moving on...

ok. so i get these weekly inspirational emails from thinkarete.com. sounds cheesy, right? but in actuality, every time i open the email to find words that are totally applicable to my life at that point in time. here's what was in my inbox yesterday:

“Being stuck is not the problem. Staying stuck is.”

~ Genpo Roshi, 21st century Zen Master
from Integral Institute workshop, November, 2005

Dukkha. I was originally introduced to the concept by Genpo Roshi during his lecture on Big Mind. (Big Idea coming soon.)

Dukkha. The word is translated as “suffering” and is prominently featured in Buddha’s First Noble Truth.

The word has a much deeper meaning, however.

In classic Sanskrit, dukkha is used to describe a potter’s wheel that is stuck and screeching as it turns. Contrast this with its opposite, sukkha—which represents a potter’s wheel that is freely flowing.

The idea is that suffering occurs only when we’re stuck. Specifically, when our minds are stuck—when we can’t shift our perspective and take more spacious view of the world.

How amazing is that?

Reminds me of the flowing essence of the Tao, or even Flow, the state of optimal human experience defined scientifically by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Are you stuck?

Get unstuck. Stop the suffering.

Flow.

the past few days with this blog, and with life in general, i've been struggling to "rebound." how can i write about all of the things i love about being at mica, or the art i'm making, when it all seems so futile in context? because those are exactly the things that keep me going against the grain. i need those pieces in my life because i know they are building me up to something bigger. i need to be happy and see the good around me.


with that being said, i got to tour the gateway yesterday. it's pure genius. the goal of the building is to extend the boundaries of mica's campus to notorious north avenue. it's a powerful presence that begins to blur the lines between the mica bubble and baltimore.

i'm crossing my fingers that i will be able to call it home next year. for more than a few reasons (late night cafe, to name one), it seems like the right fit. (and also, if i lived in the meyerhoff, between eating and student activities, i would basically never leave the building.)

fyi: i took the top picture inside the brown building the first time i visited mica, almost a year ago, for their open house. my tour guide made a joke about brown being the target of a drive by shooting, but mica out smarted them and used bullet proof glass. i thought for sure after that one that there would be no way i could convince my parents to still send me here. funny how things work out.