Want to buy something special for the one you love (to smoke with)?! Roll-a-Bong has a variety of games and gifts. Use code VDAY22 for 20% off your purchase at check out!
Get the Connoisseur Cup's Stoner Game of the Year at www.rollabong.com.
What I Have Learned
With the passing of another birthday, I reflect on lessons learned in the past year. I like to record the changes that have happened, things that have gotten better, and how things have gotten worse. In the writing of these things comes an awakening of spirit and a fascinating account of how time has changed my thinking and views. Mostly, it is a brutal attack at time and the desperate defense to ward off death. This drama is me and my growth through experience. I’m really interested to see what comes next.
I have come to an understanding about the universe. My science mind has expanded to include philosophy. I read a translation of the “Tao Te Ching” this past year, and it affected me. It did not change any science idea I had, instead it added to my understanding of the universe. To know things is as important as to not know things because that is “The Way” of the universe and to fully understand is to accept that its meaning is far beyond comprehension. Instead, I try to attain “The Flow” that allows me to touch the underlying energy of all things. “The Zone” or whatever you want to call it, is an amazing state of being and should be strived for. Lesson learned!
I live in a “prepanic” world and it has made all the difference. The term “prepanic” is one I started using in college. After a disastrous first three semesters in college, I met an individual who gave me a system that allowed me to be successful. This system worked extremely well, but it had one strange side effect: I somehow thought papers were due a week earlier than they were. For the week before the “apparent due date” I would work non-stop until the paper was finished. Time and time again, I would hand in the paper and be told it wasn’t due until next week. I had panicked for nothing, or maybe not - all my papers got A’s.
This prepanic happened to my family after Super Storm Sandy. To overcome the damages to our home and to ourselves, we all had a difficult couple of years. We had to tighten our belts and learn to depend on each other. When this pandemic hit, my family had the discipline and experience to weather the harsh worldwide situation. The pain-filled years after Sandy forged our wills and opened our spirits to the everyday happiness that occurs at mealtime or just being together. As the folk around us cried about Covid-19, we kicked ass, and we plan to keep kicking ass as long as we have to.
My body has always been a cruel teacher. When I did not treat it with respect, it stopped working well. Three years ago, my hip was replaced and the first two years were a pain-filled, humbling experience. Without complaint, I watched my diet and kept my weight down, I did as much yoga as I could, and I got back on the tennis court. The lessons learned from a lifetime of pain taught me what I needed to do to achieve a high level of fitness. I wore appropriate gear while exercising. I warmed up completely, and did my best to stretch after workouts. I kept hydrated and was attentive to what I ate before, during, and after workouts. The most amazing fact is that I have attained a gratifying level of physical fitness, with only up to go. Lesson learned!
Each day I spend time just being present where I live. I have an overwhelming feeling of love and joy. I get a feeling of extreme belonging. My home is where I raise my treasured sons. A wonderous place where my gardens fill the yard year after year, and where I grow the most wonderous plants for all to enjoy. Mostly, I think about the fact we live where my beloved was raised and, now, she can share her home with us. Shana’s home, a place of love and safety. Each time I get upset with a broken fixture or a battered door, all from my hands unfortunately, I stop and remember that this is exactly the place I want to be. The place where everyone I love now lives - that thought fills me with both love and tears. I know someday, the dream must end. I do my best to experience everything because I believe it will someday be a joyous memory. This lesson is being worked on, but I’m getting there.
Life is about living!
The Importance of Being Present
I live on Long Island, the southeastern most part of NY State. I have lived here all my life. When I was in middle school, I dreaded going to school, but the fall season was so intoxicating that I actually looked forward to school starting. Yes, there was school and homework, but the freedom more than made up for it. After school tackle football, or just a walk around town to eat junk food and buy comics. Even better were the girls. I could just hang out after school with no worries as long as I returned home by 6 pm.
I was brought up with religion in my household and the Jewish religion takes special notice of the changing of the seasons and the importance of the harvest. So there are holidays that celebrate the coming new year, the importance of Harvest, and just good old remembrance of the ancients and their covenant with their maker. Add to those, apple and pumpkin picking, activities widely available around where I live. Then Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other days here and there that make the Fall seem magical and special.
My job was to rake leaves, and we had tons of them. I loved to make giant piles to jump in and spent hours just playing in the leaves. It was more than the fun of the jumping into a soft pile, it was the smell and the slight chill in the air, it made the time fleeting and in a blink of your eyes, the trees were bare and all the leaves were gone. The colors of the leaves gave a burst of chromatic splendor like nature’s perfect art project and, in a few weeks’ time, all gone!
Autumn allows for both cool days to wear your favorite hoodie and clothing you have been waiting a year to wear, and days to break out the shorts and tee-shirts and run around like it’s summertime again. Out come your stylish boots and hip jackets, Fall style is most people’s favorite. We open our windows at night to let the fresh cool air in. After a brutally hot Summer, it’s a welcome change. Many people flock to Upstate New York in Fall, the famous foliage brings travelers from around the world to witness the change. The early settlers from Europe thought that the Hudson Valley looked like Heaven and the fall colors ware Heaven’s chorus.
Autumn is the harvest season around here and the produce is amazing! Local tomatoes, corn, peppers, squash, pumpkins, and so much more; it’s impossible to list them all. My backyard garden yields it’s bounty and my family and I celebrate it’s large bounty. Months are spent processing and canning as much of the harvest as possible so we can enjoy them all year. The abundance of fall and harvest festivals have always gladdened me. The essential need to be aware of the season and be present of it’s abundant gifts. Soon we all know that Winter will come and the warmth and earthiness of fall must yield to the march of the seasons and the delicate dance of the Earth and the Sun.
Each morning I take a moment to breathe in the fresh fall air. Like drinking a rare wine, this moment will fade into time, but the exquisite nature of the perfect moment will be there for the rest of my days. My home is far from perfect. Like me, it’s always going to be “A Work in Progress,” but this is the holy shrine because this is where my life is happening. In fact, nothing is out of place - it’s perfect and the memory of it will make me strong for the rest of the days gifted to me. I must yield to time, but I desire to be present every moment I have.
So Fall is here, enjoy it now, the season cycle is turning!