MORE REASONS TO BRING IN THE OUTDOORS -- BY PAYSON

Absolute beauty with all the flowers you've brought into our home....how can one not be happy to see a tulip open or experience the fragrance of fresh Frezia!?

Here's the plant-creativity stuff:

Scientists from the University of Exeter found plants aid concentration, increase productivity and boost staff wellbeing by 47 per cent at work

They conducted a study at this year's Chelsea Flower Show to compare people’s effective output across different types of business space

The researchers found allowing staff to make design decisions in a leafy workspace can increase productivity by 38 per cent


THE BENEFITS OF HOUSEPLANTS
At work: Houseplants are proven to aid concentration, productivity and reduce sick days, according to the TNO Quality of Life study.

In schools: Having plants in a classroom can boost the learning potential for students, according to the Royal College of Agriculture.

In hospitals: Hospital patients with plants in their room have less pain, anxiety, and fatigue, take significantly less pain medication, have lower blood pressure and heart rates, and are happier with their recovery rooms than patients without plants, researchers from Kansas State University said.

In homes: Plant-filled rooms contain 50-60 per cent fewer airborne moulds and bacteria than rooms without plants. They literally suck out chemicals in the air that could be linked to colds, breathing problems and even cancer, according to the Stennis Space Centre.

To the environment: Nasa said houseplants can remove up to 87 per cent of air toxins in 24 hours.

To our health: Indoor plants can reduce fatigue, coughs, sore throats and other cold-related illnesses by more than 30 per cent, according to the University of Agriculture in Norway.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2519437/Houseplants- 

A PICTURE OF SITTING OUTSIDE, EATING THE SUN

The guy in the floral shirt is Tony Ramos, our artist friend, visiting from the south of France. 

BRINGING IN THE OUTDOORS

Of course, the outdoors is everywhere outside the boxes we have built for ourselves, fortunately, with windows. Yesterday I went shopping -- yes! But for flowers and flower pots. I bought tulips that do so well indoors, a muscari, that beautiful bulb that makes tiny blue flowers like bells, and a large yellow cymbidium orchid, all of which I potted and put indoors where Payson can enjoy them -- he loves flowers and his birthday month is coming up. I made two tiny terrarium type pots with succulents and put them on the window sill in my study. Payson tells me today that he read somewhere that having plants indoors increases one's productivity. How can they not add to one's joy, too, these growing, flowering, carbon dioxide guzzling, oxygen producing live things?

Plants, dear friends, are our allies on this journey. Befriend them!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG -- BEFRIEND THE OUTDOORS!

I think that most of us in our pursuit of 'productiveness' spend most of our time indoors worshipping Capitalism and its Commandments. It doesn't make us happier though does gratify us by reinforcing our 'use' to society and to ourselves (which often is society internalized). But nothing can replace the outdoors. Its rewards are a hundredfold more than the rewards of working towards 'success,' whatever our definition of success might be. I'm not saying working is worthless compared to being outdoors, eating the sun, gardening, looking, being: only that let us not forget to balance work with magnificent  sunshine.

Southern California has been lovely at this time of the year -- I'm aware it comes at a huge price: drought. But since I didn't cause the drought and am doing anything I can to preserve water, I am letting myself enjoy what's out there.

A RIDDLE: THANKING ONE'S BRAIN. WHO IS IT THAT THANKS?

Have been entirely unable to shop. I can see how I uselessly distract myself with it, and that I don’t need anything. For the first time in forever, perhaps, I have had the steady energy to take care of most of the paperwork on my desk that has been sitting here for years, go down my lists of 'to do' lists and check things off, and I am enjoying it tremendously, both for itself and as a relief from editing/writing. I enjoy sitting at my desk for hours, now that it is far more organized than before, lifting up my head to see the birds feeding and the petunias. I have steady energy, too, perhaps as a result of going to the gym three days this week – a regimen I intend to stick to till I leave for India in a little over a month. I love such regular steadiness that is possible by a withdrawal from externals, and it is hope for such steadiness that keeps me reclusive.

Two days ago I thanked my brain for what it is, what it has done, or not done, and so much else I can’t think about this morning because it is my darling brain that makes me think of it in detail. Was it the brain thanking itself? No, it didn’t feel like it at all, but rather a something, someone else beyond my brain that acknowledged it and paid its respects. What, who was it? This, then, is the search, isn’t it?  

