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I've fallen into the bad habit of doing homework way past the due date, however, I will note that I am still trying to be good by not listening to the next week's discussion before posting (trying to keep an honest record!).

Following:

For a few years I've been curious about why some people feel that winter is an ideal time for sitting practice.  I tend to prefer a little of the springtime zing, or even the changes of fall.  Winter is usually a depressing season for me, and although it's great to see old friends and family around the holidays, it can feel disruptive too, and by Jan or Feb I'm lying in bed, sort of unwilling to get up and live another day.  It's hard to see how this could be a good basis for practice, life, etc. -- maybe it is, or maybe people mean something else?

So following seems like a good way to investigate winter and I've been trying it out this week.  Following has been a good friend in specific moments, so I'm looking forward to see how it plays out as a focus over a longer timeframe. 

So that's probably a grander scheme than what Stim was hoping for, but so far there have been some happy results -- it's been weirdly easy to be still, and that stillness has formed an baseline to feel into what I'm up to at other times too.  It's been easier to remember my dreams, and easier to notice when I've bought into an *idea* of what I need to do to meet someone else's needs and requirements (I'm thinking of Mom :) and become quite scattered -- at those moments, I can't instantly summon up that stillness again, but I can (sometimes) go back to following something that feels more comfortable.