MAR 19, 16 .. ONE’S DAY CAN BE A MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE

AS I START OUT HERE MY JURY IS VERY UNDECIDED ABOUT EVEN DOING THIS POST. WELL JURY .. HERE WE GO LOOP DE LOOP .. LET’S SEE IF WE GET ANYTHING PUBLISHED.

AMAZING !

In the spring of 1991 I was in New Delhi India.

One night : I slept under a blanket wearing my hooded sweatshirt and other clothing to keep me warm.

The next day IT HAPPENED ! Little did I know or realize .. Overnight the winds changed ..

Next night : I slept totally ‘in-the-buff ‘ with not-so-much as a sheet over me and the ceiling fan overhead turned on. It did not cool down until the next autumn / winter season returned.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 

Was it just last night? Was it the night before? Seemingly suddenly .. Seemingly instantaneously SPRING IS HERE! 

Did the wind change direction out on the Steppes of Asia? All week .. Every day .. the weather reports have said .. It will be getting warmer.
DSCN9669[1]Not all that long ago .. Not that many days ago .. I was looking out of my window upon the above and below scenes.DSCN9670[1]

I just snapped the below photos this morning ..DSCN0126[1]

Oh Yes!  It will take-a-little-time for things to GREEN OUT’ but it is coming.DSCN0127[1]An hour or so later ..DSCN0128[1]This morning the temperature was +2C / 36F and I thought to myself .. “Not bad. Not bad at all. This I will willingly accept.”

This afternoon the temperature was +11C / 52F and I thought to myself .. “WHOA! What on this good earth has happened this past few hours?

A photo you will see again further in this post .. Will you all just look at the BLUE MONGOLIAN SKY!DSCN0105[1]

The cycles of weather .. The cycles of life itself ..

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Today .. late this afternoon .. I participated actively in a meeting (It’s What I Do). The format was the usual 2-hour format. The meeting began at 4pm and ended at 6pm. I speak no Mongolian. They speak no English. I feel that my just sitting quietly in a meeting is a distraction.

“Do you see who is over there?” .. “He is just sitting quietly!” .. “I know BUT IT IS MICK JAGGER.”

No matter where I look .. I am looking into eyes-looking-into-mine. So rather than just sitting-on-my-hands being a distraction .. I do not attend the Mongolian speaking parts of meetings. Can’t someone translate for me? It is a terrible distraction .. It destroys a meeting .. To have someone beside me translating.

This afternoon I sat outside just enjoying the day for the 1st hour. The 2nd hour I chaired the meeting with Changer translating for me.

During my portion of the meeting I was asked questions about meditation. I replied that our whole day can be a meditation. I went on to tell them that in the hour I was waiting for the second half of the meeting to begin I was quietly talking with Patti on the phone. After we finished our visit I then walked around the immediate area taking many photographs and just thinking deeply about being in Ulaanbaatar (U.B.) and Mongolia and how I am deeply cherishing this time of my life. I told the meeting ..

“The hour I spent outside before this meeting was a meditative experience. We don’t have to go into seclusion with candles and incense in a special location at a certain time-of-day with just-the-right-music playing and each pillow in its own perfect place to meditate! 

AMAZING .. THIS POST JUST TITLED ITSELF !

Simply put this post shows basically what I did for the hour I spent outside. In the first map below we have two RED BALLOONSThe one on the left is where my apartment building is located in the Western part of U.B. The one on the right is the meeting location in the Eastern part of U.B.

In the next map below I am ‘zeroing-in’ a little closer on the meeting location. The RED BALLOON on the left is the heart of downtown U.B. the main Post Office and Chinggis Khaan Square. The one on the right is where the meeting is located.

Finally I am really going to zero-in below. I spent my time around School No. 2 (left RED BALLOON) which is very close to the meeting (the right balloon)

Here we go. First I rode a bus ..DSCN4349[1].. Downtown to the Blue Sky Building.
DSCN4283[1]Then I went to the Post Office and I bought M₮ 80,300 / US $ 39.40 worth of post cards and stamps.DSCN4330[1]Then I walked to the U.B. Opera House.
DSCN5921[1]
DSCN5913[1]My friends Oldokh ..
DSCN5876[1].. And Changer met me in front of the Opera House and we drove to the meeting.
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SEVERAL OF THE ABOVE PHOTOS CAME OUT OF MY PHOTO LIBRARY AND WERE SNAPPED LAST SUMMER AND FALL. ALL OF THE BELOW PHOTOS WERE SNAPPED TODAY THE 19th OF MARCH 2016.

