anitamo I am glad you asked the questions you asked. Many of the things you ask can be answered by reading the links about Vipassana meditation and what it is and isn't. Your thoughts are not silenced so much as re-directed when they arise. You learn to focus your breathing on a point at the base of your nose on your upper lip area ...a spot the size of your fingertip. Breath normally...don't try to regulate your breathing. As you concentrate on the breath and the spot there will of course be thoughts that will arise..gently...smilingly let them go and refocus on the breath and the spot. This is why it is necessary to meditate for an hour. Some days it takes almost 1/2 or more of that hour to get the mind to settle. The reason people have repeat behaviors ...negative, addictive...whatever they are is because they don't have the patterning in their brain to waylay those thoughts and behaviors. Meditation allows you to get into that calm place that , over time, allows your brain to short circuit the behaviors and reactions that you want to change. There is a split second between the time something touches one of your 6 senses and you react. Meditation allows one to enter that split second and change the response. It is a simple and as complicated as that. This does not happen on a time table. Each person is different. You do really need the intense 10 day course to learn the entire technique. The part I told you about above is only the first 3 days of the course. It is a start though. Meditation is not secular...it is NOT related to any religion. it is a way of life. it is based on the 3 premise that I linked to above. Anyone can learn and anyone can practice and change the habit patterns of the mind. It is an experience that requires a very alert and sharp mind. it is not a passive practice. Sit up right and be alert and allow yourself an hour 2x a day. Set aside a place that is only for your meditation...a pattern will begin to form. Please feel free to email me and we can talk more. I am SO glad you asked. c

Yeah I'm in NY also and even tho the sun is out, my plants are not (yet). I did buy some primroses at the grocery store and stuck them near my front sidewalk. At least the malman can see them. I need a little color this time of year. Oh, shoot, one extra day in February!

Glenda, that was yesterday. I don't remember now, but I think it was a mini Snickers, or 2. TOSue, yeah, it was a biggie. I never go to the movie theaters any more. They are too expensive, and most are hardly worth seeing. And I enjoy the atmosphere here with "my own kind!" No problem about the email; take your time. Lisa, I think the book was so well written that I made good mental pictures of the characters. The movie brought them to life even more so. Serious though the topic was, I could easily see it again, just for fun. Jennava, yes, routine works well for me. In "real life" I am a planner/organizer. I don't like confusion, or failure to communicate. Curlysue, see the movie if you can. Maybe I should explain "my own kind," to those who may not know. I live at an Independent Retirement Community, meaning we are age 60 to ?? I so enjoyed hearing the laughter, and a gasp or two, during the movie and comments after, because it so resonated with us. Sue

I agree that school funding should not be on the backs of homeowners, through real estate taxes...and it is not fair to take the meager incomes of seniors to pay for school funding. My father will be 90 in May and is living on Social Security. Because his income is small, his real estate taxes are reduced dramatically. I think that's a wonderful program, and if it isn't nationwide, it should be. Education costs have skyrocketed and are spiraling out of control. The union is a major part of the problem, but that's an issue for the "Hot Topics" forum. I think it would be wise to abolish the Department of Education, and send its funding to the states. Education should be a state issue, IMO. In the olden days, education was a part of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. That department was replaced by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. Whenever the government creates a new bureaucracy, it incurs tremendous new administrative costs. If necessary, oversight at the national level could be absorbed within the Department of Health and Human Services. A major source of funding for education should be lotteries. I remember when the Maryland Lottery started, they said proceeds would go to fund education. The lotteries are a huge source of revenue. Unfortunately, the politicians play games with the lottery money (if a state has revenue from lotteries, they reduce the funding for education so they can divert the funds to other projects). Just like the politicians took the Social Security and Civil Service retirement fund monies out of the "lockbox" and put them into the general treasury for their own spending spree. [The subliminal message here is to get rid of all 536 spendthrifts in Washington, D.C.] There is a push in Washington to raise the mandatory education age to 18. That's a wonderful thing in theory, but I can't imagine that it will work. It's hard enough for parents to keep their kids in school until age 16! I heard that only 43% of Washington, D.C. students graduate from high school. If members of congress can't keep their own kids (and those of their neighbors) in school, how are they going to enforce that in the rest of the country? Sorry, nanny, I didn't mean to hijack your post. I'll get off my soapbox now....