You can choose to be involved with things that promote a positive engagement with life, to go deeper into a moment, and be a part of life getting bigger, more funny, happier and more relaxed.

Let’s see if I strike a cord with anybody. So you wake up after a night of sleep, dreams are vibrant and weird. That memory foam pillow that feels good for about 10 minutes ( the one I rarely use), then at some point begins pushing back in the night creating a base of tension for dreams to gather upon, the margarita  you had for dinner, the list of daily worries, the soreness of your body from some physical activity the day before, all make for a mildly annoying night of sleep. Then the alarm goes off at 4:45 am and you both want to get up and have the torture over, and don’t want to get up in hopes that another 15 minutes might bring that peaceful sleep you were wanting during the night. Then you finally pull yourself out of bed because you know somewhere in the back of your mind there was something that you wanted to do to start your day, though, at the moment, you cannot remember what that was, and you plug into your morning routine, knowing that if you get started something will happen. Something will move and change.

For a Cultivator that means you would like to cultivate in your body/mind a place where Chi flows evenly. Hmmm….This morning? Really? This is why you have routines. A set of actions that you can plug into, that you are familiar with, so that you can,  without much thought, and given a little time,  lead yourself to discover again why you wanted to get up early in the first place.  For me, though, it starts even before that.  It is important to begin to cultivate a Thought, that is part of you each moment of every day.  That Thought is: You can choose to be involved with things that promote a positive engagement with life, to go deeper into a moment, and be a part of life getting bigger, more funny, happier and more relaxed. Even in the face of an unresponsive body/mind. The Taoist would say that you want to blend with the Tao, to sing the song the Tao is playing. What is the Tao? Better go to a good source to get a better picture that large subject, my favorite translation is The Whole Heart of Tao.  Regardless, cultivating the thought that you can choose between being engaged with life that is bigger, more funny, happier and more relaxed, or sinking into a morass of troubles, feelings, old habits, and frustrations is the thought that can affect everything in your life in a positive way including setting up routines that help support that original thought. For if you know it is a choice that you can make, why would you choose to head towards misery?  Why would you choose to be at odds with yourself?  Why would you choose to be at war with yourself? Why would you choose to be at odds with the Tao? All too often, I think we forget we are making choices. Once we remember we have a choice it is much easier to choose move in the right direction.

The road for me this morning, lead me, in part, to Hsing-I.  Hsing-I, Shape/ Mind Boxing.  This is an art that at one time annoyed me, it was uncomfortable to play, but that was many years ago. I really enjoy playing it now. It is an art, that uses shape and mind to cultivate clearness of thought. To clarify your movement, to clarify your thoughts. It is at times quick, and you move from stillness to movement, and then back to stillness. As if each movement is the only thing you will ever do.  To me, it feels like the way  Jackson Pollack painted except you project your thoughts and shape forward instead of paint.  However, it is about clarifying your thoughts and sending them out into the world. Which then moves deeper into yourself.  Which by the way, makes it easier to cultivate making good choices.