I've been attempting to "automate" a lot of my practices - and I would like to explain what I mean by that.

A lot of various financial books and recommendations, say something like the following:

"If you are attempting to DISCIPLINE yourself to save money, forget it. There is a much easier way.  What you need to do, is to automatically setup your savings account to accept a certain amount per month.  A minimum you should save is $5/day.  That means, automatically having 150 going into a savings account, your IRA, 401K, etc.  Trying to do this after the fact is MUCH harder."

I've been doing this in regards to other practices as well.

a. I've set myself up to run back and forth from home at 4 times/week.  Since I have to go home or work anyway, and I am close enough to run, it has really worked out to setup this particular process. It "smooths the way", so to speak.
b. I'm doing something similar for meditating, that requires one piece of discipline.  No matter what, I don't get in the shower in the morning, unless I've meditated for 30 minutes.  Even if I am running late, I do NOT get going in my day, unless I have meditated. (Once this made me late to work - but since then, my mind sort of got it.)  

I am looking for ways to do this for other important disciplines.  If I find any, I'll let you know here...

I've been ruminating about what I like about blogging, and various bloggers that I read - and then also the limitations of the blogging form.

I - clearly - blog a lot.  Why is this, when at the same time, one of the main things that I hate is too much "talking" about spiritual matters?  Same thing with too much discussion around intellectual pursuits.  I tend to "tune out", at some point.  Too much spiritual and intellectual "indigestion", and not enough lived insight, and "alive", or "living" conversation.

That's one of the reasons why I - in goals at least - created Integral Practice, because what I ostensibly care about is the practice aspect.  What works, what doesn't.

At the same time, I find myself blogging more than I thought I would, and find myself ranging far afield from my original intentions.

I think the reasons for this are two:

a. Blogging is an aspect of personal creativity - I feel creative when I express myself in this form, even when I'm writing things that are clearly run of the mill. 
b. I love DIALOGUE - both my own inner dialogue, and then reading and responding to other's dialogues about either personal subjects, or authentic, felt, reflections about life and subjects I am interested in.  (This is one of the reasons I also blog at Generation Sit.)

I guess that for me, blogging is another form of good conversation - it shifts from conversation about ideas, to humorous stories about each other, to practical things (oh! - have you tried this?  It's great!), to deeper and more intimate stories that we share.  A virtual form of social communication, but a form that speaks to the few people that find THIS perspective of THIS bodymind - interesting.

But it truly is this love of dialogue, that keeps me coming back.  In a real way, this form represents the best of capacity for dialogue that I have.  And somehow, this is true, even though when you think about it, blogging IS a particularly solitary venture. 

Does anyone else experience this?  Is blogging for you a form of relaxed, delayed, conversation?  A form of debate?  There are many different type of blogs, as there are different types of conversations.  What stimulates you?

I also think this is why, I gravitate towards other blogs that share this love of dialogue. 

As an example, I haven't been reading Stuart Davis much, or really, I've been skimming by his particular blogposts.

Why?  I know that any particular blogpost of his, is an amazing virtuosity of creativity, humor, sarcasm, and intelligence, that expose my posts as silly pedestrian musings.

But his posts stay in his own little world, and don't connect back to anything else.  The constant focus on "Me, me, me", so much - just isn't my thing.  (Says the person who engages in the fairly solitary pursuit of blogging.  Do I hear the sounds of hypocrisy?)

While there are blogposters in "my world" that I have been frustrated by, I actually get much more value in reading them, because they are engaging beyond themselves.  One example of this would be Matthew Dallman, who is always engaging his mind outside of himself, even if we sometimes are on opposite sides of an issue.  As long as the RELAXED aspect of the conversation is kept at the fore, it's always stimulating - for me at least.

At any rate, I wonder what others get out of blogging.  After all there's a big wide world out there, with a billion other important things than blogging to be doing. 

So what else do YOU get out of reading, or creating, blogs?