This has been a hellaciously busy week. I have been racing to keep up with deadlines and stay on schedule, which is a wonderful thing. Two months ago I was struggling to find projects to even have a deadline, now I am turning down work. It makes me think that perhaps there is economic recovery going on. Although I will admit that little of my work is coming from US based companies. I have found, a business person and freelance writer, that the best way to survive is to not limit yourself to work from one country. I made the mistake a few years ago of getting lax and coming to rely on one country for work and paid the price. Now I am done with that suffering.
And the thing that has been helping get through the 18 hour days has been the morning and evening meditation I have begun to do again. Nothing else needs to happen in the day except those two sessions and then everything else can happen. It is remarkable the difference it can make in your life.
But I wonder if other people who meditate on a regular basis run into the same issues I have, namely, the Mad Kitten. She can be all in her own world but when I set myself up, it is like an invitation to love. First, she parades over me as I sit there. Mind you, she could go around but it is her choice to climb up and over me on her way to get a snack.
Then she will start to climb up and sniff my face before setting against the curve of my legs, stretched from knee to knee and resting. You have to picture that I am sitting in front of the small space heater, not on purpose, that is just how the space works. So when she is tucked up against me, she is in front of the space heater too. I think it is our version of a hearth and roaring fire.
The peacefulness of this last about two minutes before she decides it will be much more entertaining to turn over and latch onto my foot or leg, all teeth and claws, and kick and chew. Now, I have tried staying in position and taking this as an exercise in discipline but eventually I cave. She wants attention. She wants love. She knows I am very relaxed when I am sitting like that and I think, “What cost is it to me to give her love while I count my breaths and focus on being present?” No cost. No cost at all.
I have a backlog of very serious and complicated blogs to produce but they are just going to sit there while I chitterchat about MK and pass along quotes and get to the point where I am not only caught up with my work, but exactly where I should be to return my life to normal.
If You Love, Love Openly
Twenty monks and one nun, who was named Eshun, were practicing meditation with a certain Zen master.
Eshun was very pretty even though her head was shaved and her dress plain. Several monks secretly fell in love with her. One of them wrote her a love letter, insisting upon a private meeting.
Eshun did not reply. The following day the master gave a lecture to the group, and when it was over, Eshun arose. Addressing the one who had written to her, she said: “If you really love me so much, come and embrace me now.” (Zen Koan)
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Love and Words 