Mettā bhāvanā (lovingkindness) Meditation

As those of you following my blog know, I've been challenged with debilitating headaches after having eye-surgery to repair damage caused by a faulty champagne-cork accident.

One of the things that has really made a good difference in my life is Meditation. While I've taken meditation classes over the years (I do live in Marin County, after all), recently I've discovered a form of meditation that really works well for me: Mettā bhāvanā (lovingkindness).

Here's a couple of links you might enjoy of the Venerable Bhante U Vimalaramsi guiding you in how to practice Mettā bhāvanā (lovingkindness) meditation:

Namaste.

'Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature' by Kathleen Dean Moore

Something I've long reveled in is the connection between the natural world and healing. Kathleen Dean Moore's, 'Wild Comfort,' http://tinyurl.com/25e7ykf puts the theory to study.

OSU professor Kathleen Dean Moore started out writing a book about happiness, however, as she says, “events overtook me.” In Wild Comfort, Moore tries to grapple with “the power of water, air, earth, and time to bring gladness gradually from grief and to restore meaning to lives that seem empty or unmoored.”

Top 10 Things You Can Do to Celebrate National Parks Week

Top 10 Things You Can Do to Celebrate National Parks Week 2010 (April 17-25) http://tinyurl.com/y57c3le

Fun! Sierra Club Earth Day Sweepstakes!

Fun! Sierra Club Earth Day Sweepstakes! http://tinyurl.com/y6yxwpu

National Parks Week offers free admission, from April 17-25

National Parks Week offers free admission at all 392 national parks, from April 17-25: http://tinyurl.com/y428sf5

Congratulations to Robert Glenn Ketchum! One of his AMAZING photos is PopPhoto Magazine's 'photo of the day': http://tinyurl.com/yhd2bra

The ships are coming in...

This morning I stumbled across a young beautiful elephant seal snoozing on the beach! When I first saw her she was sleeping, and as you can imagine, we were both surprised when she woke up! She was about 5-6' long, grayish-brown in color with black whiskers, and pleasantly plump.

After calling the Marine Mammal Center in Marin County, they determined that she was healthy, and most likely just hanging out. Apparently several of them have been recently beaching to either rest or molt.

The Marine Mammal Center (http://www.tmmc.org) is a fantastic non-profit organization that rescues, rehabilitates and releases injured, sick and orphaned marine mammals (seals, sea lions, dolphins, porpoises, whales and sea otters) along a 600 mile stretch of California coastline, from Mendocino County through San Luis Obispo County. Before The Center was established in 1975, stranded marine mammals were either left to die or were destroyed as threats to public health. We're fortunate to have them located here in Sausalito in the Marin Headlands.

It's nice to have so much beauty in this world to capture our imaginations.

The Walls Are Coming Down
performed by Fanfarlo
http://tinyurl.com/m5qp5w
The Walls Are Coming Down by Fanfarlo


Onward & upward!

just leave love alone...

Think I've been overdoing it. Well, actually, I know I've been overdoing it. This morning I woke up incredibly dizzy, which is never a good sign. There's a thin line between a little vertigo giving you a cheap buzz, and the full-blown crazy-vertigo that, by definition, makes you fight the urge to vomit. Nice, huh!?! I'm on the tea-cup ride, an elevator, and a magic carpet ride, all at once. While I've always been a huge fan of roller coasters, and have always been the one to hold my hands up on any ride, this is a bit much even for me.

So rather than letting it get the best of me, I called my best friend of nearly 20 years, Cheryl Knarr Rick, right after grinding some fresh coffee beans. There are reasons why she's my best friend. It's good to have someone you can turn to when you have tears in your eyes, especially before the coffee's been brewed! So now, with my huge cup of coffee in hand -- and a pep-talk under my belt -- I'm making the best of it. Thanks Cher.

The past three days have been a whirlwind of visiting with friends, driving, doctors appointments, lawyers appointments, and working on a new website. Oh, and Thanksgiving, too, which was lovely! I spent the holiday with Cher and her family in Sonoma. It was so nice to see everyone. I particularly enjoyed catching-up with Cher's mother, Dr. Catherine Knarr Turner, who also underwent a lot of trauma vis-a-vis her vision this year. Poor thing! It's nice to chat with someone who can relate. And last night I got together with my friends (and neighbors) Susan and Jim Whipple. We laughed so hard! OMG!!! It's no wonder I'm dizzy this morning; I really have been overdoing it. I'm type-A, what can I say!?!

So now I know I just need to take it easy today. Rather than a strenuous hike, perhaps a stroll instead (hence my choice of photo today). It's SO gorgeous here, that it always buoys my spirits to get outside. Back in July when it first became apparent that something was seriously wrong with my vision I picked up a little camera. Think I'll break it out & see what I can stumble across. And I also think I'll try to find some music that's a bit more cheery than this, too! :-)

Velvet
performed by The Big Pink
http://tinyurl.com/cufr82
Velvet by The Big Pink




Onward & upward!

loving you is cherry pie...

Today was the first day since before my eye surgery that I felt myself again! Which means I was up at 6am & was actually able to do my favorite hike in the Marin Headlands. The Headlands are 12,000 acres of pristine wilderness overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco, depending on your vantage point. It feels unbelievably incredible to be active again, and I'm eternally grateful to my surgeon, Stephen D. McLeod, MD, for allowing me to see out of my left eye again!

Speaking of Dr. McLeod, I am seeing him tomorrow morning for another -- perhaps final -- check-up of my new eye. I still have some headaches, which are brutal when they breakthru, however I am heartened knowing that I'm getting stronger each day. And yes, I'm STILL waiting to get into the Headache Center at UCSF.

For those of you who have been asking, 22 years ago I was temporarily blinded in my left eye by a faulty, over-pressurized champagne bottle when the cork exploded directly into my eye from waist-high. I started regaining my vision within a couple weeks after the accident, however was told at that time that I would eventually go blind. The vision wasn't perfect after the accident, and continued to get worse over the years. In July of this year it became apparent that something was wrong as I couldn't see out of the eye & had incredible headaches. So five ophthalmologists and four surgeons later Dr. McLeod replaced the lens in my eye with and artificial one (not a transplant) the Tuesday after Labor Day Weekend. Unfortunately the champagne cork had caused a lot of damage to the inside of my eye. A lot of the zonules that normally hold the lens in place were either damaged or missing in my eye, so the surgery also created some damage and was less than pleasant. My recovery was hindered by inflammation of the eye and crippling headaches, and I'm still waiting to get into the UCSF Neurology Department to make sure there's nothing more sinister going on.

In the meantime I'm doing my very best to make lemonade out of lemons. And perhaps some limoncello, too!


Paparazzi
performed by Lady GaGa
http://tinyurl.com/yz7rx6y

Onward & upward! ;-)

World, what you got for me?

It's so beautiful here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I've been an avid hiker for years, however have obviously been sidelined recently due to my eye surgery & ensuing headaches.

For the first time in weeks I have no doctors appointments and a free afternoon! I'm going to drive out to the coast & attempt my favorite hike in the Marin Headlands. I figure if I go slow, I can give it the old college try! There's nowhere else on this planet that revives me the way this trail does...

Happy Up Here
performed by Röyksopp
http://tinyurl.com/boyvn2
Happy Up Here by Röyksopp


Onward & upward! ;-)