Southern Buddhist
Saturday, March 20th, 2010, 1:13 PM
QUOTE (Nikki_N @ Thursday, March 18th, 2010, 10:39 PM)

I'm sorry I didn't pimp you. Did I mention that it turns me on a little that you've been on NPR?
That's okay. Knowing you're turned on turns me on too!
QUOTE (Nikki_N @ Thursday, March 18th, 2010, 10:43 PM)

This bit was particularly good, SB:
On the track there is nothing but the car and its driver; the fans are invisible, the environment a mere blur. The driver is alone with his desire, his fear, and his courage, and he must be fully present.
It reminds of bits I've read in The Miracle of Mindfulness.
Thanks. I did two readings in two days, and this, I've realized, is actually my favorite sentence in the whole book:
QUOTE
when he climbed from the car in Victory Lane, no one would have been surprised if he had taken the moment for himself to savor. But he didn't. Instead, one of the first things he said was, "I hope everyone gets the chance to feel this way just once in their lives." Again, in moments that cannot be rehearsed, we see a person's authentic self, their true nature, and this generosity of spirit was Dale's.
It's how we act when we're too busy to "act" that really shows who we are. How we react to sudden news, how we behave in little moments when no one is watching and we don't care how we come across, how we are when we don't self-edit -- that's our true character. Winning a huge race many people thought he might never win, that was a moment that was too overwhelming to be faked (he admitting to crying a little in the car on the cool-down lap, and his whole persona was the tough, macho Southern man), and that Dale could react by thinking of others first says a ton about his character to me. There's a quote I like that says, "Character may be manifested in the great moments, but it's made in the small ones." That he could be generous in a big moment says to me that he was generous in a whole lot of small ones.