Meditation is one of those activities I seem to regularly think about but never seem to get around to doing. I tried to get into the habit a couple of years ago, but I didn’t really know what I was doing and didn’t put the effort into learning more about the practice. Ever since I seriously started CR and declared myself a life-extensionist, I have slowing started getting use to the idea of actually adding meditation to my daily routine.

I got a mental boost from discussions on the Immortality Institute’s forums, and  have begun to learn more about all the positive effects both mentally and physically. One particular type of meditation I keep running across is Vipassan?.

Vipassan? meditation is “insight” meditation – the process of becoming mindful of the true nature of our existence. The main idea is to learn to be an objective observer to our reality rather than a slave to consuming subjective emotions.

Since I can be a rather high strung person at times, this sounds like a good thing. :-)

The Vipassan? Dhura Meditation Society has a great page that explains Vipassan?. I recommend looking around the “what” and “how” pages and just letting the idea sink in. If you are interested, don’t feel like you have to act immediately; just keep it in the background of your mind (and keep reading about it) until you feel ready to make the commitment. It took me a month of back and forth in my mind to finally decide how (or if) I wanted to do meditation.

I would like to hear about others’ experiences with meditation; especially other life-extensionists or CRONies.
——–

Now onto some food stuffs. I made a really tasty chili this afternoon. It taste like chili, but has this whole other layer of taste that is subtle but really good. QB definitely approved of this recipe, but lamented in not having saltines to go with it. Maybe I should try to make paleo crackers. Hum….

CR Pork Chili (~13 1C servings)

5 boneless pork chops (~900g)
1 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
2 C Chicken Broth
~700g Turnips, diced
350-400g Sweet Onion, chopped
~150g Red Bell Pepper (1 pepper), chopped
2C Canned Pumpkin (~240g)
2T Almond Oil
1packet chili seasoning + 1/2 packet taco seasoning
additional chili powder, cumin, tumeric

Combine tomatoes, broth, pork (in large chunks), and seasoning packets in a large pot. Mix well, bring to a boil, then let simmer for about 2hrs. In a separate pot, boil turnips until soft. Once turnips are soft, blend them in a blender with some of their liquid until smooth. Once pork begins to fall apart, use a wooden spoon (or come up with your own way) to mash-up the pork. Add the onions, pepper, turnips, and pumpkin and simmer for another ~30min. Depending on taste preference, add additional spices as desired.

And as usual…here is my daily stuff. Grocery day is Monday, and boy are we excited. Ha.