What Did T. Read in 2022?

 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Svādhyāya - Self-study

Image
   Here is a riddle: Without putting too much thought into it, write down 5 words to describe the world. Go on, I'll wait. Do it quickly before you forget. Now, pause and look at the words. Each is more a projection of yourself than a true indicator of the what the world is like. Alarming, isn't it? I spoiled this exercise for some of the women in my yoga course by telling them all about it a week before they were supposed to read the chapter on s vadyaya . It turns out that a downside of reading a million books is that you can't remember what you read where, so you excitedly tell everyone half of everything in an effort to make connections. Even so, here are my words: broken, beautiful, tainted, complex, natural Freud would have a field day. I got to the chapter on self-study and thought, "If there is one thing I do not need help with, it is self-analysis." The 29 journals piled up on my bookshelf can attest to the fact that I am very familiar with myself. This i...
Read more

Reflection at the End of the 15th Year

Image
   We bring you this brief break from yoga to interject the annual teaching reflection. Reflection at the End of the 15th Year What a year. I know that this is in the news  literally  every year, but this year,  teachers really are leaving the profession in droves. Seriously. I talked to teachers in 2 different districts who told me, "There are 7 teachers in my building who have quit so far this year. Like, just walked out on the profession." That's not normal, blog world. Suffice to say, there's a teacher shortage. I think it's everywhere, but  Missouri's last-place ranking for starting teacher salary ($25,000) does not help. And yet, this spring, I applied for 20 positions, executed 11 interviews, and ultimately secured 0 jobs. But instead of dwelling on that for this reflection, I would rather just mention the most salient parts of the academic year. Here are some of the things that happened: *********************************************** Something I'm...
Read more

Aparigraha - Non-attachment

Image
  In Bittersweet, readers are introduced to Min, an extraordinarily gifted violin protege. Min spent years training under the best violinist in the world -- who instructed her for free because he said he would learn just as much from her as she learned from him. Then, miracle of miracles, when Min turned 21, a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin came up for sale at auction. She took out a second mortgage on her apartment to buy the instrument that became the Great Love of her life. In what I cannot fully comprehend, it was apparently the only one in the world that really fit her. (Harry Potter? Wands? Anyone?) Then it was stolen and sold somewhere in the art underworld. Min went into a deep depression that lasted for years. When she finally emerged, it was to write a memoir. "The moment my violin was stolen, something in me died... I thought for a very long time that it would recover. But it never did. I have to accept that the person I was...with the violin is gone." Author Sus...
Read more

Sankalpa - Intention

Image
I can measure the eras of my life by the book genres I've loved: In my 20's, romance -- girl meets boy; they fall in love; happily ever after. In my 30's, suspense -- the husband is actually a serial killer & has been gaslighting her for the last decade!!!!!! In my 40's, psychology -- how to be so healthy a serial killer would never be interested in you. My latest read is The Mountain Is You : It was the only audiobook available at the library that I had not already read.  My initial idea was to yoga nidra  myself: I determined to listen to it as I fell asleep each night, & then re-listen to it in the morning to cement in all the knowledge I inevitably acquired whilst sleeping. I warned friends & family that I was about to become extremely wise and self-actualized overnight. They took it in stride. However, I found that come morning, I was too distracted by the New York Times crossword puzzle & my Duolingo streak to want to start up an audiobook about un...
Read more

Sakhi - Soul Friend

Image
  I went to Dogtown with my friends yesterday because I was afraid to cancel the personal day I had requested a week ago. It seemed unkind to the substitute teacher who may have been counting on that paycheck. It wasn't her fault I had crashed since then and did not feel like celebrating anything. Also, I could not be alone.  I am not a big drinker on the best of days and usually end up throwing unreciprocated shade that no one else appreciates. Me: Why did you just tell our Uber driver that you loved her? You do not love her. Natalie: I do love her. She drives a Tesla. Me: That does not mean you love her. Cara: WE RODE IN A TESLA, BITCHES!!! Me: You're pretty far gone, aren't you? Use "iterations" in a sentence. Cara: The other day, there were so many iterations in my sentence. Me: That is a terrible sentence. You are an English teacher. Most of the time, I wish I could have a video camera so I could record everything and memorize the best lines to recount to the...
Read more

Hope

Image
I think if I still lived in South Carolina, I would be described as tender-hearted. And it would not be a compliment. It would be like when you say, "Bless her heart," while watching someone from New Hampshire try to figure out grits. Tender-hearted is too easily given to feelings. I think my feelings are bigger than the rest of me put together. If I could get rid of some of my feelings, I think the first one I would get rid of wouldn't be anger or sadness or jealousy. It would be hope. I hate hope. Hope is the thing that kills you. I know that's an expression commonly used in soccer-football but since it's the Superbowl here in America, it feels appropriate. I had a date tonight. My friend Abbie gave me this beautiful necklace a few days ago that she said helps manifest love. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt hopeful... I mean, not that I was going to fall in love on a first date, but like -- hopeful that I could even still feel positive about a ...
Read more

Saurya - Courage

Image
I haven't been sleeping well lately. I've been so anxiety-ridden that I literally made a Google Doc to keep track of all of the things I am anxious about. This includes everything from remembering to get medicine for my altitude sickness, to needing to return luggage before its expiration date, to buying enough cat food, disposable litter boxes, and litter for Poppy while I'm gone. It's possible that my brain is seizing upon these fears because it cannot, it cannot  seize upon the bigger fears, like, "What if I get lost somewhere in Indonesia and literally cannot communicate with anyone?" I had my whole trip planned and then my friend Tiago blew it all to hell when he said, "If Tumpak Sewu has been on your bucket list for years, you can't get THAT CLOSE to it and not find a way to see it." It felt like Venice all over again, like something I would regret forever if I didn't at least try. So I threw my ENTIRE plan -- my pretty calendars and li...
Read more