I’ve been retired, yet managed to stay busy working. And it’s a new year. One of my intentions for this year was to do more creative things. I do like writing, especially poetry, and in particular, haiku and tanka.
Since I also recently moved, and I’m getting older, two things are inevitable: downsizing—getting rid of stuff, and upgrading—improving my quality of life with newer stuff. Seems to be an unending cycle.
Retirement brings more time to do stuff. Just need the motivation. This is not a senior moment. Not there yet. But here’s a senior haiku.
A Senior Haiku
Might as well Enjoy
[Downsizing and Upgrading]
The rest of my Life
Who knows how much time we have left. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not meant to sound pessimistic, just a realistic assessment of where I’m at in my life right now.
I do have a lot to be thankful for—good health, enough to get by (so far), family and friends, and a special community to live in.
Let’s see what challenges and gifts this year has in store for us. Hopefully better than the last!
I moved last year and still have boxes of books and papers around my office. Yesterday as I was sorting through the junk I found a sheet of folded paper with Emily Dickinson’s cosmic poem about The Brain typed on it. On the other side was the playful little poem I had typed, For—Emily D— From—Kenny C—. On that same piece of paper was a short poem I had scribbled about the nature of work, and getting stuff done.
WORK
When you don’t have to work
You get the most work done.
Doing while non-doing
Transforms work into fun.
Don’t remember when I wrote it, probably last year, as I did the one for the Divine Miss D. I think I may have been working on a particular blog post. If it’s something I’m passionate about, I just lose track of time and enjoy the process. If it’s a job I have to do, then it becomes work, and can drag on. If I’m stuck, I usually start with following my passion first, and write something to express a creative urge. It’s my way of dealing with procrastination, and usually frees me up to then get down to the work at hand. After it was done, I reflected on the distinction, and wrote that little poem. I had scrawled underneath it: My little ditties for the day.
I remember something Maharishi once told us about work: “See the job; do the job; stay out of the misery.” That kept me going when I was doing blue-collar work for Vancouver Parks and Recreation. I also wrote a lot of poetry while working as a park attendant for Queen Elizabeth Park, and during visits to other Vancouver Parks, and while living in Fairfield, Iowa.
Emily Dickinson’s amazing poem of the Brain being wider than the Sky inspired me to write a playful little poem in her style. I had posted it as a Comment, and now decided to reproduce it here:
For—Emily D— From—Kenny C—
I am Part of what I See—
An Unlimited Reality
If the Whole is contained in Each Part—
Then I End up—where I Start
It was a great day for Maharishi University of Management, Iowa Integrated Solar, Ideal Energy, the City of Fairfield, and the state of Iowa, as MUM’s new MEG’Array Solar Power Plant went live. The first and largest of its kind in the Midwest, this large solar array stores its own energy and is powered by AI allowing solar panels to follow the direction of the sun thereby generating more power than a fixed array. It will generate a third of the campus energy needs, operate behind the meter, and shave off costly peak demands. This is a big step towards fulfilling the University’s commitment to becoming carbon neutral within the decade. Here’s some regional news coverage.
Matt Milner, editor of the Ottumwa Courier, had also interviewed Dr. Hagelin, then attended the event and published his article later that day: MEG’Array lights up MUM campus.
TV reporters from KYOU and KTVO attended the day’s activities. Each station broadcasts on two different networks, via cable and digital HD. KYOU runs on Fox 15 and NBC 15.2, while KTVO runs on ABC 3 and CBS 3.2. They interviewed Dr. Hagelin, Tom Factor, Troy and Amy Van Beek, along with Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy and Congressman Dave Loebsack.
Retired Des Moines Register Iowa columnist Chuck Offenburger tweeted our success: “Wow! Fairfield and Maharishi U, as often happens, are leading the way.”
All reports came out on Friday, Dec 14. The Fairfield Ledger ran our press release as an advance announcement, and sent a photographer to cover the event. Ledger editor Andy Hallman published a front-page report with 4 photos on Monday, Feb 17: University unveils huge solar array. If you can’t see it online, here is a PDF.
The solar power plant is fully operational now and research on it will be forthcoming by spring 2019.
I’m back visiting my son for Thanksgiving in Santa Barbara. The first time I was there, a little over 2 ½ years ago, I wrote Threshold Haiku upon entering his house. Here’s a new haiku, which starts where the previous one ends, inspired by those pillars of jasmine plants.
