Wires, Rhythm and Zen

Some people, especially Alisha and Ashley (Ashley tells me they were mocking my usual themes for entries, and generally being sausy while they’re spending some time together), have been suggesting I need to tell more of my everyday life, so I’ll try to share a few details. I have a routine that I follow most week days that involves looking for work for work and then walking, reading, writing or doing some other sort of rewarding passtime in the evenings. It’s not something to write home about, but I suppose it can be recorded in a journal.
Since I last made an entry here there have been two rather nice occurances, though. Tuesday night I called Alisha and was able to talk with her for quite a while, and then Thursday night I called Ashley (at Alisha’s place, coincidentally). It had been a long time since I had heard either of their voices, so it was very nice to talk with them both again.
Especially after all that Ashley has been through lately, it felt very relieving and heart warming to be able to talk with her again. I’ve very much missed her company since I last saw her, nearly a year ago. It’s certainly seemed like longer, likely due to the fact that it was absolutely wonderful to be with her. There are certainly very few people in life who could lift my spirits so easily, and I’m very thankful to have Ashley in my life, even if we’re not able to physically see each other.

It seems I may be going to a beach and then to a party tomorrow. Nathan‘s (my roommate) friend Robert, who I’ve spent some time around, has invited us to a party he’s having and offered to pick us up at noon and take us to a beach with him. It sounds like an excellent change from our usual mellow weekends, especially being able to visit the beach. The fact that I haven’t been to a real party since high school makes it additionally interesting.

This morning I finished reading Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing : Meditation in Action, one of Frederick Franck’s books dealing with seeing/drawing, a form of Zen meditation he has championed. Essentially, Mr. Franck expresses the joy and insight to be found in seeing things rather than looking at them. Through his drawings he has found a way to consistantly view things as they are, without the pretense of viewing things as he believes they should be. His approach is not at all complicated, and has been quite inspiring to me. His writing is full of enthusiasm for the world around him, and in reading it I couldn’t help but be infected by an appreciation of simple and complex aspects of the world around me. I am not a great visual artist, nor do I feel much passion to create such art myself, but I feel the lessons I have learned through following the adivce to see things is still very rewarding and exciting. This is an excellent, brief work that I highly recommend.