Tag: Sitting Still

Sitting Still – 25th April 2023

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

There’s not a sound about
No electricity on the hill
I’m sitting still

A brain that has quieted
With no thoughts to fill
I’m sitting still

Contemplating how much longer
With only time to kill
I’m sitting still

As days speed up, I slow down
Swallowing a bitter pill
I’m sitting still

Time is the only master
And I have to pay the bill
I’m sitting still

Today I’m feeling:

Tired from staying up late and then getting up early as I slowly train myself for 6:15 am starts again next week.

Today I’m grateful for:

The lady at the market stall who gave me an extra mango today. It’s mango season and they are juicy and delicious.

The best thing about today was:

Finishing the Brix Smith and Jack Dee biographies. Both were good easy reads as I visualised their lives unfolding. New books to start! 

What was out of your control today and how did you handle it?

I’d been checking out my flights to Australia on the Airasia website and was ready to book on Sunday night. I sent the itinerary to Amy to double check but she was drunk and replied ‘I’ve got no brain.’ No problem, I can just figure it out on Monday. And that’s what I went to do. The problem this time was that somehow I didn’t have enough credits left to cover the costs. I assumed it was something to do with cached data from going through the process the day before but investigating further I found that my credit had expired in the 12 hours since first looking! Damn it! Oh well, what can I do?

Something I learned today?

Our Sydney friend Runa will visit a relative in Chiang Rai for a couple of days. It seems typical of her that we only find out a day before she arrives. Never organised or good at planning or decision-making. I’m ok to pick her up from the airport if she needs.

What went well today?

Everything went as expected. There was nothing in particular that needed to go well and there was nothing that usually happens that didn’t go well. Not all days are like this.

Art took this picture because this has been my morning home at Utopia for the whole month of April.

Can’t you sit still? – 28th January 2020

~ shaun tenzenmen ~ Leave a comment

I am so happy and grateful for the heater in my car this morning. It feels very cold!

Learning how to sit still and obey others is the necessary prerequisite to learning how to sit still and obey yourself.

thought on Chinese education at Slate Star Codex

To-do list

  • Write about what you read today! ✅
  • Typhoon for revision – can it be done? ½
  • Find time to connect with someone. ½
  • What gift could you give Kru Noon?
  • Answer more challenges in your book. ✅

Had a lot of free time again today for which I’m very grateful. I wrote a few things down from what I was reading which made me realise that that is what I should be doing all the time.

An interesting Daily Stoic article talked about morning starts – movement, mindfulness, mastery. Things that I have been starting to do more and more anywhere. I feel like I have become a happier and more rounded person recently – still not challenged by a highly emotional event though.

A new challenge for this book is to recall and savour a time/event in my past and do this every night for five minutes or so. Tonight I will think about the time I helped Limited Express (has gone?) to tour Australia.

Tomorrow I was thinking about going somewhere else to buy coffee just to use my Curiosity Character Strength (which I did today by driving back home a different route) but Amy is taking the care so I’ll think about that for another day. I want to try many of the different examples of performing to Character Strengths just as an extra challenge.

Another important thing I learned today is that experiences make us happier than material things and I want to keep that in mind.