{"id":3791,"date":"2018-11-01T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T23:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyam.net\/blog\/?p=3791"},"modified":"2018-11-01T00:03:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T23:03:37","slug":"marathon-monk-october-2018-233-days-1398-mindful-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyam.net\/blog\/archives\/3791","title":{"rendered":"Marathon Monk: October 2018 \u2013 233 days & 1,398 mindful miles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One of my Marathon Monk shrines – Old College War Memorial. A pinhole photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another month already! Towards the end of the month I’ve been finding joy again in walking and in mundane things – the true test of happiness. The extra energy has allowed me to cut back on my media consumption so I’m not looking at Twitter, Facebook or news websites just at the moment. It doesn’t feel that it is the cutting back on the media that lead to my positive mood. The two things arose at the the same point but are compatible.<\/p>\n

We are in poppy season again. I don’t wear a poppy although I used to. It feels to me that the meaning of Armistice Day<\/a> has changed. It feels far more that people in public positions are shamed into wearing poppies and that poppies are worn in the spirit of “nationalistic flag waving” rather than remembrance. The irony is that some would think I’m being disrespectful when I have stood in remembrance at the Old College War Memorial 233 times in the last 18 months and am committed to doing it another 767 times over the next few years. Our family was particularly touched by the loss of my would-have-been uncle Eric, my father’s brother, who was killed in 1945. I wrote on his death and the nature or remembrance back in 2012.<\/a> I am also a “flag waving nationalist” to many – but that is another topic.<\/p>\n

Thoughts this evening are for my Uncle Peter (my mother’s younger brother) who passed away last night at the age of 80. He was a musician and also former paratrooper so there is a military link there although I don’t think he ever saw active service.<\/p>\n