Late Autumn in Santa Barbara
Pillars of jasmine
Stand dormant for the winter
Waiting to blossom
In the National Center for PTSD, on page 2 of their December 2018 issue of Clinician’s Trauma Update, there is a report on this study: Transcendental Meditation for PTSD, and another one.
Today the best study to date on the effects of the Transcendental Meditation technique (TM) on PTSD was published in The Lancet Psychiatry, a leading journal in the field. The study compared TM with prolonged exposure therapy (PE), which is the current treatment of choice for treating PTSD. PE involves having the veterans re-experiencing their trauma through remembering and engaging with situations that remind them of it, in the hope that repeated experiencing of the stimuli associated with the trauma will eventually diminish the patients stress responses to them. PE is very painful for the Vets to go through.
The study was a “non-inferiority clinical trial”, meaning that the objective was to see if TM was at least as good as PE. TM was at least as good. Both TM and PE were significantly better than a Health Education (HE) for PTSD patients, with TM more significantly so (TM, p=.0009; PE, p=.041). 61% of those receiving TM showed clinically significant improvements compared to 42% of those receiving PE and 32% of those receiving HE.
Below is a link to an abstract on the journal website.
The first Wednesday evening of this month, (October 3, 2018) our family’s Great Dane passed away peacefully resting under a cedar tree. His body had been breaking down; it was his time. Dakar had lived a full life, longer than expected for his breed. Even though he was no longer physically with us, I still felt his presence into the next day. It led me to contemplate the paradoxical nature of death and wrote this tanka for him that next morning as a way to try and understand this temporary contradiction, and express what I was feeling at the time.
Maybe some of you have had a similar experience after losing a loved one—a pet, a close friend, or a family member. I read this out this morning at a Death Café after hearing other people describe their experiences of grief, and unexpected surprises when a loved one passed. It was healing for all of us to share.
The Temporary Paradox of Death in Life A tanka for Dakar on his passing
Silence, Peacefulness
A Fullness of Emptiness
Feeling you still here
An Absence of your Presence
A Presence of your Absence
Another poem from Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds is Song for Nobody by Thomas Merton. This golden poem is Beautiful, Enigmatic, and Profound. Below are some reactions to it as I try to fathom the poet’s spiritual perspective. If you have any comments please feel free to post them below. I’d be curious to hear your take on it.
Song for Nobody by Thomas Merton
A yellow flower
(Light and spirit)
Sings by itself
For nobody.
A golden spirit
(Light and emptiness)
Sings without a word
By itself.
Let no one touch this gentle sun
In whose dark eye
Someone is awake.
(No light, no gold, no name, no color
And no thought:
O, wide awake!)
About a year and a half ago, Don Arney was inducted into the Inventors Hall Of Fame for his invention of the Bambi Bucket. Some of you may have seen my blog post about it, which contained a video profile of Don and his invention, the induction ceremony, and acceptance speech in which he extolled the benefits of his lifelong TM practice.
Yesterday, Don sent us an interview posted Oct 19, 2018 by Shaw Community TV Spotlight. Coast Connections (Nanaimo) Host and Community Producer Elizabeth Heinź interviewed Don Arney about how this big orange bucket became a brand name synonymous with helicopter firefighting not only in British Columbia but worldwide. See Fighting Wildfires with Don Arney, Inventor of the Bambi Bucket.
I was impressed with Elizabeth’s questions, how Don came up with the invention, the way it works, and the various conditions in which it’s used. Viewers are shown video footage and still photos of what the Bambi Bucket looks like and it’s different applications, from forest fires to various disaster relief efforts. Invented in 1981, it is now used in 115 countries, where 90% of all forest fires are fought from the air.
Elizabeth seemed to also know a lot about TM research and asked Don to describe his experiences as a meditating inventor. At 18:03, she asks: “So Don, where did this idea for the Bambi Bucket come from? I know that you practice Transcendental Meditation, and you know how to quiet the mind and receive ideas, and it’s an inspiration.”
Don answers her two-part question by describing how the idea first came to him and how he developed it. When he was ready to launch the Bambi Bucket in the marketplace, Don found out that the Canadian Forestry Service had identified 12 requirements but didn’t know how to improve on what they were using. When they saw Don’s product in action they said it fulfilled all 12 plus 2 more they hadn’t even thought of.
He also told Elizabeth about the value of his regular TM practice over 48 years. “It takes you to a very special place that I feel is totally necessary for anyone who wants to be creative, anyone who wants to be productive.”
