I usually prefer company when I'm out and about in the hills or on water. Some people prefer solo walking, but each to their own. I do prefer to be solo when I'm travelling though.
It doesnt matter where you live in the uk, youre never more than 80 miles from the coast. Lots of rivers, amazingly diverse and beutiful landscapes all within very short travelling distances.
Great, my friend owns a white water centre in Llangollen North Wales. The higher reaches of the River Dee there provide fantastic white water kayaking, especially when the Dee is in spate.
In the UK a cowboy usually means someone who's work, (usually building work) is of poor quality gal. It's quite common to hear the phrase cowboy builders, this below is from the Urban Dictionary....
"A tradesperson, normally a builder, plumber, roofer etc who performs shoddy work at an inflated price."
Youre very close to the truth there Harb. I remember being at a Buddhist ceremony, (an empowerment) many years ago when at certain points most of the hundred or so who were there clapped once in unison. I asked a monk later what that meant. He told me the clap signfied 'emptiness.' Realising emptiness is the Holy Grail for Buddhists..... anther way of describing emptiness, or to be more specific, realising emptiness is enlightenment.
Confucius said... "In the world there are many different roads but the destination is the same. There are a hundred deliberations but the result iis one."
Dont try to....dont 'use' thought, dont let thought rule the roost. Just observe and let it be. There will be resistance to begin with, but with time and practice that will ease and eventually cease. I remember a Buddhiat monk saying to me once. "With practise and concentration your thoughts will become your best friend instead of your worst enemy. If we hold this state of mind, we no longer suffer."
"Entropy is the "lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder."
The gradual decline into disorder causes illness, death, and suffering.
Buddhism is about the escape from suffering by seeing reality as it is.
Reality is that there is no self. This self is generated from arisen phenomena of the mind and body. Aggregates of senses, thoughts, emotions, etc., generated by the mind and body, forms this self, that has no essential identity. Sentient life evolved to feel pain, dislike illness, fear death, want or do not want some stuff or circumstances, etc., because that suffering promotes survival, reproduction, and continuation of the species and life. We are puppets to our genetic programming. Buddhism (maybe a modern interpretation of it, with a hint of biology) is about seeing reality as it is, in order to be released from suffering from entropy. If there is no self that is intrinsically separated from everything else (there really isn't; e.g. molecules interchange between the environment and the body all the time; this body feels solid and mine, but it's made of parts that are not stable over time; self is a mental construct), then there is no grasping, because there's no self to grasp, and nothing to grasp that is intrinsically separate from a self."
"You learn to resist acting on fear and anger through meditation, which helps you to see things in perspective, from a distance. You can be angry, but when you sit for a half-hour or hour in your angriness, you can ‘see’ your anger, your feelings but you’re also seeing that you don’t have to do anything about them."
After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age by Stephen Batchelor Yale University Press, 2015
Many of the most sane and balanced people I have ever met were residents of, or regular vistors to Buddhist centres and that includes lay people. It's quite remarkable really as the vast majority of people who look to Buddhism as a form of 'salvation' have come from some kind of troubled background, although you wouldn't know it without becoming aware of their history and background.
It's not an easy thing to do, particularly on your own at first. It's much better within a group setting. If you really want to experience the benefits of regular meditation find a local group, there are lots around.
What you've described sounds wonderful. It seems like you live in a very agreeable environment Ro.
The Fallowfield Loop goes through a very densely populated part of Manchester and is about eight miles long. It's used just as much as a cycle commuting route as it is as a recreational route. This video follows the full length in a few minutes.
bodleing2 Forum Posts (6,132)
RE: I'm so alone
Must admit I do come across the odd cow pat or sheep droppings when I'm out on the hill.