Author: Damien S. Riley

8/10 It’s a gem but there are a few rough spots. Could have made it better with a practical ending imho.

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What I’m most thankful for in 2023: My 3 kids are my world. I also want to share something else I am grateful for, here goes: This year really amazed me. Please note that the concept of “year” or month, day or hour for that matter is not eternal. It was a construct assigned to us at some time in the distant past by humans. All we have is “the now.” Without human made constructs, that would be all we’d know. This past year I have surrendered to the moment more than I have in decades. As a 5 year old I was in touch with it. It got clouded through the years, leaving me a victim of thoughts about the past and future. We have all we need to live right now in the present. It is when I look to the “interpretable” past or the “predictive” place we create called “the future,” I see clearly there is no reality apart from the present moment. I’m thankful this year I can grasp that. It ends anxiety for me. I’m thankful to know my true home in my body in the present moment as long as I am aware of myself. Some call that awareness “Consciousness.” Here is a song I wrote and recorded this past year. It is an instrumental and it brings me back to my first realizations in 2023 about my place in the present moment. I hope you enjoy. Seasons greetings.

Wonderful turn of the century monster fun. Recommend for Christmas 2023.

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I’ve tried posting this 3 times.

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I might as well hope for the worst outcome because that’s historically where miracles happen in my lifeline. Kinda a freeing thought.

Thich Nhat Hanh taught constantly about the importance of mentally living in the present moment. I use his technique of the bell to center and focus on it in my meditation time. When we are in the moment, he says we have “Arrived home” in our own body.