It's true. The big boss in the sky is quite the chuckle-bug, look how he arranges things:

I post on blogstream that I want to know about yoga and meditation. I get some very friendly answers, but nothing too in depth, and I'm just wandering down to the post office and there is this woman, in a sari, asking a very uncooperative post-mistress if she can put up a flyer for her Yoga classes on the post office bulletin board. The classes are slated to begin (locally) in May. Well, of course she cannot, for all the millions of reasons that post offices can't be friendly and normal and human, but she did get herself a new student out of the exchange. When God places an answer to my rather humble spiritual query right, smack in my path, who am I to play possum?

It always kind of freaks me out, the God thing. I've been, my whole adult life, what I like to call 'spiritual but not religious'. I hesitate to dub myself 'Christian', I'm a big fan of Jesus but not a huge fan of some of the followers who call themselves by his name. I could best describe my religious outlook as 'just looking around'.

We get kind of comfortable with our autonomy here on terra-firma, so it's a little unnerving when you get those clear messages that someone is listening and watching your life. Having one's prayers answered is both deeply comforting and completely mess-up-your-head mind-boggling. If there is a God... well, the implications are so deep and so far reaching that, despite the fact that I sort of knew it all along, I can only be astounded. That brings substance to 'right' and 'wrong'; that brings relevance and meaning (no matter how cryptic and difficult to see with our limited vision) to this whole project called life that most of us have unwittingly wound up participating in. Birth isn't democratic, so to be born, in a world with a God means that each life has meaning; possibly even purpose. We've all been called to the table. Now why? It's exciting, isn't it? And overwhelming. And if you try and focus on all those concepts and ideas, it's tempting to turn on the television and become a little less conscious of your real and accountable life, but shake that temptation and be present for a little while, present in a very real universe.

When I have felt the need of something beyond the limited reaches of my own humble life, I have from time to time taken a moment to simply consider the stars. The reality of those zillion lights gleaming, outside the reach of my habitable sphere have always filled my heart with a wonderful security. This much could not be an accident, this much could not exist for the mere continuation of species on a miniature biosphere. Days can pass before I actually stop and look, but when I do... there they are, the stars, and these soft, certain lights in the darkness speak directly to me in a voice that knows the presence of God. There is a marvelous, mighty cosmos, and I am but a grain of sand, held in the benevolent palm of the Creator's hand.

My poor blog has just sat here, cold and all alone for a week, playing that dumb video over and over to anyone who might chance to stop by. (Ok, I don't think the video is that dumb.)

How are you darling blogosphere?

It's been sort of a distracted, nutty week. I don't want to talk in depth about that, and I bet not a single solitary soul wants to listen to it, so here's a question:

Has anyone out there tried meditation/yoga to get more in balance, or seek a higher plane, spiritually? There's really no way to ask that without sounding a little new age, but I'm curious. I spend so much writing time just trying to scratch the surface of my junk thoughts, you know the daily paraphernalia, the polite buzzing distractions. I guess you could call it the mind's equivalent of small talk with the self. And if I take the time for self-examination (and I've got that in bunches about the hour insomnia comes crashing down) this 'surface' living thing sort of permeates my whole life. I don't want to sink into a deeper
existence so much as rise up to one. That was deep, write it down... because there is a difference I think. You don't want to get too inner, too inside yourself, sometimes going deeper means striving outward.

And it is an ego thing, totally. The more I try to write well, the more I'm examining the reasons, and I think my ego sort of eclipses the sun if I think too much about either why I want to write or what I've already written. I need to diminish that sucker so I can see outside of me.

I'm rambling.

Meditation;
thoughts?

Okay, this is the first video I've tried to embed, I really hope it works because it shows scenes from an amazing, surreal, strangely magical animated movie: 'Howl's Moving Castle'. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm not going to be all bossy and stuff, but okay, yes I am. You should. Go get it. It's pretty freakin' awesome.

I have video envy. I do. What is 'YouTube', and how do I get it? Is it free? How do you post videos on your blogs? Do you hafta post your own videos, or can you use other people's? I could probably figure this all out for myself, but it would take longer, and I'm somewhat technologically inept (in a cute way, dammit). There's an animated movie I love and adore and I'd be thrilled down to my stocking toes if I could show a few minutes of it on a blog. Do you think it's possible?

Help.

I call blogstream my 'informal blog' and wordpress my 'formal blog'. The informal blog is nice cuz you can put all life's etcetera's over there.

Here's a cool etcetera ,that digital camera I got, I've been letting my daughter play with it, and she has this really interesting perspective. I kinda feel like my pictures are boring after I see some of the weird &%#$ she zeroes in on. The other day we went to a grocery store and she had the camera. When I looked at her shots, I got really quite hungry. Is she a genius, or am I biased? Don't answer that. But who knew life in the produce aisle was so bright, so crisp, so weirdly artful.

Heh. Maybe I should change my blog to 'Mad mum's musings'. Hope you all had a cheerful Valentine's day, and enjoy the nutritient rich visual display.