Anyways, the impressions that simultaneously jump to mind when I'm musing about old-fashioned printing-related impressions are those impressions that people leave on us. There are, of course, fleeting, constantly evolving daily impressions, there are impressions that last the day, the week, the month, the year, and those that stay with us over many years. This all seems relatively mundane and obvious, right? Well, I think the metaphor of printing machines works well here: the impressions left by people are like those indents left by old metal moveable type on the paper. Not only do these impressions often leave some sort of visible mark (though not always so inky!), but they also press themselves onto some corner of our souls. The older we get, the more pock-marked our souls. Corny? Maybe. But, being human, we need images to help understand each other, as if they exist somehow between me and you because they're visual.
Which impressions have remained with you? Do you notice any common trends when you think of those longest-lasting, or most deeply etched impressions? It seems to me that there's a well of strong emotion attached to each of my deep memories, and that that can be triggered by any sort of event. Buddhist teachings would tell me that, although the cause of any trigger for such emotions and associated memories (or vice versa) appears to be external, that in fact the trigger is in me, that I'm letting myself be triggered. To test this, try sitting still, eyes closed, feeling the breath move in and out of your nostrils. Your mind will wander, but keep gently bringing it back, as and when you can, to that breath inside and beneath your nostrils. Be patient with yourself. Eventually you'll likely feel an itch. Now, steel yourself just this once against scratching it. Man, it takes a lot of effort not to scratch it, right? Well, perhaps each of our emotional triggers are similar. Am I out to lunch? It's late, so I think not. Is it so unreasonable that it all comes down to mental habit patterns? It's time to teach this human some new tricks!
Tomorrow morning I've got my first new trick to try towards this end. I don't know how many of you are into yoga or arts/sciences of happiness, but there's this new project on the market called "Blissology." I shake my head. The name is cornier than anything I've written so far. But I like corn...especially on the cob. Anyways, Blissology is Eoin (pronounced "Ian") Finn's pet project, and the idea is that it's a combination of daily yoga (35-ish or 55-ish mins per day, depending on whether I choose the short or long yoga for that day) and 10-minute long meditation. Each day has its own theme. It has three additional daily focuses (and these are every day). These are three-fold: nature appreciation, food appreciation, and gratitude. To these five Mr. Finn add's one weekly "wild card," which he posts on his website, all in the name of bliss. Sounds pretty blissful, right? I don't want to go on about it until I've given it a week to try each day's yoga+meditation and can give some sort of educated opinion on the subject, so if you want to read more in the interim, visit Eoin Finn's website. But, my DVD set arrived in the mail today, so tomorrow is day 1 for my foray into Blissology! We'll see what impression this combination of good practices, strengthened by the right intentions, does for me. Let us say I hope to be impressed ;)
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