I’ve started the searching and sorting through photos and have already found some precious gems!
I’m also having my memory jogged by certain pics, which is great fun.
Soon I’ll be ready to actually write something. 😂
Precious gems of memories
Gathering photos
A good thing about my Swamiji stories project is that it will motivate me to find, organize, and scan the photos that go with the stories.
Stated another way, I’ll have to gather the photos that go with my stories of Swamiji!
Gathering my stories of Swamiji
The stories that came up during last night’s satsang with Jyotish and Devi rekindled my determination to capture in writing my various experiences and time spent with Swami Kriyananda over the years.
I’ve been saying I’m going to do it ever since he passed away in 2013, but it’s starting to grow in urgency.
So, in order to simply get started and move some energy, I’ve decided to devote some of my daily blog posts to this process.
The idea is to begin by outlining things chronologically, then gradually flesh out the different categories as I go along. We’ll see if this strategy enables me to finally make some progress.
Well, here goes nothin’! 😄
1. My first experiences of Ananda and the music
2. Becoming part of Ananda Palo Alto
3. My first “meetings” with Swamiji
4. Oratorio choir tour to Italy
5. Moving to Italy and then Switzerland
6. The one year leave-of-absence that’s lasted fifteen years
7. Ananda Village (1)
8. Los Angeles
9. Ananda Village (2)
Memories of LA days
We just finished a lovely Next Wave satsang with Jyotish and Devi.
The main topic of discussion was sharing how we’ve all weathered the challenges of these past two difficult years. The stories and insights were all very inspiring.
At some point Devi brought up the time a team of us spent in LA with Swamiji, and how he gave so much energy to the music there.
It reminded me of what a special time that was, despite a myriad of challenges and difficulties. And doesn’t that pretty much describe life itself?!?
Anyways, thinking about LA days made me want to share this photo. I have no idea what Ramesha was whispering in my ear, but I’m thankful somebody snapped the photo with Swamiji’s blessings in the background!
Bugler’s Holiday on my mind
There are certain pieces of music that I have to revisit periodically for a variety of reasons.
“Bugler’s Holiday” by Leroy Anderson is one that I’ve loved ever since I first played it in junior high school band.
I also loved it during my college years and I still loved it whenever it was programmed on pops concerts when I was a professional flutist.
There are two main reasons why I loved it: it was so much fun to play and it always made me happy.
In fact, I’m fully in agreement with this commenter from YouTube:
This is the song I listen to whenever I need to be cheered up. It is my “Happy Song.”
Fifty years of friendship
Today I’m feeling super grateful for my friend, Nancy.
We’ve known each other since we were fifteen years old. That’s a whole lot of living and shared experiences.
This photo is from about five years ago. We enjoyed a lovely Zoom chat this afternoon, but I’m looking forward to seeing her in person soon.
Feeling grateful for Kriya
Today started out pretty challenging. Both Ramesha and I got to move through “stuff” — oh, joy!
We worked through it — both individually and together — but there was some lingering residual energy.
So, I’m really grateful for the Kriya initiation tonight, to put things in perspective and remind us what we’re really here for. 📿
Coming into focus
I can feel things beginning to settle, at least a little bit.
I finally know who’s singing for the Christmas concert, for starters. We’ve actually had one rehearsal and the music binders are mostly complete.
Key tasks and important reminders are surfacing in my consciousness, helping me feel like “Oh yeah, I can do this!”
I just hope this flow continues and that the feeling lasts throughout the holiday season!
Making the tough call
We’ve been grappling with the question of choir and singing and safety and masks.
It doesn’t help that issues with the post office have our singing masks in some sort of postal limbo.
Plus we had to accept that not everyone in choir has the same idea of what being “extra careful” means.
Which is all good, but it means we’ve had to pause choir for a bit while we figure things out.
Questions and answers
There’s been a big unresolved question underlying all the activity of this day.
I think the process is bringing me to clarity, but I’m not quite there yet.
A decision has to be made and announced by tomorrow morning, however. So, I’ll go home now to pray, meditate, and sleep on it. Then I’ll go from there.