Unfolding Bliss

     First things first!  I take time to breath and enjoy stillness. Om . . . . . .
     I had written a post just a few minutes ago of this same title: Unfolding Bliss and lost it by going to my bookmarks looking for a link to put in my last edit from the Preview.  I observed the temptation to give up in frustration and quit.  But I loved that post and so here I am choosing to joyfully write again along the same lines.  I will learn something about saving my work before navigating any where else in blogging land.
     So far retirement has been delicious and yummy!  It seems like there are not enough hours in my day, but of course, this is an illusion.  There are exactly the right number of hours in each day as I choose my already chosen course of mindful joy.  Sometimes the joy is automatic, thus freeing my mind of being conscious of its choosing.  At other times when temptation arises as in the above paragraph, I take a deep breath and choose.  I breath and embrace stillness.  I watch unfolding.  I blog for myself with the potential of "other" participation.  My mind is aware of its oneness with All in a vast universe filled with the illusion of many.  I joyfully dance within the boundaries of my minuscule experience, extending love and acceptance to all dances, even ones that mask as evil. Boundlessness sparkles within and around my boundaries.  I watch the unfolding of newness bubbling up from almost seven decades of effort and experience.  I take time to breath and bask in stillness.
    Today I will participate in the Bernie Sanders phone bank party at The Coffee House in Johnson City from 1530 to 1830.  My i-phone and computer are my tools. I might report back about it.  My brilliant and beautiful niece, Victoria Hewlett will be there also.  Her blog is pogressivementality.com.  I enjoy her writing. She writes with thoughtful expansiveness and often historical insight. I desire to make time to visit and participate with her blog more frequently now that I have retirement time to devote to a seemingly infinite array of potential.  It is fun to watch her unfold in her unique experience.
   I watch my unfolding and attempt to document part of if.  I breath and take time for stillness. By the way, I found by original post that I thought I had lost.  I deleted it because I like this post better. I did learn something new about the mechanics of blogging with blogspot. This is good.  I watch things unfold.  I breath and enjoy stillness.

Oh the Joy of Freedom!

       My first few days of freedom was to celebrate Thanksgiving in Ohio with family and dear friends who are like family.  The whole long weekend trip was more relaxed and joyful than similar trips in the past, simply because I knew a new life awaited upon my return home, a life of enhanced freedom absent the obligation of having a "job".  On Wednesday of this week, a full week after after I retired, I spent my first day at home in Hampton, Tennessee.

Today is Saturday, the fourth day of freedom at home and I revel in the flexibility of time.  I won't bore myself with recording details of all that I have leisurely enjoyed except to say that I feel rested in body and spirit.  I also feel productive in a number of areas.  Of course the central "activity/non-activity" is meditation. Several outer projects are underway, including change of diet and cooking habits, catching up on bookkeeping, and reading several relevant books which were mentioned in my last post.  My joy is heart felt and I anticipate more good experience to bubble up from the control center of meditation.  
     I could get very philosophical and wordy now.  I will skip that because the aforementioned books express it all exceedingly well.  All journeys of experience are very unique, entire universes bubbling up from Infinite Potential and triggered by consciousness.  Ooops!,Tee Hee!  Temptation was just too great not to indulge in that one little wordy sentence.

At Last, My Beginning

     Surprisingly, my last few months of work dragged by.  It was like time slowed way down as I continued the drudgery of a demanding work schedule.  This all ended with a whimper early on the morning of Wednesday, November 25, 2015.  I went to work in the wee hours of that morning, ran the lab, and left at 0631.  Like John Boehner as he resigned from being Speaker of the US House of Representatives,  I sang "Zippity Doo Dah" and went around bidding my farewell to all the areas in the Kingport, TN Wastewater Plant.  As I walked out of the lab for the very last time, I snapped this photo and caption:

 

             Peace out!  

I then joyfully got in my car and drove home.  In a couple of hours husband Greg and I were headed to Ohio for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I posted the picture and caption on Facebook and messaged it to some former co-workers and friends who are not on Facebook.  I enjoyed getting various responses from people. A few friends thought maybe I was being discharged from a hospital because of the background of the lab cabinets.  I was truly being discharged from many years of working and joyfully putting that "illness" behind me to enter a life of renewal, creativity and health.   

      So today is the first post-retirement day at home since we returned from our Thanksgiving travel just last night.  And last evening I watched television with Greg until about 2300 and retired to bed with him instead of feeling pressured to retire earlier because of work.   I was up a 0400 this morning, enjoyed a 20 minute meditation. And now I write in this blog, reflecting on my new life.   

      Here is  my list of interests and projects. They are listed randomly with no attempt to put them in order of priority or importance.

     Spending time with family, especially River and Mom Kay.

     Beekeeping

     Gardening

     Keeping books

     Fixing up rental house

     Cooking

     Changing to healthier eating using Nutri-bullet and things Chris M. has provided

     Writing

     Meditating daily when at all possible

     Traveling

     Skiing when there is snow

     Tidying up (Refer to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo)

     Reading:  Euphoiria

                      The Science of Mind  by Ernest Holmes

                      The Secret of Instant Healing by Frank J. Kinslow

                      and other books as they come my way.  

That is my list as it popped out of my keyboard here.  I will definitely declare the top priority and really the only true priority in the whole list to be "Meditating"  because that is the control room for guiding all the other activities.

     Last night upon arriving at the the mailbox which contained almost a week of mail, I found a most welcome letter from Kovilo Bhikkhu:  

           

     Kovilo's letter inspires me today to keep my priorities straight by practicing meditation for the purpose of obtaining guidance to obtain perfect balance, peace, and graciousness.