by So I took out “Satan’s Fur Puppets” and put in “Writer, Cat-butler.” I had to put something there to explain the prominently featured cats.
A recent study showed that mindfulness meditation (MBSR), something I started doing a couple of years ago, actually causes physical changes in the brain. Researchers found increased grey matter in the areas of the brain that are involved with learning and memory and decreased grey matter in areas having to do with anxiety and stress. They also found increased grey matter in “structures associated with self-awareness, compassion and introspection.”
Speaking of compassion, someone posted this horrible exchange/fight [the video I linked to was removed] that took place on the subway. I thought both sides were awful. The woman who made the ugly remark which started the whole thing, and the girls who turned it into a brawl. I was on their side at first. Eating on the subway is not the best idea, but I’ve had to do it twice in my life. Both times I was running around non-stop for work and it was the only opportunity to eat. I couldn’t even stop for five minutes. I certainly didn’t want to eat there, but it was that or starve. So people may not like it, but who knows what their story was. It was their right to confront her, but they acted like thugs about it and lost the high ground, I thought.
An early morning bagpiper in Union Square.
