Anonymous Quote

"Awakening is absolute intimacy with life. When this intimacy is total, you realize that life is absolutely impersonal. That is the biggest joy there is."

Drug store

Clerk: What's the last name?
Me: George
Clerk: Is that g-e-o or j-o-r?
Me: Uh, g-e-o
Clerk: A lot of people spell it j-o-r, so that's why I asked.

Lunch at the zoo

Having lunch at one of those snack bars they have. Three little boys are pouring yogurt all over the base of a patio umbrella. The moms yell, give them time outs, a swat on the behind. The boys are not impressed.

We're thinking how none of it looks like fun. Another group shows up. A bunch of kids, a couple of moms, a grandma. They sit next to us, pulling up lots of plastic chairs. The older kids are yelling. Someone's passing out Tupperware and fruit. One little boy sits silently licking the picnic table.

Sherman Oaks

Woman in her forties, blonde, jeans, leather cap, all done up. She's grilling the guy at the counter of a Japanese fast food restaurant. What kind of vegetables? What comes in the spicy chicken bowl? Could she get it without rice? After a long interrogation she says she'll think about it and leaves.

On my way out I see her talking to another woman whose hair is wet. She's in a smock, getting her hair done but stepping outside the salon. The blonde is telling her "He wants me to put makeup on as soon as I get up!" She's indignant. "No one has ever said I don't look pretty without makeup!"

Joko Beck

"The only way to transform 'I want' into 'I am' is to experience one's disappointment, one's frustration."

Tomatoes

The planter is hidden under a tangled mass of green onions, strawberries, bell pepper, basil, and most of all, tomatoes. The tomato plants coil around a basil stalk, reaching out over the grass hungrily, fruit straining. Delicate grape tomatoes drape across the plant tops. Romas rot in the soil, to heavy to be held up. Big Boys in varying shades of green, yellow, and orange bunch together in a clump. Some grow so fast that they split before ripening. Lift up the branches and spy a tiny jalapeno that has turn black before it could be picked. Branches tumble over the wall like a waterfall, green tendrills dotted with hundreds of yellow flowers.

Meditation Scenario

You're in the middle of the ocean, alone. It's quiet and you are small. You breathe.

You're on an African savannah, lying beneath a spreading tree. A pride of lionesses sleep nearby in the heat of the afternoon. Birds and insects chatter.

You listen, and remember how the world really is.