WHAT DO YOU DO ON A 'BAD' DAY?

Okay, your brain and body don't want to do anything at all (I'm speaking from memory), and nothing, absolutely nothing holds your interest. You go through the list of things you can do in my mind, but doing is just not an option, nor is not doing. You flail about trying to get into something at least. Here are a few things I do before I let myself sit back and know I am having a bad day (they recur periodically) and let myself be: a five minute walk outside the house. This sometimes changes my chemistry; a bath and the whole ritual of maintenance; sitting in the sun for five minutes. If this doesn't do it, I go ahead and surrender to my bad day. Have it! Eat it! Endure it! There's no way around it.  

HERE'S A NIFTY LITTLE TRICK WHEN YOU'RE FEELING DOWN

You know, those days you wonder, what is there to wake up for? When you lie in bed longer than you should, feeling a bit sorry for yourself for whatever reason? A little shift in perspective, a loud "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and the determination to live life with strength and vigor, whatever the circumstance, a little bit of bringing your Kali self into play, is just the ticket!

HAVING SEX WITH YOUR SELF

No, I'm not talking about masturbation, though I see how easy it is for you to think so. When there's just the two of us in the house, Payson ignores my moaning, but this morning his assistant, John, was in the studio with him, and Payson came upstairs to ask me what was going on. He had a smile on his face, so I knew it wasn't because he was pissed. I said to him, 'I am having sex with myself!' His smile broadened even further as he told me to turn down the volume. I said to him as he walked away, "that is what yoga is -- having sex with oneself."

It feels so damn good! Orgasmic, in fact.

THE WHALES CALLED TO ME. DO PERSONALIZE THE WORLD!

To further explain Payson's reference to the breaching whales: A few days ago, we were on the deck (Oh these wonderful sun-filled California days! I hate mentioning it because of what the rest of the country is going through, but here it is, a lovely fact that also has its dark side: no rain! Drought!) and it was getting hot for me so I just returned to the house and then something -- I have no idea what -- took me up to the deck again, and there very close to shore, three blocks away, I saw a dark form in the water, and I shouted, a whale, a whale! Payson ran and got the binocs, and by God, there were two whales, breaching the water, jumping out of it, cavorting. We watched them till they disappeared south, out of view. This is the first time I have seen them from the deck, though I have seen the sprays of their  breaths many times on the horizon.

I have no doubt that what took me back to the deck -- for no reason at all -- was the whales calling, calling to me! I think the world IS personal when we look at it that way. Of course this thought has its opposite -- what about the 'bad' things that happen? Is that also the world being personal, targeting us, so to speak?  This question deserves another post, but for right now, let's stay with the lovely thought that flowers and trees bloom for you and me. I believe it to be true. All of creation is a spectator sport. We were created to watch and delight in the watching!

SOME MORE ON LOVE, BY PAYSON. LET US LOVE IN THIS BITTERSWEET JOURNEY

Nature loves us in so many ways....even with Her power to destroy and bring us back to humility, even Death...how wondrous and strange. How lucky we were two days ago when a Gray Whale breached before us while on our deck....so close leaping out of the Pacific Ocean, her/his beautiful hydrodynamic form sailing up and splashing down with fin and fluke and white underbelly displayed to us landlubbers. Today, my sweet valentine, we will kayak in the La Jolla Cove with Brown Pelicans soaring by, California Sea Lions looking at us...and perhaps some dolphins and whales for us to give VDay greetings. Let us all celebrate the many different ways we can love and be loved in this bittersweet journey we all share. on LOVE IS THE GLUE: VALENTINE WISHES FOR MY READERS

