- Published on
February 2026
- Authors
- Name
- David Hugh Davies
A walk around the neighbourhood with Holly and an hour of playing planned. I figure I can write and edit and get used to writing as part of my daily routine. Does that make sense? I am into mindfullness. Getting into more than just routines. It is Tuesday today and I visit my friend before Dan chess at the condo. It seems like I have been living 'the dream' so to speak.
Dan has trouble with mobility. He spends a lot of time in bed. He has a Hoyer lift and has arranged to get out a couple of times a week. He also has a trainer on Saturday's who is into Wim Hof beathing and weight training. I'm into the weekly routine of coming over on Tuesday afternoons before chess. Lately I've been reading to him. This week is was 'Dancing with Life'. He wanted an acronym for the foundations of mindfullness. So I came up with 'KNOW and not in that order'.
- K: know how any experience feels like in the body
- N: Note the pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feeling tone that accompanies every moment's experience
- W: Witness your mental state and your emotions in the moment
- O: Open to the impersonal truth of life that is revealed in this moment
Your supposed to develop mindfullness of the body experience (K) before going on to the other three foundations.
Dan is one of the most zen people I know already, so it's fun to go through this with him. Restarting following the breath is another key feature of this mindfullness. I try to breath while practising piano. It's a bit like chewing gum while walking.
I have my Global Piano Network, I am stuck on the landing page and authorization. It's coming along slowly.
I'm planning a piano sighting trip around Aurora, get recon about what is happening live.
When I was at John Abbott College in the Montreal West Island in the mid-seventies, there was a course on 'playing the blues' with a local musician, Trevor Payne. He was also involved with a choir downtown along with Daisy Peterson, one of Oscar's sisters. My piano teacher in the early seventies was Paul de Marky who had retired from the stage decades earlier and who's claim to fame was having had Oscar as a pupil. Small world.
Here's a song that was part of the reportoire 25 years ago when I was playing in a blues band around Toronto. 'My Momma Told Me'.
Brad played at 'The Whiskey Lounge' on Valentine's Day. We went and watched him play. I like his music and I think he plays vwry well. I also played a couple of songs. It was a fun evening.