Languages
Making steady progress with Duolingo Hindi.
Formed a relationship with some indigenous people from Southern Mexico who were visiting Chicago. We got along very well and the told me I had an invitation to come visit them. I'm thinking I will do this around January. They speak an endangered language with very few resources so I will be focusing on Hindi until I get down there.
Contemplative Practice
A number of my friends are theosophists and Zen practitioners who had sesshins this weekend. I feel a deep commitment to Vipassana, and had a couple phone conversations with my teacher over the weekend. Am curious to explore shamanic practices and druidry, which could cause conflict because Vipassana requires so much focus, but I trust it will work itself out.
Emergent Renaissance Ecology
Am working on a horticulture team. Not exactly what I'm looking for, as my job is more focused on maintaining a certain aesthetic than on holistically healing and understanding the land, but it's a step in the right direction. And I get $$$. I've noticed myself falling into family dynamics at work. Recentered this weekend and I think I'll be better able to deal with it this coming week.
I'll have a general associate's of the arts by December. Am asking myself what the hell I'm thinking because I don't think this degree will be good for anything, but it will at least be a box checked if I decide to transfer somewhere. Am also looking into the horticultural division of the community college, which has some great programs. Urban agriculture and arborist were some of the ones that grabbed my attention and have earning potential.
At this point, I'm really on board with the "just accumulate to FI and get the whole damn thing over with" school of thought. I've learned how to work within the system on some level, which is good. In the words of David Allen, "I'm still just as crazy as I ever was; you're just seeing me in a state of high cooperation."
I'm essentially going to have to choose between the WorkingMan and SalaryMan quadrants to chart out an accumulation path. SalaryMan would likely be easier because society is built that way and I would just have to learn how to learn how to plug into the existing system in a way that doesn't suck, but I think that WorkingMan would be better for maintaining a strategic mindset. I think it'd be too easy to go on autopilot in SalaryMan.
I ordered spore syringes for the reishi, cordyceps, and lion's mane mushrooms and will be starting a grow project once I can find some good substrate. Also, I will be keeping an eye out for the mushrooms that have positive antiviral and anti-mite properties that have been used to extend honeybee lifespans (I forget the name but know there's a Paul Stamets talk out there). Since I have been helping out at a hive I will be able to use them there. If things go well I could potentially establish a side hustle selling gourmet mushrooms to restaurants, medicinals to athletes and hippies, etc.
ADHD Management
I should be clear that Spiral Dynamics leave a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, but I can't quite put my finger on why. That said, the concepts have some value so I'll use them occasionally. I learned in some recent conversations that I am somewhat allergic to the Orange meme, hence why I've been avoiding "productivity systems" and the like.
As such I was really kind of avoiding David Allen's Getting Things Done system. But this weekend I learned more about his underlying philosophy, how it's really about "Mind Like Water" and really more focused on
not getting things done (the doing mind is crazy!) and now I can vibe with it. I've been converted and I will now proselytize from the rooftops. (thanks to @AxelHeyst for enlightening me.)
Relationships
I've been watching Marshall Rosenberg's talks on Non-Violent Communication with my mother. It's been really good for us - the relationship has some underlying issues that we haven't quite gotten to discuss yet, but the talks are helping to open the door. If it's like previous work I've done in this area, there will be a somewhat tumultuous period followed by a plateau with a greater level of peace and harmony.
Music
Really been digging Glenn Gould's interpretations of J.S. Bach. Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations in particular. Bach is so mechanical and mathematical with his counterpoint compositions, but it has a uniqueness and a vibrancy to it that lets you know it's not just about having interesting technical chops.
I've been thinking a lot recently about what I really want out of my musical practice. I played piano when I was a kid, and I was pretty good. But unfortunately my piano teacher died and I never quite stuck with it after that. But it stayed very much a part of me and I still feel a very strong connection with music.
Recently I haven't been so much playing as understanding new layers of music and broadening my palette. The interest in Bach is totally new. I think that there is an inner block that is preventing me from writing and playing more than I do.
Key to this point in my learning is going to be learning music theory. My early training was very focused on a "monkey-see, monkey-do" ability to read sheet music and play pieces by rote. I got some pretty complex stuff under my belt this way, but I never learned to understand what was going on in the deeper layers of the music. It's like memorizing a poem in a language you don't speak, without ever learning what the poem means. So I'm going to have to learn my alphabet.