Today some random notes.

• I'm enjoying this new Zen blog. So far separating my posts on Zen from my other blog feels nice.
• Went to my doctor yesterday and was told that I was healthy. I was surprised by that. I had been telling myself that I was not healthy and in fact I was about to check out. The mind is a funny thing. One odd bit of information (one high blood pressure reading) and a couple of funny sensations in the body (neck muscle twitching) leads to confusion and delusion.
• There is a retreat/sesshin coming up in a couple of weeks and I'm enrolled! Branching Moon a seven day residential retreat on the Puget Sound with Jack Duffy and Seattle's Three Treasures Sangha of the Pacific Northwest .
• Today, in "Miniatures of a Zen Master" 4/200 Robert points to how easy it is to be duped by our "self-concerns". The small me which happens to be the loudest voice in my head. Funny how the small me is loud and Big Mind is silent. I guess not so funny, more like sad. Look at the world and the effects are plain and oh so sad usually.
  
• What would the world be if the roles of small me and Big Mind were switched? Genpo Merzel claims to have a method for doing this. Even though all my conservative Zen friends poo-poo Genpo Merzel's Big Mind process, I'm fascinated.

How are my small "self-concerns" getting in the way of actualizing what is real? Can I even identify all of these "self-concerns" without letting any slip through?