misc.joy – explorations by kenley
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Six Months and Six Albums
Music fanatic here! (nod to Henry Rollins). If you’ve read my blog for a long time, you’d know that I used to cover music quite a bit. We’re half way through the year 2024 and there’s been some fine releases this year. Some truly beautiful music. I have some eclectic tastes so I hope you…
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From Monastery to Canada
Yesterday marked six months since I left the monastery. It’s was also my son’s 24th birthday. And my dad arrived for a short Father’s Day visit. This seemed like a good time to reflect on what’s been happening these past months. I’ve settled into a very nice 2-bedroom apartment in Abbotsford that’s within walking distance…
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Depression, Healing, and my First Tattoo
Content Warning: Suicide I have always been around people with tattoos. In fact, it’s been quite common given my background. But I’d sworn to never ink my body permanently. And now, at age 56, I find myself getting my first tattoo. I feel that I’ve reached something of a milestone and I want to honor,…
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Attending Iceland Airwaves Music Festival
This week I attended my first Iceland Airwaves music festival in Reykjavik and I’d definitely do it again. I first heard of Airwaves 5-6 years ago through the KEXP podcast. Since then I’ve been tuned in a bit more to Icelandic musicians beyond the big names (Björk and Sigur Rós) and I’m happier for the…
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Living a Spiritual Life
A teaching on living a spiritual life by looking at volition, sense impressions, and consciousness. Supported by the Fourteen Verses of Meditation.
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Living in a Monastery
It was 2020 and I was living alone in a studio apartment and working remotely. The covid pandemic had fully settled in to our society and I was feeling lonely, upset and not well. I had spent the prior year trying to get better from my clinical depression and in February 2020 I had left…
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Nonviolence and Beloved Community
As a long-time student of nonviolence, I was excited to pickup the book Healing Resistance by Kazu Haga. Not only was it published by Parallax Press, founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, but the jacket quotes from Michelle Alexander, Joanna Macy, and Larry Yang said this was a book for me to read. Kazu writes in…