thank you for encouraging my encouragement.
i find that even 1 or 2 minutes of sitting still, eyes closed, just following breath, watching thoughts go by... & pass... are helpful in centering me. but of course, a regular daily routine of half an hour is more effective even.

@walklightly Too bad that many live their lives not as they would like them to live but how others think they should live their lives. I have to accept that in this site there are plenty yet to really live life and not reading about it, plenty that ask the question "if you could...." instead of saying "what I did when..." There are young people seeking and trying to find out their place. I have to get it on my head... Everyone is Unique and some are just starting to wake up. I like silence, also the sounds of a forest, of birds, nature... loved the sound of waves in the beach... water cascading on a stream, children playing, their joyful laughter. And playing a music that will inspire me to go on work on mine, write new lyrics or simply get up and dance. Back in college we did an experiment with a teacher how to relax and she didn't wanted to continue the other steps because it was the first step to relax your being enough for an out of body experience. All I know is that a few of us were able to feel every drop of blood pumped by our heart, feeling the blood travelling thru our veins. That was something to our young minds. I am not surprise if she did it as means of finding our us like souls. Always wondered if some approached her wanting more. I was in a relationship and she was young and easy on the eye for my girl to accept me seeking more, plus she was in the class too and went thru it. Oh the things you sacrifice for love... he, he, he, ha, he, ha. We certainly need to be One with Ourselves. before we are ready to face the world.

@GipsyOfNewSpain, i agree that to be(come) capable of interacting harmoniously with the world, i first have to turn within, take full responsibility for my experiences & realise that i actually make my world - & be it just by accepting what is, no matter how non-wished for.
a few months ago i joined a great choir in my little town, & then enrolled in a workshop as well: power in the voice. we did a cabaret as finale. very exciting & huge fun!

@walklightly My daughter sings in a choir in church.. but she just posted she was leaving the Jacksonville Blues Society so I will like to pick her brains if the move is about religion... Anyways, love your new pictures. Specially the one in the rock.

thanks, @GipsyOfNewSpain, yeah, choirs & religion... well, i'm lucky with this one: no bloody chorals to be sung

@walklightly Lucky you are... there is another member here that has sung professionally in choirs were a lot is about religion but she don't mind because most are either in german or latin and she don't speak either language. That's her silver lining.I am all for whatever makes you feel good. Except murder of the innocent and prey on the weak of course. Go Girl!!!!

yes, i fully agree, children should be introduced to meditation from an early age on. i also find the turning-within useful & effective in any real & ordinary life situation; i learned this many years ago through walking & working meditation at the 10days-silent retreats in vipassana. we will, apart from centering our selves, lift the level of peace within society

@walklightly So many things children should be introduced to and the educational system fail them and us... like introducing 8 year olds to partnered dancing just to remove the phobia and stigma of a boy and girl touching in an acceptable social environment. Instead of the stupid "sports" and I did the sports... but I would had rather done the dances, that much I know. And you see people in their 20's taking dance lessons and being all nervous and hands sweating. And so many inept people in front of the opposite sex... it is beyond me, because talking to girls was always easy and natural and a 50 year old have problem with that? Maybe that is why I am so open here... because I always been open and free.