introduction 1 planning

My project for the National Novel Writing Month this year is to write a first draft of my autobiography. This is my third visit to NANRIMO and I intend to write 30 chapters of up to 2000 words daily and post them unrevised in this blog.

I woke up today at 5:30 am on the seventh floor of Merton House, Crabtree Drive and lay still in bed informally meditating and in a state of reverie planning what I should do today.

When I was a self employed (commission only) life insurance salesman, I studied business methods and found that the most important thing to do, in order to be organised, was time management and setting priorities. The best way to come to feel good about that, was to make a list of what needed to be done. In planning and then doing my days work I only have to do the most important two or three things, which cannot be put off until the morrow, and I will go to bed happy and sleep well.

What I meant by informal meditation was very close to daydreaming, in order to sort out the correct spelling of revery, reverie, I googled and looked for definitions and not finding any with the first spelling I looked at day dreaming then daydreaming - Google Search
when I clicked on [definition] and scrolled down past Français (French)
n. - rêves, rêverie, rêvasseries v. intr. - rêver, rêvasser n
I found worring links to conditions such as autism or autistic spectrum disorder and even attention deficit disorder.

Luckily I found a web page explaining this post freudian blundering :-

Confusion and controversy is caused by the tendency of some mental health professionals to assume that everyone diagnosed with ADD has some mysterious, irreversible brain defect.
This assumption has its roots in the very first group of severely ADD people ever studied, who suffered from encephalitis, or a swelling of the brain.
We also have learned that birth defects and brain injury from toxic chemicals such as lead often cause ADD.

However, over the last several decades the ADD diagnostic criteria have been so broadened as to include many people with no brain defects at all.

Experts in the fields of temperament and creativity have objected that perfectly healthy people are being classified as disordered. click here to read more on born to explore

Back to meditation, by formal meditation, I mean the sort of routine practiced in an ashram, or the daily prayer cycle of a monastery, or of a devoted muslim.

Take a monastic day:-
rise 3:15 to 4:00 am - breakfast 7:00 or 7:45 - lunch (dinner) 12:00 noon - siesta 1:30 to 2:30 - evening meal 5.00 or 6:30 - one hour of silence - 8:00 or 10;30 lights out or retire to rest.
This time plan is in part agricultural as if there are cows to be milked. There are 14 sessions of prayer or services, 4 hours work and 1 hour of recreation.

A muslim year is planned by moon and their day by sun, this year is 1427 and today is the last day of this Ramadan
Eid-ul-Fit.
the break-fast
the first day of Shawwal (the tenth month in the Islamic calendar). WIKI

Moon Watch :: An Einstein Year Project: "Have you ever wondered at what stage you can see the new crescent moon? In October 2006, the new moon occurs on October 22nd.

For the Muslim community, the sighting of this crescent moon will signal the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid ul-Fitr. Although the new moon occurs on October 22nd, it will not be seen from the United Kingdom until October 24th or, more likely, October 25th. Consequently, we would like to encourage UK observers to try and observe the new crescent moon on both October 24th and 25th in particular."

In Copenhagen my muslim neighbour from Pakistan used to phone home to ask if the crescent moon had been seen.

Muslims are commanded to perform salat fives times a day WIKI.
These days their timetables are on line muslim timetable - Google Search which varies according to location muslim timetable birmingham - Google Search just like church clocks did before the coming of railways.

The Birmingham Central Mosque has confirmed that Eid 2006 will be
Tuesday 24th October.

My granny born in Raglan, Wales taught me to make a secret wish when I first saw a new moon, and that it was bad luck to see it through glass.
Jones, Blanche Eveline b: 5 JUN 1874 in Raglan, Monmouthshire (AHW BB 1874) d: 5 JUL 1953 in The Haven Monmouth Road Usk Monmouthshire ?July 5 1953

today according to Birmingham, BHXont> United Kingdom Forecast : Weather Underground the sun rises at 7:46 am and sets at 5:55 pm
and at Birmingham Central Mosque:

Congregational prayer service times are for today:

Fajr 6:30 am - and pm Dhuhr 1.45 - (Jumm'ah 1.30) - Asr 4:30 - Magrib 6:01 - Isha 8:00 -

and from a web site with this - Motherpage and Latest Updates -
- an example of an Ashram daily routine:-

4:50 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. Archana
( Chanting of Lalita Sahasranama )
6:30 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. Meditation
7:30 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. Walking Meditation
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Scriptural Study
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Breakfast
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Sevar
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sevar
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Meditation
6:30 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. Bhajans
8:15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Dinner
9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Personal study,
Meditation, Diary Keeping

Happy Diwali to All
The Festival of Lights is on 21 Oct.

So by formal meditation I mean the discipline of posture and chanting and mandala or rosary or even the bedside prayer, such as I was taught as a child.
see also ashram routine - Google Search:
eg
"The Ashram routine includes three complete meals. The food is vegetarian and a Sattvik balanced South Indian diet in tune with the yogic principles of food "

To which, being european, I would add up to 100 grams of meat of fish protein and some skimmed milk and a little cheese.

My danish dieticians recommended adding two small snacks between meals, for example:- a small fruit or a half piece of rye bread.

Today I have three important projects doing a longish written blog, finishing a translation of a short story from danish and cleaning up my central family history file Updated: 2006-07-18
of which unfortunately the working copy got corrupted.

This is only about 1000 words but it is a start