Beginning my day anew

My day mostly begins at about six, without an alarm’s sound

I open the windows of my high rise flat,

Bedroom, kitchen, bath and living room picture windows,

from which I can view high-rise buildings everywhere,

but intermingled with trees, and grassed open spaces, and flowers

Singapore: the garden city.

Facing my desk, loaded with transformers and wires,

providing nourishment for my computer, iPhone, cell phone, kindle

A twenty four-story apartment building is rising

Soon, yellow helmeted men with dark skins,

will be assembling en mass,

to receive their orders from white helmeted men,

before beginning twelve hours or more of toil,

constructing homes in which they never will live.

My meditation begins, facing a golden Lord Buddha statue

I strive and struggle, in silence, to experience an uncluttered mind,

and “Seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings,”

These are goals most likely to be attained, not in this lifetime,

but perhaps in some future incarnation

of the consciousness stream that is me - and not me.

Soon it will be time to prepare my daily “DO TODAY” list

purging my electronic blank slate of yesterday’s clutter

and beginning anew

listing tasks that will be done

and some that will likely remain undone

My friend Dana Meadows and I,

in our book, Groping in the Dark  wrote this:

“Human beings should decide what is most important

and what is less so

and live their lives for what is most important.”

Each morning, preparing my “DO TODAY”

provides an opportunity to make that decision.

During the rest of the day, I get to spend sixteen hours, or so,

living according to what I have decided.

Tomorrow, shortly after 6 AM

I will get to reflect on today’s results

and begin anew.