For some reason, I was more tired than usual today. I had really vivid dreams, though. My sister and I were staying with cousins in Beebe, Arkansas. Our oldest cousin was pregnant in the dream, and we were celebrating. C, my sister, had built a kind of wind chime out of string and an umbrella. She spun it. I untangled the strings from the spokes, while it was moving. In the dream, I was so fast, I could do it, and just like in the Matrix, the spokes of the spinning umbrella appeared slow enough for me to straighten the string attached to chimes. I credit my super-dream speed to karate.
Dreaming of a childhood home, though, usually makes me introspective. Interrupted sleep, which probably makes the memory of dreams possible, is, most likely, the tired factor.
Nevertheless, I did exercises this morning and after work. During the forty chest push-ups in the morning, (following the required sixty tricep ones), I went to my knees early, after fewer than fifteen. Yesterday I had managed to stay up for half. Once again, I used pebbles to keep up with the count for one hundred sit-ups, and that worked out better today: no long pauses, and it kept me on track. What is there to say about squats with alternating punches, other than I’m still doing them? In the evening, I did manage to stay on my toes and fists for the sixty chest push-ups, but as soon as I was on the mat to do the forty tricep ones, I went to my knees early, too. I did not do regular sit-ups but my usual lower ab exercises.
I asked my husband, right after the second set of push-ups, “When do you think this will get easier? I’ve been doing this for a year, and it’s still not easy.” He had no answer. To be fair, I supposed doing twenty push-ups is easier now than a year ago. Actually I’m not certain about that: hopefully I’m at least faster.
I am still reading a tale from “Zen Flesh, Zen Bones” before bed. Last night’s tale was interesting, and short. A monk named Gasan said, “Those who preach against killing any sentient being are right…. What of those who kill time…. [And] what of the one who preaches without enlightenment? He is killing Buddhism!”