Details, details...

Good to get back to practice today, after three days of non-stop painting. My forearms were killing me when I woke up, I still have the sniffles, and my hands are splotched with paint that won't come off. So what better to do than Mysore practice?

I can't say it was a spectacular practice. I kept kind of getting bounced out of it, mentally. There is such a huge list of things to do: go back to work today, for one. Then there's all the stuff that goes with preparing the new house, packing the current one, etc. And of course, lots of little things suddenly need attention: there is a squeak in My Gift from the Universe's car that needs to be diagnosed and attended to; the cable box seems to have gone on the fritz and needs to be replaced; we didn't do our laundry over the weekend, so that needs to get done; there's no food in the house. And the poor dog seems to not be feeling well again.

Luckily, The Cop has today off, so can deal with some of this stuff. Also luckily, he doesn't freak out under pressure. He's got a nice, innate sense of the dharma. When life goes a little haywire, he always works methodically to restore equilibrium. No cultivation of drama.

These are the times, of course, when it is hardest to practice, and also the times when I most need to practice. So just being there is a win.

Just before practice this morning, I read a great quote from Bodhidharma:

Even if you have a mountain of jewels and as many servants as there are grains of sand along the Ganges, you see them when your eyes are open. But what about when your eyes are shut? You should realize then that everything that you see is like a dream or illusion.

I like to think about this, not just in relation to things I know I don't need (jewels, servants) but also in relation to the things I feel I do (My Gift from the Universe, The Cop, yoga, zen). Interesting to think about...