SPRING-HAS-SPRUNG!* If the day you see in the background of the photos ‘looks-nice’ let me tell you .. Let me shout .. It was a spectacular day.

Spring has sprung .. The grass has riz .. Where last year’s careless driver is .. BURMA SHAVE 1951 (Oh Wikipedia Oh Internet)

The meeting is through the door and down the stairs.DSCN0104[1]Turning around we see U.B. School No. 2.DSCN0102[1]

I walked to my left and looked back at the school from the corner of the street.
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I walked straight ahead (you can see the fence on the extreme left edge above) up the street until I reached the main entrance to the school.DSCN0094[1]With few exceptions (there must be some but I have not seen one yet) the statues of Mongolians show them to be very serious and stern.
DSCN0095[1]I see the number 2-P below. It is school No. 2. I haven’t a clue what the words below mean.DSCN0096[1]I then settled down (where my cap is) for a nice long visit with Patti.
DSCN0097[1]Below is what I was seeing as Patti and I were visiting. Straight ahead up the sidewalk is the meeting.
DSCN0098[1]Panning to the right ..DSCN0099[1]Now we are walking up the above sidewalk.DSCN0087[1]Looking into the small forest to the right we see ..
DSCN0086[1]You have to really look hard but in the below photo you can see the door into the building and meeting. Find the pink section of the building at ground level. Then go to the right.DSCN0088[1]The next photos below look to the left after I walked further up the sidewalk. The small brown structure orients them to one another.
DSCN0090[1]If you will study the building you are looking at above and below .. It even took me a moment to realize .. We are looking at a building that is very similar to MY building. Not a perfect 100% mirror-image but very similiar!DSCN0100[1]Below is my building.DSCN4523[1]

DSCN9801[1]Below are other buildings in my complex.DSCN0004[2]
DSCN9952[1]I am very VERY happy with my apartment in MY building.DSCN3738[1]Some additional photos from the sidewalk I was walking up. It must be beautiful when the leaves come out.
DSCN0091[1]
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DSCN0093[1]I can just hear a lot of you saying to yourselves .. “I would never ever want to live like this.”
DSCN0101[1]I AM  living this lifestyle and I am very happy and contented with it. I have choices. I have a home. I have a cabin. Patti and I have a condo. I had a flat in Hong Kong. Could Mr. Charles Swindoll possibly be correct ..

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company … a church … a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is to play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude … I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you … we are in charge of our Attitudes.”  CHARLES SWINDOLL ..DSCN0105[1]

The meeting was a good experience. The day was a good day. I feel deeply satisfied. Oh Yes .. My Attitude Is One Of Gratitude!

And?

Tomorrow Sunday the 20th I’ll go back to this same location for a 6pm to 8pm meeting.

It’s What I Do!

Much Joy .. Cap ..

4 thoughts on “MAR 19, 16 .. ONE’S DAY CAN BE A MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE

  1. Patti

    Yup … as so often happens, the post titled itself! I recognize that meeting door, so that is one of the places I WAS with you when I was there. Those trees are going to be spectacular when they leaf out, and at the rate the temperature is going there, that could be in the very near future. As we spoke while you were sitting outside of School No. 2-P, I could hear a little child “chirping” … happy sounds. Thank you, Charles Swindoll, for your words of wisdom, and thank you for Cap for setting these words in front of me once again. Hugs! Patti

    1. cap chastain

      Thank You So Much My Dear One .. I asked Changer .. “Have we been here before?” and he said that we had not been here. I don’t just go to meetings. I go with Changer or am taken by a member of a group as we were to the night group with Dorj. So pleased you liked the post. Smiles and Love ..

  2. Shaddy Peters

    I wonder if you were thinking of me when you said that some of your followers would never, ever want to live like you are.

    Honestly, I have no right to make that statement. Unless I have tried living where you are, I can’t say I wouldn’t want to.

    I don’t possess the adventurous spirit that you have so it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever know for sure how it would be for me to live so dissimilarly to my present life.

    Finally, I feel blessed to know someone who has the intelligence, determination and guts to go where you go and do what you do. I’m satisfied and entertained by traveling vicariously through reading your blog posts.

    Thank you again for your generosity in sharing your world, The World According to Cap.

    Shaddy

  3. Cap Chastain Post author

    Shaddy at no time did I think of you when I wrote words to the effect that some people would not want to live this way. To paraphrase what you wrote :

    The Bible states: Judge not that ye not be judged. The American (Cree) Indian Proverb states: Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins.

    Shaddy I so value your following along here .. Smiles .. Cap

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