Posted in Intention, One Word 365

Still Alive!

Posted on by Lundie

Well, I’m still here! Maybe it’s not the most outlandish of statements, but I’m pretty happy about it. 🙂 2018 has ended. The new year begins. Kinda dreary so far this morning, but peaceful. Curled up in my favorite spot on our living room couch. Still nursing a cup of coffee and doing some Coggle mind mapping.

2018 required a lot of centering, grounding, being present in the moment. I focused a lot on deep breathing and combating my anxiety. There were a lot of challenges this past year, and I am grateful for what it did in terms of causing me to re-evaluate my motives and intentions.

Last year, for my participation in the OneWord365 challenge, I selected #present. This year I have selected #do. It is a continuation of last years focus on being in the present, but moving from a focus on breathing and attention, to action.

I have a few things that are at the top of my list of things to be done. None of them are likely to be exceptionally exciting to anyone but me. But the idea of tackling the backlog of “someday” items and either doing them or discarding them is rather hopeful, and, I think, a great way to start 2019.

I had created a bucket list a while back. I will be parsing out a 2019 Bucket List for the #do-ing.

Stay tuned, or even better – let me know in the comments if you have plans (big or small) for the next year.

/Lundie

Posted in Just for Me

Mostly Off Living

Posted on by Lundie

Quick “catch up” post. Work is occupying most of my non eating/sleeping time. I did start some Experiments with my life which I’m finding interesting. I decided to start testing out things that are reputed to help people live better lives. For a set time period, I’m giving stuff a try and posting my results and thoughts along the way.

My current “In Process” experiments involve sleep and walking outside. Quick access to the list via the menu above: About Me > The Experiments.

Take care.

Posted in One Word 365

Present and Accounted For

Posted on by Lundie


I’m here. Spending even more time trying to be in my moment, and less time distracting myself.

Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, and Pema Chödrön are my current teachers. I am in an intake mode — listening and learning.

There is so much crazy wrong in our country right now, but at the person-to-person level, we still have the power to make things better. I can start with myself, and move outward. I can bring presence to my surroundings, and hopefully help others to be here now too. We can make a difference.

Posted in Reflection, Social Media

Space for Thought and Reflection

Posted on by Lundie

This morning I got my usual morning news headline summary. As I scrolled, each headline screamed with needy drama.

It’s exhausting.

And numbing.

Today’s most aggravating headline: “Six Days Later, Joe Biden calls out Harvey Weinstein.”

My issue is not with the content of the Harvey Weinstein drama. It’s with what they are not subtly inferring about Biden.

They are shaming the man for taking his time. Less than one week. Should it really be suspect to take time to process information and then respond? Do we really need to immediately bellow raw emotion via every conceivable channel?

It feels like we are losing the ability to process information. And I think that’s probably true. I don’t think our brains were designed to healthfully process the sheer volume of information we are now exposed to – like needing a sip of water from a fire hose.

It used to be that we had to seek out information, now we are effectively drowning in it. The red-alert mode is always on. Every discussion turns into a battle. Fight or flight mode triggered continuously. It’s no wonder there’s a movement to unplug, slow down, and just be in THIS moment. Sanity can be restored, but now we have to do it ourselves.

How do we create space for ourselves to live a life that’s not always at DEFCON 1?

October 6 Mini Rant

This CNN headline is so fucked up: “News Alert: Inside the Las Vegas massacre” – WHY WHY WHY do we need to live others’ horror as a form of entertainment? It’s an article where someone tells one victim’s experience line by line. And we eat it up.

I just watched the first episode of the new season of NCIS and I was horrified. They basically depicted one of the main characters being waterboarded in real time. I have never been so disgusted. I think my summer of British drama has really changed my perspective of good storytelling. American TV is just fucking brutal, gory, and lacks nuance. Fuck.

Posted in Book Reviews

Book Review – Revengers – Rating 6 of 10

Posted on by Lundie

Revengers
by David Valdes Greenwood

Why this book?
The author is a friend of a friend, and I saw a FB post that made me want to read. I was super excited to dig in when it came. It did take me quite a while to read it. I fell out of my “reading mode” while mid-book and that did make it hard to finish. Overall, it was pretty good. Not sure I will continue with the series though.

Score Summary

  • Content: 7
  • Writing Style: 8
  • Re-readability: 4
  • Busy Life Scale: 5
My Review
Snackable? Not particularly. In fact I had to re-read a couple of chapters because I’d lose the flow of the scene. I don’t expect snackability with good fiction.
“Lundie” ending? No, and this really pissed me off. I wanted to keep reading the series, but won’t try right away if at all. Character attachment is huge for me, and if the loss of a character is too painful, I’m out.
Best thing? It was an interesting plot with the mysterious books and the dreams linking the characters together. I was quickly interested in following them through the adventure. I really did care about the protagonists. That’s a win.
Worst thing? The thing that made it not a “Lundie ending” of course, but no spoilers. In general though, there was a background thread of condemnation of their choices that I picked up throughout. Of course revenge is bad, but I wasn’t sure where the good/bad lines were supposed to be drawn. The wrap up at the end left me confused.
In some cases that could push me to buy the next book and keep moving forward, but that wasn’t the case here.

Please check out my Book Review Page if you want more details on the meanings of my categories and number scale. Thanks!