It's All A Miracle

It's All A Miracle
Originally uploaded by 365 Things

What: Wonderful book on mindfulness meditation.
Origin: Desire for satori, samadhi, or at least the ability to not swear and make faces at the "rude and annoying" strangers one might encounter on the street.
How long kept: 10, 11 years.
Usage: Fairly frequently, and fairly recently.
Why Kept: I Might Need It if I want to read it or use it in a class; It Might Be Useful. See confession.
Destination: I made a gift of this book to two students.

Confession: This book, on the ability to wake up and be aware of -- at a minimum -- one's surroundings, entered my life in around 1994. I bought it at City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, while on a business trip to speak at a client conference.

I started to read it. And think I left it in my seat back pocket on the return flight. Or somewhere. I wasn't paying attention.

This was before the day when Oprah was interviewing Buddhist leaders on her show. No yoga was being practiced at the White House Easter Egg Roll. You couldn't pick this book up just anywhere.

I forgot about it, until I started to practice meditation in the late 90s. Then I started to look for the book. In pretty much every bookstore I went into. I finally found it in the Borders Bookstore in the World Trade Center.

Confession, part deux: Most people don't realize that the WTC contained a bit of a village center. There were businesses like a locksmith, a sushi place, and various clothing stores. If you lived nearby, you bought stuff there. Some items I use every day hailed from that marketplace. I have a sticky attachment to some of them.

Confession, cont: For my students, It Will Be Useful. But I really do use this book, and will probably buy another copy down the road. But I'm guessing it won't be quite as sticky.