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Story 42 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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In large stores in Korea there is a greeter at the front door. He or she bows and wishes you well and a good shopping experience. Koreans are used to this formal welcome. They walk by without...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
2 minutes 00 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

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Story 41 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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You need to walk before you run. This much is certain. There is an old joke of a tourist lost in New York City who asked a passerby how to get to Carnegie Hall. He was told, “Practice, my boy, practice.” This process can appear to be slow going. This is quite normal, as the progress is incremental. (And meditation practice redefines incremental.) It can seem at times...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 27 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 40 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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“You’ve got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.” This was the great jazz saxophonist, Charlie Parker’s, musical lesson. But it...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 15 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 39 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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My father would go apoplectic when he was near gum chewers. He would physically recoil as they mashed away in complete obliviousness to the consternation they were causing him. Though I didn’t understand the reason for his meltdowns, over time I absorbed his attitude. Each time some unsuspecting gum smacker tried to engage my father in a conversation, I could feel my father do a slow burn. Like a tuning fork hearing a note played on a piano, I would commiserate with him, and my habit patterning would...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 29 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 38 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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The Buddha was also the first neuroscientist. He confirmed neuroplasticity, the mind's ability to change by restructuring itself at the neurological level. The Buddha altered his mind to such an extent that he transcended the final two complex, problematic stages of the thinking process. He declared himself enlightened, which is to say free from the shackles of greed, hatred, and delusion. This was proof positive, as James Olds, a professor of neuroscience, said, that the mind is not just plastic but “very plastic.” So much so that...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
5 minutes 56 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 37 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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The Buddha was more scientist than spiritual seeker. He wanted to understand human suffering using himself, his body, and his mind as his laboratory. After many years of ascetic practices, while sitting under a pipal tree in Bihar in northern India, he took a vow not to move until his experiment gave up an answer. As dawn broke so did the yoke that tied him to this earthly realm. Enlightenment. He was now awakened. He was now the Buddha. The one who knows. And what does he ask of us? Reverence? Obedience? Blind devotion? Not at all. He asks...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
6 minutes 16 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 36 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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One night a man lost his keys. He looked for them under a street lamp. A friend walked by, saw him looking for something, and asked him what he lost.

“My keys,” he replied.

“Oh,” said his friend. “Where did you lose them?”

“Over there. In the woods,” came the reply.

Stunned, the friend asked, “But why are you looking for them here?”

“The light is much brighter here!” the man replied.

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
4 minutes 09 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 35 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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For my father’s entire life, I was not a parent. In his presence I reverted to a child-like sense of entitlement. His world revolved around me and this, I thought, was how it should be. I had my family after he had passed away. And it was only as my boys got older and I dealt with all the practical aspects of child-rearing that I fully appreciated all my father had done. I loved him all the more and grieved his...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 26 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.

Story 33 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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A healthy component of the practice is to stay awake to encroaching spiritual materialism. This danger begins to raise its head after you think of yourself as an experienced practitioner. You may judge your practice as quite advanced. You pat yourself on the back. You start acquiring compliments. Thoughts that you might teach someday may flutter through your consciousness. Don’t indulge in these meanderings. Keep an eye on them as you would a spot of crabgrass on an otherwise pristine lawn.

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 15 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2022 Pariyatti

'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' as a book and eBook can be found at https://store.pariyatti.org/a-lifetime-doing-nothing.

More by Ian McCrorie.

View more books and audio resources available in the Pariyatti bookstore.