Well...hello everyone.

[DhammaJosh]

*It looks like there are a few places to post intros here, so I just settled on this. I hope that's okay.*

You'd think that, having followed the Thai Forest path for two decades now, I'd have already discovered this forum before only recently. Well, I'm here now and I guess that's what counts.

Hello, everyone! As my username implies, my name is Josh. I started off on the Mahayana side of the aisle in Pure Land Buddhism for a few years before realizing that it wasn't a good fit for me. After some exploration and research, I found my spiritual home in the Thai Forest tradition where I have remained since. I'm approaching the big four-oh in life, and I live with my husband and our three cats in a very rural town nestled within the mountains in the western United States.

Despite my love for Buddhism, my degree is in Medieval and Early Modern European history and, despite my degree, I work in a completely unrelated field - industrial engineering. There's a long story of how that came about that I will spare you from.

As far as hobbies, I'm a huge fan of mostly anything to do with physical and natural sciences, but my true love lies in Astronomy. I ALMOST got my degree in Astronomy before accepting the fact that math was certainly not my strong suit; I'm far more skilled at writing and historical research. I also really enjoy being out in nature, and I can often be found birdwatching in my local area. Additionally, I absolutely love reading (I think that's pretty much a prerequisite for being a historian).

Furthermore, despite being a layperson and married, I live a pretty ascetic life. I'm a natural minimalist who has never really invested any value into material goods. I drive a very old but reliable car, I live in a 100 year old home, and the extent of my frivolous expenses go primarily toward gardening (another hobby of mine). My husband doesn't necessarily share my minimalist outlook, but we have a good balance in our home and we are both happy. We are both also strict vegans (don't worry, I'm not here to proselytize. I'm not *that* kind of vegan).

Outside of hobbies and basic lifestyle, I love to travel and have lived (long-term) in four different countries across Europe and the Middle East, in additional to having explored an additional 11 countries.

One fun fact about me is that I'm a bit of a polyglot; I speak Italian, German, Latin, and English (my native tongue). I also can speak a little Arabic, though I'm virtually useless when it comes to writing it. I'm not necessarily passionate about languages, but I do seem to have a natural ability to pick them up pretty easily, and living in multiple countries - as well as having studied several of the aforementioned languages formally - definitely has helped in the process.

Well, I suppose this is as good a place as any to wrap this up. I am happy to be a part of your community and I look forward to getting to know you all.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings Josh,

Thanks for the intro and welcome to Dhamma Wheel.



Metta,
Paul.

[Sam Vara]

Hello DhammaJosh, and welcome to Dhamma Wheel

[robertk]

don't worry, I'm not here to proselytize. I'm not *that* kind of vegan

[Pondera]

Welcome. Don’t worry about the big 4-0! Turning 40 has been the best thing to happen to me since turning 29.

What kind of meditation do you practice, if you don’t mind me asking?

I’m a breath watcher. I don’t practice too much thought watching however. I’m of the conviction that the first stages of meditation will contain thoughts regardless of whether you watch them or not. I believe that we can “switch” into a mode where thoughts disappear.

In that sense, I watch the breath - but only for the purpose of relaxing my “breathing apparatus” (I’m obsessed with the form and function of the nostrils as they relate to smell and the influence of smell over the mind in general. I believe smell is a primordial sense which holds much sway over the mind. I’ve had success since turning 40 with relaxing the mind simply by relaxing different parts of the nose - ie. the inner nostrils - the outer nostrils - the tip of the nose - the bridge - and the bulbous top part of the nose. Different results for different parts of the nose ).

[SarathW]

[DNS]

Welcome to DW!

☸

Outside of hobbies and basic lifestyle, I love to travel and have lived (long-term) in four different countries across Europe and the Middle East, in additional to having explored an additional 11 countries.

Me too, I have lived long term in Germany and Israel.

[StrivingforMonkhood]

May you fulfill your deepest wish for happiness.