{"id":2005,"date":"2006-10-26T07:23:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-26T07:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting\/"},"modified":"2011-11-01T15:15:54","modified_gmt":"2011-11-01T19:15:54","slug":"early-morning-fretting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html","title":{"rendered":"Early Morning Fretting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Very, very early tomorrow I\u2019ll be climbing on a plane to Southern California where I\u2019ll be doing a workshop on Zen & Unitarian Universalism and then preaching at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. Perhaps signficantly, the sermon topic will be doubt as a spiritual practice.<\/p>\n

With my back being wonky for something over two months now, I\u2019ve actually been looking forward to what should be a delightful experience with some dread. I\u2019ve been thinking this trip will suggest how difficult it\u2019s going to be for me to carry luggage and to not easily lay down to take pressure off my spine. I believe I\u2019ve mentioned before I\u2019ve been deviled with a triple threat: degenerative disc disease, massive arthritis up and down my spine and I\u2019ve had one significant disc herniation. All aggravated, of course, by being overweight. And for the last several months my back has been particularly fragile. With a pilgrimage to India as the highlight of my sabbatical, how hard this solo traveling with luggage is going to be, is very important. And so this little trip might be very revealing\u2026<\/p>\n

Laying awake since quite early this morning I\u2019ve begun to think first whether I should go to India, at all. But, at least in part, thanks to the fact I\u2019ve a paid non-refundable round trip ticket on an airline that doesn\u2019t offer alternative trips that are very interesting to me; and as this is almost certainly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I\u2019ve been thinking mostly how I might revision this trip. Currently the plan is to visit the tribal Unitarians of the Khasi Hills and then to visit the four major sites of the Buddha\u2019s life. I\u2019m beginning to feel I need to scale back my plans, to do less traveling, like staying put in maybe two places such as Delhi and Bodhgaya \u2013 and simply take day trips from those locations. It means missing a lot. At this moment I\u2019m not sure what to do.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this and have a suggestion or two, I\u2019d sure like to hear it.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, I\u2019ll keep you all in the loop, as experiences and plans unveil themselves.<\/p>\n

Today is Thursday and therefore my major focus is the lecture. In this class we\u2019ll be exploring how Zen came to North America. A rich and interesting migration\u2026<\/p>\n

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Very, very early tomorrow I\u2019ll be climbing on a plane to Southern California where I\u2019ll be doing a workshop on Zen & Unitarian Universalism and then preaching at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego. Perhaps signficantly, the sermon topic will be doubt as a spiritual practice. With my back being wonky for something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nEarly Morning Fretting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Very, very early tomorrow I\u2019ll be climbing on a plane to Southern California where I\u2019ll be doing a workshop on Zen & Unitarian Universalism and then\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early Morning Fretting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Very, very early tomorrow I\u2019ll be climbing on a plane to Southern California where I\u2019ll be doing a workshop on Zen & Unitarian Universalism and then\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Monkey Mind\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/james.ford.1029\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-10-26T07:23:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-11-01T19:15:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/33904114-116186208110954189?l=monkeymindonline.blogspot.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Ford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html\",\"name\":\"Early Morning Fretting\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-10-26T07:23:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-11-01T19:15:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\"},\"description\":\"Very, very early tomorrow I\u2019ll be climbing on a plane to Southern California where I\u2019ll be doing a workshop on Zen & Unitarian Universalism and then\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/2006\/10\/early-morning-fretting.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Early Morning Fretting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/\",\"name\":\"Monkey Mind\",\"description\":\"Easily distracted...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/3f37f475fb5078d1e7faa93a63a0fddb\",\"name\":\"James Ford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/monkeymind\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa18971b225a3bb79f0c4c381a5fae20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Ford\"},\"description\":\"James Ishmael Ford is a writer and spiritual director. 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