LOVE IS THE GLUE: VALENTINE WISHES FOR MY READERS

Well, you know, being creatures of habit, we fall into ruts. We keep doing the same thing over and over even when it ceases to serve us. I had been in one for a long time, doing my usual routines, thinking my day 'should' revolve around work, productivity, writing. I wasn't sleeping well, was dragging around in my days, eating too much, wondering what happened to my joy in living. Fortunately the insight came to me like a rain (you know what I mean if you live in Southern California) of grace --- take some damn time off, you stupid idiot! As soon as the thought came, and I resolved on Tuesday to take the rest of the week off, my heart did a little frisk and leap. I stayed in bed the whole day, reading, playing electronic backgammon, eating, napping. I slept well that night, and the next day being a holiday, too, I had a restful state of mind. The day was so beautiful and warm that I decided to garden. Payson was already there, and gardening together is such a wonderful thing to do around Valentine's day. All the plants were my Valentines, too! And the birds, and the dove that allowed us to get just a few feet away from it, with its sleek brown body and dark eye. I cleaned out dead leaves, fed the plants, scattered some more beautiful cobbles in the bare space around our tiny pond, and puttered about for hours. I swear the plants and the birds return more than we can ever give to them in food, care, and love. Suffice it to say that I came away from this activity feeling very fulfilled and happy.

So my Valentine wish for my readers is this: May you see and feel the connection with all of nature, with everything around you, bonding with it in a love that will never grow old and never break. We live in our Mother, our breath connects us to the Out There, coming in, going out, coming in again. We are part of a larger whole that keeps and holds us in Love. Love is the glue that binds it all together!

A PICTURE OF KAMLA AT THE HELM

Payson said to me when I sailing and was at the helm: you can be my captain anytime! And I replied, 'yeah, you say that now, but I know that you only want me to be a deck hand!' It was a funny moment, with a little bit of truth thrown in!

HUMANS ARE NOT AUTOMOBILES, OR, AGAIN, THE VALUE OF SLEEP AND REST

Just want to say that in that transition I spoke about in my whine, to change from one mode of being to the the next, the value of rest cannot be underestimated. Humans are not like automobiles that can stop with one gesture of the foot on the brake. Inertia is a large part of our bodies and psyches -- we take a long time to stop, and a long time to start up again. This is very crucial to know because so many of us get ground down to meat trying to stop or start up. It took me three days after a busy month to be able to rest enough to rejuvenate. Some of us rest so long that we have difficulty getting our motor going again. How tricky this business of living can be, and more difficult, the less aware we are.

WHAT? OR THE POWER OF A WARM/HOT SHOWER, MEDITATION, AND YOGA,

I feel like writing another post, just that little itch that wants to scribble, but I don't know what. Let me, as we always do when we don't know what to say, talk about the weather. Here in Southern California we are so spoiled that one cloudy day sends us (me, at least), into a funk. But that's all I have to say about the weather so I'll chew on something else.

It seems to me that transition times are the hardest on the psyche. Last month was a busy month: travel, family, a rental house that needed to be fixed up in a big way, ill-health, dentist appointments. I am in the space between busy-ness and slipping again into a very congenial solitude which hasn't happened yet. And the problem with transitions is impatience with the time needed to transition to the next stage. I think that impatience is the root of many of our troubles.

There is, however, something we can do during transitions that ease them. The trick is remembering to do them -- and I swear by them. I meditated after my whine, just twenty minutes, took a shower, and did yoga for 40 minutes. I am a new person, and ready for my day.

THE TWISTED WAY IN WHICH THINGS TURN RIGHT

Remember the post on pain? Well, here is the outcome. I was in so much pain that I had to take ibuprofen in mega dozes and also two pain killers. The result? An upset stomach, yes, but my sacrum is miraculously healed, and my hip is about 75 % better. It is, all for the best, after all!

I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME WHINE, or SPACE

FEBRUARY 2014

The entry from my journal this morning. I thought it might be of interest because I am generally so positive. There is no getting around the gripe!

This month has begun on a whiny note. After a very busy January, in which I longed for free time, I fall into a depression and sickness as soon as I have it. I don’t know whether I am sick or not, but the lungs feel weaker as does the digestion. The brain, especially, is slow, reluctant, sluggish. It is Sunday, after all, and I should just stay in bed, where I am at this moment, and rest, but I am incapable of resting or feeling restful. Perhaps as the day progresses I will feel motivated enough to begin puttering. Now I can only putter with words, and not very well at that. But I do want to hammer away a bit, to placate my conscience that has wanted to resume this activity. Haven’t blogged, either. As soon as the busy-ness stopped, a host of demons waiting in the wings swooped down upon my soul.

I think part of the problem is that I am not focused on any particular project and haven’t been for a while. I really should give myself some space. Yes, that feels right. Lots of space. Yes, let me sit with it. Sit the whole day with, in, space. Space is peace.