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Mutabile semper
As suddenly as the days get short in autumn-- dark at 7 when only a few weeks ago there was sun at 8!-- they grow longer in spring: still light at 6 when only a fortnight ago it was blue dusk. Daylight saving will make that change even more abrupt when it cuts in on Saturday night. I rather disapprove the clocks going forward in March and not April; Daylight Saving was always a spring thing, and March in these latitudes is still winter. Usually.
Because I look at TWN's stats and am reminded that the all-time high for March 8 was 22C in 2000. Which makes me wonder if 2000 was that vaguely-recalled year when it was so warm in March that all the trees budded and bloomed prematurely and there was nothing left for April and May to do. But my ever unreliable memory says it was a string of days in late March that brought all the leaves out, not a spike early in the month. I actually remember 2000 rather well-- it was famously the year that the hottest weekend fell in early May, and the rest of the summer was much better behaved.
My acupuncturist has a half-dozen comfy reclining armchairs where clients are wont to sleep during their procedures, in the dim paper lantern light listening to-- well, I don't know what kind of music, actually. From time to time I recognize a song-- some Joni Mitchell, some Eric Satie-- sometimes I can only identify the genre, which is usually jazz or blues. But I'm convinced it's the sort that converts brain waves to alpha, because invariably I find myself floating as soon as I get onto my back. I can rarely remember what goes through my head then, and the float always lasts about 45 minutes and no more. It may even be a shallow sleep, but I don't have the random dream fragments that those usually leave.
Occasionally I try meditating but it never works. Meditation leaves me too much awake and focussed. Could be because I'm just a raw beginner, but I've never found sitting meditation to be relaxing, let alone trance-inducing. Even when my back and knees don't hurt, as when lying in my comfy chair, it's just too much busyness. Other people may breathe automatically but I evidently do not: or rather, if I focus on my breath, breathing stops being automatic. Whereas if I mentally start walking about the house I grew up in, I'm in a trance state almost at once. This is fine as far as it goes, but a mind-travelling trance state doesn't have much practical use: nor could I maintain it through a trans-Pacific flight, which is the real reason I'd like to become a proper meditater.
Because I look at TWN's stats and am reminded that the all-time high for March 8 was 22C in 2000. Which makes me wonder if 2000 was that vaguely-recalled year when it was so warm in March that all the trees budded and bloomed prematurely and there was nothing left for April and May to do. But my ever unreliable memory says it was a string of days in late March that brought all the leaves out, not a spike early in the month. I actually remember 2000 rather well-- it was famously the year that the hottest weekend fell in early May, and the rest of the summer was much better behaved.
My acupuncturist has a half-dozen comfy reclining armchairs where clients are wont to sleep during their procedures, in the dim paper lantern light listening to-- well, I don't know what kind of music, actually. From time to time I recognize a song-- some Joni Mitchell, some Eric Satie-- sometimes I can only identify the genre, which is usually jazz or blues. But I'm convinced it's the sort that converts brain waves to alpha, because invariably I find myself floating as soon as I get onto my back. I can rarely remember what goes through my head then, and the float always lasts about 45 minutes and no more. It may even be a shallow sleep, but I don't have the random dream fragments that those usually leave.
Occasionally I try meditating but it never works. Meditation leaves me too much awake and focussed. Could be because I'm just a raw beginner, but I've never found sitting meditation to be relaxing, let alone trance-inducing. Even when my back and knees don't hurt, as when lying in my comfy chair, it's just too much busyness. Other people may breathe automatically but I evidently do not: or rather, if I focus on my breath, breathing stops being automatic. Whereas if I mentally start walking about the house I grew up in, I'm in a trance state almost at once. This is fine as far as it goes, but a mind-travelling trance state doesn't have much practical use: nor could I maintain it through a trans-Pacific flight, which is the real reason I'd like to become a proper meditater.
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