Back before the viral shit hit the fan, I decided to replace the really old, nasty carpet in my office and bedroom. That happened earlier this week and I finally got my office back in order. The space feels different now, not just because of the new carpet, but because I’m spending so much time in these rooms. And will spend much more before this is done. I made this little 4-minute video for a friend.
Author Archives: Steve Mays
David Brazeal on COVID
A plague is upon us and I have hunkered down (a word one gets to use so infrequently). I’ve been using the time at home to call/text old friends, like David Brazeal. David almost certainly the most amusing person I know. Perhaps droll would be a better word for David. From just one short iMessage exchange:
The biggest hardship right now is that all my usual hypochondria, normally spread out over my entire body, is not centered in my chest and lung area.
This has also been good for me to discover which businesses still have my email address from a purchase I made 7 years ago. I am fully informed of the COVID-19 response plans of every business with which I have interacted since about 2010.
I have seriously neglected my hunting and gathering skills for 50 years.
David’s bon mots have shown up in my post often enough to deserve their own tag.
Green Button
Imagine having a couple of buttons on your desk. Let’s say, red and green. And everytime you walked by you could press the red button for a negative/angry/fearful thought… or the green one for a positive/peaceful/uplifting thought. Wouldn’t last long, just a few seconds or a minute or two.
Why would you ever push the red button? You wouldn’t, not if you thought about it for a spit second. You’d wear that fucking green button out. But we find ourselves soaking in negative thoughts and — if we’re lucky — have a moment of awareness.
“Whoa. I must have hit the red button. A couple of times.”
All of which goes to explain why people report constantly hearing me muttering, “Green button, green button, green button.”
My friend Kent reminds us the red button state is most people’s default. (Always going for green.) Buddha says “life is the red button state’. Awareness would be the inbetween.
Closet curtains
For years I’ve struggled with sliding doors on my bedroom closet. Have replaced them with some curtains. Much better.
So sane, so joyous
“The playfulness and joy of a dog, its unconditional love and readiness to celebrate life at any moment, often contrast sharply with the inner state of the dog’s owner — depressed, anxious, burdened by problems, lost in thought, not present in the only place and only time there is: Here and Now. One wonders: living with this person, how does the dog manage to remain so sane, so joyous?”
— Eckhart Tolle