I was enjoying my evening after a long day. Finished dinner. Moved on to catch up on reading. Hand – Eyes – flicking and scanning. I lock on a post from Perpetua / The Seeker. She shares her favorite meditation from an Anthony de Mello retreat: “Did you enjoy your last hour?” This statement is actually an examination of conscience at the end of the day before I go to sleep. It is a discernment of moral values and ethics. Anybody can do it. Try it. If you do not believe in God, then leave God behind. Just think about it, mediate on the question.”
So, if it’s working for The Seeker, I need to get it going. I meditate.
Did you enjoy your last hour? Did you enjoy your last hour? Did you enjoy your last hour? Did “I” enjoy my last hour? I thought I enjoyed my last hour. Hmmmm. I’m not really certain now. Would what I did and feel be characterized as enjoyable? Come to think of it, it wasn’t really enjoyment. I was just chillin’. What could have made it more enjoyable? Was the hour before the last hour enjoyable? Was it more or less enjoyable than the last hour? I really don’t think the last 3 hours were all the enjoyable.In fact, I don’t think I was swimming in enjoyment all day long. The Seeker says “Anybody can do it.” Apparently not. The Seeker says it is a “discernment of moral values and ethics.” OMG. Me and Paula Deen. “I is what I is, and I’m not changing.*“ What Fresh Hell Is This?
Credits:
- * Paula Deen quote: “I is what I is, and I’m not changing.” If you missed the Matt Lauer interview today, you might be the only one on the planet – – you can catch it here.
- Illustration by Danielle Stolle for a New Scientist magazine article titled “Inner Voice“, about inner speech – the way we talk to ourselves in our heads by Charles Fernyhough. If you are ambitious, his essay/research can be found at this link.
- Quote – What Fresh Hell is This? by Dorothy Parker.
OMG, David, you totally crack me up!!! Lol!!!
🙂 Good!
Laughed out loud!
Me too. When harmless, neuroses can be funny.
We’re not overthinking things again, are we? And YES. Unequivocally YES. I enjoyed my last hour. A cup of coffee and 2 books so as not to run out of reading material – then a quick pass though a bookstore for 2 MORE books – just in case. The aquisition of books is just as enjoyable as the reading …
Again? Again? Always. Glad that YOU enjoyed your last hour. And I agree that acquisition of books is just as enjoyable as reading. I have a stack of unread ones to show for it. (BTW, unequivocally is one of my favorite words. We must have blood line crosses somewhere back down the line)
somehow i keep forgetting we’ve never actually met…
🙂
Yes!
!
Hum, shall need to ponder but I do have a sensation of it being an enjoyable day with a few high and lows but nothing like a wild ride.
Well good for you Terrill!
Too funny, David. You could take start doing the retreat from now and I’ll be your disciple. 😆
Laughing. Do you see what power you have over us Perpertua?
If it would make everyone laugh, then I did my job.. Have a grand day and enjoy posting. Keep us laughing, David. 😛
P.S. You Credits are good read as well. Kudos to you. You did a better job than me. Thanks for the links.
Laughing. I did a better job than you? Wow. I would bet big against that one.
You are wiser than me, more jokes on us. 😆
OMG…I did not entirely enjoy my last few hours…but I sure enjoyed: “What Fresh Hell is This?” !! (esp in relation to the PD interview. Oh good lord…I couldn’t get through the whole thing!)
Laughing. So funny. That interview was so painful. I had to avert my eyes and turn it as well. I’m sure the late night talk shows and Saturday Night Live will have a field day with that interview.
I caught a snipped of the David Letterman show last night and yes, field day! 🙂
Ahhhh, Bonnie I wish I would have seen it.
I was until I read this…but now I’m not sure.
See! It’s not just me. 🙂
Whoa…wait a second..you were ‘just chillin’ – if that is what you were doing that sounds pretty ok after a long day. So the idea behind your meditation then is to get yourself as wound up as possible so that you’ve effectively tied yourself up with an unforgiving (and may I add, unyielding) rope. Ok – now I get it…and I relate to it. My all-time stopper from this kind of hell I create? Thinking about how flippin’ lucky I am to be doing any and all of this – I know it’s tiresome and a bit morbid. But it’s the only thing that unties my thoughts..
As for Paula Deen – I just can’t go there, for I too ‘is what I is’.
LAUGHING! I “ENJOYED” your comment.
That makes me laugh – and happy.
Nah. You’re taking the time to Look. And when you See the possibility of change begins. For me, the point of the meditation isn’t to chastise, but to simply pose the question.
Thanks for the chuckle this morning – I just LOVE your writing, David!
Ahhhh, thanks so much Vicki. Appreciate your feedback.
Reblogged this on Wholeheartedness.
Thanks for sharing Todd
Lol, both at your story and the very thought of You even trying to meditate. I imagine it akin to self-torture or an episodic epilectic spider. Coincidentally though, I just glanced out my window and saw a pig fly by … anything is possible I suppose.
Laughing. You know me so well! It is self torture. It is. (Still laughing about epileptic spider. So true)
OUCH! I felt sorry for her, until she said, “I is what I is”. REALLY?
It was watching an pending train wreck, a car crash. You just know it’s going to end badly and you have to avert your eyes.
The comments are as interesting as the feature…..good reading for ending a difficult day….
Sorry about your day. Glad that my always interesting followers can light it up.
Reflection is good for us…thanks for the chuckle also 🙂
🙂 Thanks Tina.
Thank you for sharing, David! I like the depth of the topic, but your honest and light-hearted take on it!
Thank you Marianne.