Month of Mu - Week 1
2018-09-03 13:14
Idea
Remove distractions, then fill with the person I want to be.
Inspiration
Mu (Chinese: wu) can have many translations when applied to the famous zen Dog Nature koan. David Hinton's No-Gate Gateway suggests "absence" as appropriate to the meaning of the koan.
A monk asked Master Visitation-Land: "A dog too has Buddha-nature, no?"
"Absence," Land replied.
Possibly: "You're asking the wrong question, bud."
Set up
We all have our distractions. I may not ask the right question, but maybe I can remove the wrong ones. For the whole month, I'm eliminating the worst offenders, the flickering demons: the shiny objects to my OCD-ish-ness.
Gone
- I've canceled Netflix. I can always come back to it.
- No Facebook. No Facebook notifications.
- No news, no YouTube. In short, no TV-like media at all.
- No movie soundtracks.
Keep
- I still use Facebook as my messaging/texting app.
- Scan Morning Dew daily for articles, because it's part of my career.
This Week
- Breathing meditation twice each day.
- More breaks to walk outside.
- Read a physical book (the amazing The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood)
Why Am I Doing This, Again?
My wife put it best. I used to be actively creative, and now I passively take in creativity (in the form of movies and TV).
I think this negatively affects my work productivity, my mood, and my marriage.
I'm reclaiming (the best of) my life.