“It (TM) takes you to a very special place that I feel is totally necessary for anyone who wants to be creative, anyone who wants to be productive.”
Don then asks the question of where do ideas come from? From the deepest part of ourselves, he answers. He then asks how do you get there, and explains that you have to transcend from here to get to that special place where all those qualities come from—more creativity, more intelligence, more organizing power, more compassion—that exist within us in their infinite value at the source of thought, our own inner Being, which modern science equates with the Unified Field.
Elizabeth reviews the main idea very clearly. Don then explains how the very deep rest gained during TM removes deeply rooted stresses. He uses a simple analogy to make this point. Like getting a car’s brakes unstuck and recalibrated so you can drive more smoothly, TM allows us to then access those deeper ideas within us, to use more of our human potential. Enjoy this wonderful conversation.
Elizabeth seemed to understand and appreciate the value of TM so well I wondered if she was a meditator. I emailed Don, and he replied: “Liz Heinz learned TM as a result of the show! She said she was so ready!!! She loves it.” I was happy to find this out! Thanks to Don I was able to connect with Elizabeth to thank her for the interview. She sent a nice reply saying she enjoyed reading the blog and thanked me for posting it.
“Thoroughly enjoying the TM discovery for myself! So simple, so accessible and so satisfying.”
As for her meditation, Elizabeth said she is “thoroughly enjoying the TM discovery for herself!” She added, “So simple, so accessible and so satisfying.” Those three phrases succinctly and poetically say it all!!! Best description of TM I ever heard!
It’s been almost a month since the show aired and we were recently informed that it’s the top video of all nine Shaw TV major markets across Canada. Not sure what metrics they use but they said it has been holding at number one since it started to air and posted on YouTube.
On Oct 13, 2024, Don Arney was featured in Enjoy TM News: Saving Lives and Lands with the Bambi Bucket and Other Inventions by Roseanne Wagger and interviewed by Christine Albers on TM Talks: A conversation with Don Arney. Click the arrow there to watch the 1:01:41 discussion.
— Written and compiled (citing sources) by Ken Chawkin for The Uncarved Blog.
Here is another positive TV News report on Transcendental Meditation. This one aired yesterday on Spectrum News in Rochester, NY. Reporter Jillian Parker cited the scientific research and interviewed meditator Jessica Cowie to learn how TM significantly improved her health. Jillian also interviewed TM teacher Peggy Brix who told her why people come to learn. They used clips from the DLF Change Begins Within video. This was so well done it felt like a free TM infomercial! Click on the title below to watch this news piece on their website.
There’s a 20 minute meditation technique improving sleep patterns, reducing stress and improving overall health.
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a technique that was introduced to the United States in the 1950’s. It’s being called one of the most effective techniques to help people sleep, settle the mind, relieve stress, anxiety, and depression.
Jessica Cowie once suffered from anxiety, depression and addiction. She says this technique has been life changing.
“I’m much calmer, I don’t have as much of an anxious disposition and wasn’t suffering as many anxiety attacks anymore,” Cowie said. “I also was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and suffered with severe chronic migraines. My pain has significantly lowered. I’m off of all my medications for those illnesses. I literally take nothing.”
Young people spend more than six hours a day stressed out according to a mental health study released this year. Practicing TM is known to reduce the stress hormone by 30 percent and it’s the main reason Peggy Birx says people walk into a session for the first time.
“We’re just living in this crazy, high pressured time where people are on call 24/7. They’re connected all the time and expected to be performing constantly. I think so many people have become disconnected with their quiet inner self,” said Birx, Rochester Transcendental Meditation teacher.
In 20 minutes of meditation, someone can gain as much rest that’s required from six to eight hours of deep sleep.
“I used to need to take something to sleep. I don’t need anything to sleep anymore. My dreams are more vivid, I wake up refreshed. My mind is more alert and I don’t have brain fog as much,” said Cowie.
TM is a practice that the American Heart Association has endorsed as the only technique proven to help heart disease reducing the chances of heart attack, stroke and death by 48 percent.
Teachers are based all over the country, including Rochester.
Other cable TV news stations that reported on the health benefits of TM this year are: WTNH New Haven 8 and WXYZ Detroit 7. On December 21, 2021, WTHR 13News Indianapolis also reported on the health benefits of Transcendental Meditation.
The Uncarved Blog 