I was thinking about my thinking and my appreciation. Appreciation of every thing good. There are many good things to enjoy, to savor. To taste, to hear, to smell, to touch. When I think of appreciation, I think of the French bus.
The situation is well captured by my experience of a bus ride through beautiful French and Italian countryside. I was the leader of the group and responsible for day-to-day upkeep of financial records. The ride provided a chance to get all my records up to date and temporarily relieve my worries about getting behind and failing in my duties. But, the countryside was very beautiful and I would probably not be coming this way again. Much like life, eh?
It's a choice again: enjoy the scenery and appreciate where I am, or get the records shipshape and feel good about my duties and our money. The records weren't that complicated and I could do them at the hotel. Observe while I can.
I am surprised at how much benefit I feel from meditating for 5 minutes first thing out of bed. So, I think about thinking and reflecting. When I think about my aging brain, I know that Bob Crane's "Pickles" cartoon perfectly captures my memory these days. I can remember and I do, just not as quickly as I used to. http://www.thecomicstrips.com/store/add.php?iid=168514
It seems to me that just sitting is way more fun these days. Using my conscience and comparisons, I often see that my ego and pride lead me to assert I am better than others. Then, a little reflection and internal investigation shows me I am worse, not better. As it says in "The Elephant in the Brain":
"At every single stage [of processing information]—from its biased arrival, to its biased encoding, to organizing it around false logic, to misremembering and then misrepresenting it to others—the mind continually acts to distort information flow in favor of the usual goal of appearing better than one really is."
Simler, Kevin. The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life (p. 8). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
