Non-analytical sanctuary,
Soothing breath and song of spirit.
Hudtohan Shield of Peace & Abundance
Designed by Emil at Victoria & Albert Museum
Kensington High Street, London
September 28, 2009
We adapt to the industrial and the post-industrial world with energy software designed for 
living in the wild. In spite of new challenges in our world, we often respond using the fight or flight strategy even if this is not applicable. Take for example my present lifestyle. For many years in the apartment where we used to live for almost thirty years I had a small garden. There was a space apart from our living quarters where I could walk around talking to my plants. There were demarcation lines separating Nature from the daily grind.
Our condo on the thirty-seventh floor, comfortable and elegant as it is breathes of confinement. I sometimes feel as one with the factory workers even of modern times. My introversion makes me enjoy the comfortable isolation of our condo. Nobody can disturb me except the young men who deliver our laundry and our meals. Even then they are subjected to screening first by the guards at the entrance then by the guards in barong at the lobby. What a sanitized life! Continue reading
If mental stories arise. focus on the delightful experience by using your verbal mind to silently name the physical and emotional feelings . This technique pulls attention away from narratives and allows you to let go of our mind. This is one way to deal with the Monkey mind.
My delightful experience is doing the crossword puzzles daily. It’s supposed to be an intellectual pursuit. It activates the memory. But for me it is a pleasant way of letting go of unnecessary chatter of fears and anxieties. It’s a shamanic way of repatterning my thoughts.
I’m not alone in using crossword puzzles as a meditative pastime. This is confirmed by one of my books The Zen of Crossword Puzzles. I’ve read about David Cook of American Idol doing crossword puzzles before he won and continues to do so.
For over a month now Emil has been bringing me daily except on Sundays the 3 major broadsheets plus my favorite Los Angeles Times crossword found in a not-so-popular newspaper with a small circulation. Of course, I’m delighted.
I manage to completely answer the 4 puzzles daily except for fully difficult ones usually on Fridays or Saturdays. For quite some time now I surprisingly get difficult answers after I nap. It’s true. A relaxed mind is an inspired mind. Answers simply come from nowhere. Funny I may be staring at the puzzle grid and I can read the answers from inside usually from the back of my head! Continue reading
Stomach problems are related to digestion and acceptance. A relevant question is “What are you having difficulty digesting and accepting?” While still 
with Assumption College in the 90s I would often turn to a bachelor colleague who had a calming effect on me. He didn’t preach but showed me how to take things in stride, how to go through life lightly. I had just returned to work then from ailments ranging from very high blood pressure to eventual severe depression.
Only when we parted ways did I realize he did have serious stomach and pancreatic problems. He would often jokingly tell people including his students that he was dying. Although he was definitely more senior than I was I didn’t think he was dying. I would laugh off his plaints. Who would think he had problems when he would be cheerful by template? Behind his funny-man façade he must have been in pain.
Was he suffering from loneliness? Did he just “swallow” the many problems ranging from the petty differences in the office to the heartaches of his students who confided in him? What kind of family life did he have in a home he shared with his sister where he was fondly called “senorito by the help?” Continue reading
Although my teaching years have been officially ended, I want my last essay for this book to be about teaching. Later today I will be having lunch with my regular text mate from Iloilo, a former student of mine. Here are a few reasons for our bonding. We are both May born; our pragmatic philosophy about money is a strong factor for a meeting of minds. Our first born children (although I only have one against her six) belong to the same generation; we exchange notes on parenting. She is definitely a concerned parent as opposed to my now-hovering now-surrendered style. Neither of us is a fashion plate; we are minimalists! In my case I have stopped wearing jewelry except for my wristwatch for practicality. I don’t want to lose precious pieces again after I dropped one earring in Singapore. For a while I couldn’t forgive myself for losing the earring. After all I have been habitually checking on both ears. That year in 2007 I must have been so engrossed with the design of a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant. I failed to check my earlobes before alighting from the cab. I suspect I must have brushed off one earring to struggle out of the seatbelt. I always get entangled. Continue reading