Story 79 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Our cottage is on a small lake on the Canadian Shield. Our shoreline is very rocky, with large boulders deposited there as the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago. Amazingly this shoreline provides sufficient sustenance for trees to grow and, in their own way, thrive. They protrude out perpendicularly from crevices between the rocks before turning upwards to catch a modicum of sunlight and spread their gnarly majesty....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
2 minutes 58 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 78 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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One summer I drove a truck for an oil company. Two of us installed the oil tanks for furnaces in the basement of houses. It was dirty work. The basements were often unheated. They were seldom clean. One day, it was particularly cold and rainy. We entered through the back door into the kitchen. On my way to the basement stairs I came upon the owners, two unwed older sisters having a breakfast of tea and toast. The tea had just been poured, and...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 51 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 77 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Doing non-doing deconditions the mind so that a happy life, defined by the Stoics as true, virtuous, and natural, arises like a phoenix from the ashes of the conditioned mind. Since the real shift is within you, your new life may retain all the appearances of your old life. After all, the difference, they say, between heaven and hell is a mere sixteenth of an inch, surely an imperceptible amount of change in the grand scheme of things....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 22 seconds

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'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 76 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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In Korea it is considered rude to speak immediately after someone else has just spoken. Korean culture demands a slight pause to indicate the listeners have fully digested and appreciated the input. It gives them pause for thought. This promotes civilized dialogue in which everyone’s view is respected. It also calms blind reactions to some perceived fault in the argument. A pause is a conscious decision to...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
2 minutes 31 seconds

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'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 75 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Years ago, when I would walk around my house late at night after everyone else was asleep, it felt like I had always lived there. I liked that it felt that way. As my oldest son said when he was three, “It feels as perfect as right.” I knew where the hardwood floors creaked, and I avoided those spots so I wouldn’t wake the baby who, like me, was a light sleeper. My wife and my five-year-old, he of the aphorism above, slept the sleep of the dead. I could drop a refrigerator on the creaky spots and they wouldn't stir....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 24 seconds

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'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 74 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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I loved the water buffalo I encountered in India. Despite their girth and their horns, they were very gentle creatures. They calmly abided all and sundry afflictions, heat, mosquitoes, and monsoon rains without so much as a by-your-leave. Other than whisking away unwanted bitey things with their tails, they endured, and they did so ever so calmly....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
2 minutes 29 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 73 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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I loved to go fishing with my father, because he was a terrible fisherman. He never caught anything. I was fine with this. I didn't like to put a worm on the hook. I didn't like taking the hook out of the fish's mouth, and I certainly couldn't bash the head of the fish against the seat of the boat to kill it....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
5 minutes 47 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 72 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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I think there is a place in our lives for tradition and even ritual. They keep our lives simple and understandable. In our family we have pancakes every Sunday and tea every evening. We go for walks together. We spend a month every summer at our cottage. We watch a movie every Friday night....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 14 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 71 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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The summer after high school, Tony, his younger brother Chris, and I set out in an old Vauxhall held together with spit and bailing wire for points west on the Trans-Canada Highway. We camped the entire way and cooked over an open fire. Once we reached the Pacific, we headed south to the Oregon hills before turning east and eventually home and university. On the way we camped near Mount Rushmore, hoping to see the famous presidential sculptures the next morning....

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2023
4 minutes 22 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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 70 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie
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Bhante Rahula and I would meditate outside on some very flat but hard boulders because that summer was particularly hot. On this particular day, I crossed my legs and straightened my spine as usual. I closed my eyes, and almost immediately I felt nothing but subtle vibrating throughout my entire being. It appeared I had dissolved into pulsations. I felt no solidity. I had become a...

narrated by Ian McCrorie
2022
3 minutes 00 seconds

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Audio copyright, 2023 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.