Good morning from Texas! 
My route to this forum has been odd. About seven years ago, I developed a chronic pain condition. Someone suggested mediation, so I read a Jon Kabot-Zinn book and tried it out. I lasted about three weeks because it did nothing for me and seemed "off," so I stopped.
After the pandemic hit, I randomly took a free online course about psychology and Buddhism. After I finished, I headed to Youtube to get the Buddhist perspective, thinking I'd satisfy my curiosity in an hour or two. That search pulled up a talk by Ajahn Brahm at the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. I probably watched about 20 talks in a week! I kept watching them while I read a few books by Jack Kornfield, Thich Nhat Hahn, and Walpola Rahula. From there, I watched the Noble Eightfold Path workshop from the BSWA and downloaded Ajahn Brahm's meditation booklet. Somewhere along the way, I realized meditation in America had been completely removed from the Noble Eightfold Path and turned it into something it probably wasn't intended for. That's why it had seemed so "off" to me.
Anyway, I just started the BSWA's Early Buddhism course last week. It involves a lot of sutta reading.
I thought I might end up starting a thread or two about topics from the course at some point, so I wanted to at least say "Hello!" before I did that. 
I hope everyone is having a
wonderful day. 
p.s. Sorry about overdoing the smilies. They're too cute though. This is why you can't take me anywhere nice.
