The Chocolate Index

'Tangaryo' has been a popular search word on the blog this week, no doubt because the new students at Tassajara are sitting right now, having a hot one I imagine, and probably 'quiet as lambs', as Gaelyn described one set of students to me. We have our own tangaryo in a couple of weeks, but ours is for people who have already spent some time at the temple. So our new practice period students get to be lively influences on the energy levels of the community right now.
The building certainly feels like it's buzzing this week; of course there are other factors at play, like the Indian Summer weather which settled over the city (and is currently disappearing in a fast-moving fog layer as I write)  and the classes and other practice period offerings that draw crowds in. Personally I am in good fettle as well, helped along by the heat and sunshine. I notice that I feel more settled in my spine as I sit, and that I have more energy to tackle the things that need to be taken care of. All these things interweave.
Now, the only two addictions or vices that I readily admit to are coffee and chocolate, and I usually say by way of justification that they are fairly minor in the scheme of things. I know my consumption of both can vary depending upon my mood, and I can definitely report that I don't seem to require as much chocolate to sustain me as I did a while ago. It's not that I eat so much less necessarily, but there is less craving involved.

Morning sun on the third floor