? Just to BE?

*knitwear by Yokoo

**quote by Paul Grilley,  exposer of individuality

Video killed the Photographer

I love how this video captures the feel of stop animation, which I love dearly, but has a few extended pauses where you see the inimitable Miranda July blink, and sway slightly. So creative. Music by Blonde Redhead.

I haven't been very active on the blogs lately, as my new job with Street Yoga takes up quite a bit of my time! Its a labor of love, as the mission is something I believe strongly in, with all of my soul.

Speaking of soul, have you read Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore? I picked it for my book club, and this month we all met to discuss it. It wasn't quite as fun as I anticipated. But as with any book that asks you to take a deeper look into your personality and interpersonal relationships, including the relationship with God, eternity, or consciousness, its bound to bring up widely differing perspectives. I loved how we all shared something about ourselves, but my intention for the reading was to take the quest for introspection personally, not spend half the time debating the existence of a soul. However, I feel like what we experienced was exactly appropriate, and it has made me a little more sensitive to the fact that everyone's journey with faith and spirituality is completely unique. But I think many of our personal problems in daily life could be solved by "cultivating sacredness in everyday life".

video found here: the prettiest thistles