Go Outside And Play

A low tree branch hangs over a slow-moving New England stream

I attended my 10 year-old son’s field trip yesterday and stood in absolute awe watching ten coach-style buses pull up at the location and unload hundreds of like-aged kids. The first thing that struck me was the absolute chaos that seemed ready to explode as the anxious and excited kids teamed everywhere while chaperons attempted to gain control. The “Army” in me was eager to take charge and put things in order, but I was only a by-stander on this trip so I bit my lip and watched with interest.

The second thing that I noticed was the physical condition of the kids. What the hell happened to gym class? When I was that age there might have been one child in the class that was “husky”. Coming off the bus, over 30 percent of them fit that chunky description. Throughout the day I witnessed the throng of hundreds sitting around the venue sucking on candy that they purchased from the gift shop and sucking down high-calorie soda. I know this is a sore topic in American culture, but this is the first time that I’ve actually witnesses it up-close.

I’m uncertain if the kids have gym class anymore, if they don’t it needs to be re-instated, and if they do, it’s a dismal failure and should be re-examined. That entire experience was a real eye opener and convinced me to redouble my efforts at monitoring my sons’ diets and exercise. “Go outside and play!”

Flowers Of The Forest

Wilted flowers sit in a plastic water bottle at the grave of a young soldier killed in the first Gulf War

I’m traveling this weekend, up in rainy Connecticut. I brought my pipes with me in hopes of finding some out of the way place where I could practice and not bother too many people. As I arrived at the hotel I noticed that the building sat right next to a cemetery… perfect!

I play piobaireachd on the highland bagpipes; sort of very old, “lamenty”, stuff meant to be played by a solo piper on a misty moor or an ancient castle abutment. The tune I’m currently working on is MacDonald of Kinlochmoidart’s Lament, which is an emotional piece that I often struggle to find the right depth of feeling.

Walking through the cemetery I discovered the emotion that the tune required. Stones marked with veterans of all of the 20th century’s wars, others stood over generations of entire families, stone angels kept vigil over the graves of lost children. The music flowed from the pipes, singing out over the garden of stone as people watched and listened from a distance. It was a good moment.

Cleaning Up

Installing a new front door on the house.

My parents visited this past weekend. It’s been years since they’ve visited me wherever I was in the world. I spent the week beforehand cleaning the yard and the house. We augmented the landscaping, and did a very thorough spring-cleaning. My wife accused me of trying to impress my parents, which grated against my Buddhist bones. I secretly believe that she made that statement on purpose.

I like neat and orderliness, and it’s always been that way for me. I don’t think that my ego is involved at all; at least that’s what I keep telling myself (Zen joke there). Of course with a 4 year-old running around it’s always a challenge to keep things in their place. I wonder sometimes what I’m doing to my son’s development by chasing after him making him pick-up everything that he casts aside, or clean up after every mishap or spill. No worries, my wife’s Type B personality more than balances my compulsions.

I’m reminded of the story of the young Zen monk who spends the day meticulously picking the fallen leaves from the rock garden, situated underneath a small tree. The head monk walks by and the student proudly displays his thoroughness. The old master walks over to the tree and gives it a good shake, and a handful of leaves gently fall on the pristine garden. “Better”, he says and moves on.

You Can't Argue With Results

In my quest for an ever-more healthy lifestyle I habitually read Mark Sisson’s site Mark’s Daily Apple. As a fellow blogger, I can see that Mark puts an immense amount of work into the site, but as the title suggests, it’s packed every day with great nutrition advice. As an example, Mark linked to another great site, Fitday.com, which is also loaded with even more great information as well as a nifty nutrition calculator.

I’ve been a competitive athlete for almost 40 years and I’ve always played under the assumption that your training results are 80 percent dictated by what you do on the field, court, or in the gym. I paid little or no attention to diet, easily consuming 3,000 calories a day, limiting fat where I could, and the rest just fell into place.

Lately the elite fitness and dietary world has taken my life-long assumption and turned it on its head. Twenty percent of your gains come from the gym and the rest… your diet!!! I loudly cried “bullshit” when I first heard this, but sadly it’s true. My “thrash yourself until you can’t stand-up”, philosophy had me doing 14-18-plus hours of work a week either swimming, biking or running, to achieve competitive form.

Now I’m heavily into CrossFit, still thrashing myself, but rarely for more than 30 minutes a day, and my diet is closely controlled along a Paleo or Zone model. The results have been stunning as I’m putting up overall fitness numbers that I haven’t seen for twenty years. I’m running faster and lifting more than I ever have, all the while with plenty of energy to excel through the day without the dreaded insulin spikes of my past workout regime. Hey, you can’t argue with results.

Nothing Special

Magical moments come often in life, the issue is that most of the time we’re not paying attention and completely miss them. You could make an argument that life itself is just one huge “magical moment’ and sadly we’re sleeping right through it, hoping and planning for some future event or dwelling on the past.

I sat out on our deck last night watching the last rays of the day peek out through the tall forest trees. The light was a wonderful amber color, filtered by the springtime leaves. Bamboo plants swayed in the gentle breeze and somewhere in the forest the wind chime subtly made its presence known. I remember thinking that the sun sets like this every day, and there’s really nothing special about this one. It’s just that life slowed down enough for me to stop and take notice. Ahhh, maybe that’s the secret.

Recommended Read

I’m re-reading one of my favorite books, Lama Surya Das’ Awakening The Buddha Within. This was the book that originally grabbed my attention many years ago and made me look deeply at Buddhism as a path for life. While Surya Das writes from a Tibetan point of view the concepts that he discusses hold true for any spiritual path whether it be Buddhism, or religions such as Islam, or Christianity. I can’t recommend this book enough to anyone that is interested in deepening their spirituality. I think that I’ve read it five times already and have loved it each time.

Shrinking Universe

Paddlers move a boat up the Dubai Creek. In the background is the Burj Dubai, what will be the world’s tallest tower.

I saw something interesting yesterday while walking the stacks at an Atlanta Barnes and Noble, two saffron-robed Asian Buddhist monks, each with a cup of Starbucks coffee in-hand. This is not something that you see every day in this mostly African American part of the city. I watched them with great fascination as they calmly walked through the store, also observing the reaction of the other patrons. It struck me as a huge contrast of cultures, incongruent pieces of different worlds. I wondered if you would get the same reaction at a Thailand monastery if, for example, one of the younger hip-hop dressed customers arrived with a cup of tea in his hand. The universe is truly becoming a smaller place.