Been attempting to follow the Eight Fold Path for some time now.
I find the an element of humor in Buddhism's practioners and teachers that is attractive to me. Mostly have been exposed to the Tibetian and Western forms of practice. I am lazy, but attempt to read and/or practice a little every day.
I would love to hear how it's going for others.....peace
Edit for spelling
I must learn to type mindfully....
= new reply since forum marked as read
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Welcome to DU. 
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Nice to meet you, Magoo. I'm about where you are -- trying to read/practice a little bit every day, and also to practice mindfulness during mundane activities.
I've always been strongly drawn to the idea of living as simply as possible, appreciating things for their beauty/functionality without wanting to own them, and enjoying the wonder of just being a part of the flow of life. Developing a more constant and universal spirit of namaste is a major goal (and challenge).
It's also difficult sometimes to eliminate things that I'm accustomed to but don't truly need. The "room" in my mind is simple and bare, except for one end of it crammed full of "stuff" that I haven't let go of yet.
A work in progress....
letting go of attachments happens best by itself, without effort, and trying hard to force one self to let go is just another attachment. Of course this "slackers path" is also an excuse to keep on holding to those attachments and needs and addictions that still remain... and give me character and personality (my girlfriend says that a Leo can't never get rid of ego... 
).
There's a Zen story I like a lot about a Buddhist monk, who practiced hard but then Karmically "errored" somehow, don't remember, and had to reborn 500 hundred times as an fox. His moment of Zen was when he after that was born again as a human and a monk, and realized: 500 GLORIOUS years as a fox!
The Way of the Heart teaches us that we can only let go of attachments we learn to dearly love... and thus accept <3
L'eggo my Eggo
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]My kids and I have our birthdays within a span of 10 days in August and call ourselves the "Leo Trio." We get along well because we learned early on to give each other lots of space and to tread carefully around any ego-sensitive issues.
Love the Zen story. I can't say that I "try hard," but I have found that following an impulse to let go of something has always been a good decision. So far, I've mainly been delighted with simplifying my life, reducing the number of "things" I rely on by replacing them with multi-purpose substitutes. Every time I can replace 2+ items with 1, it makes me happy.
My "practice" consists mainly of learning to just be in, nurture, and love the moment, whether actually sitting or engaged in mundane activities, connecting with the sacred that permeates all. The cats that have chosen to live with me are constant examples of how to just "be."
Asher, about 4 mos old, just "hanging out" in his favorite cool spot on a hot August day.
is also a fundamental guiding principle of permaculture philosophy. Which is just a new name for reinventing the wheel (pun intended), but anyways: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
I'm a bit dismayed at finding new aspects of the hoarder in me, life was lighter when I had not much more than a rucksack of possessions...
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Permaculture is a whole wonderful way of looking at things.
The aquaponics picture on the page you linked has been one of my huge fantasies. Imaging being able to provide for oneself and others through such a simple, logical, and wonderfully self-sustaining fish tank/greenhouse! It's not feasible in my present location, which is just as well because I've got quite enough projects going at the moment, but I'd love to see aquaponic greenhouses everywhere.
One of my favorite people is Starhawk, who is very invested in permaculture projects and calls much of her work "earth magic." I'm not much into ritual, but feeling a part of the web of life energy that is our Earth is a profound experience. Then looking beyond into the universe that we are part of, as well, (whatever it is, because we really don't know, do we?) is so mind bending that I just have to go dig in the dirt and play with my worms for a while. LOL
I do know what you mean about feeling lighter with fewer possessions. A certain amount of "things" and "stuff" are necessary for basic functioning, though, even for the most simple of lives. It's amazing how much excess we manage to accumulate without even trying, though.
Recently, I read about a young man who's been traveling around the country for a few years with little but the clothes on his back. He's been mending those with bright threads and colorful patchwork, and accepting whatever is freely offered in terms of food and shelter. Someone called the police because he was "acting erratic and saying 'I love you' to traffic," which made me laugh. He was polite and cooperative with the police, who took him to the local psych ward. Staff there could find no evidence of mental disorder, and the psychiatrist who interviewed him actually seemed a little awed. He was released back to the streets the next day, where he happily returned, calling himself an "Infinity Filter" and "Free Spirit," and saying he loved the world.
I found his story incredibly attractive, a bit of a modern-day St. Francis perhaps, and I wish there was some way to keep track of his travels and experiences. Most of us can't live that kind of life, but we can adopt (and perhaps spread) some of his joyful, free-spirited, cosmic outlook, free of tethers and attachment to a lot of "stuff." (Reference the immortal George Carlin for appropriate commentary on "stuff."
have been with the ecovillage movement, Rainbow and similar gatherings, etc. where the word 'grounded' is used a lot, and physical labor in the garden, digging shit pits etc "earth magic" does a lot of good to balance hippies and seekers who often fly in higher spheres...
One of the most important and fascinating concepts of permaculture etc. is the importance 'border zones', e.g. a shore, an area between woods and field, etc. where there is most variety and fertility, places of power. One practice of "mindfulness" or sumfink that's been useful to me is to feel the border zones of this body (spirit/matter/space/time/etc)...
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Very nice to know that the instincts I've been following are consistent with the ecovillage/permaculture lifestyle. I've thought many times of seeking out an ecovillage, but am very content where I am and love living alone.
That's also very interesting about border zones. I live about 8 blocks from the ocean, can see it during the day and hear it at night, but 8 blocks is still a bit of distance to call a "border." There's also very little actual earth exposed in my yard. It's all paved over except for a tiny strip about 2 x 3 feet in size that only gets any sun at midday; I'm thinking now that perhaps I should put it to some special use.
The idea of border zones of the body is also something well worth exploring; must learn more about this.
Thanks!
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Or rather, those animals are lucky to have you.
I'm in the city, with an enclosed driveway for my "garden," and any more animals are out of the question per the landlord. You can see a bit of the fencing and the fiberglass enclosure in the picture with Asher. That's to keep the cats safe in the yard while still allowing them outside to chase bugs, lay/play in the sun, and watch activity on the street.
Of the 4 cats that live with me, 2 were found as kittens and brought to me by neighbors, 1 was an adult stray I'd been feeding outside the enclosure that decided to move in one night, and most recently, Asher "appeared" inside the enclosure in May. He was just a kitten and couldn't have gotten in by himself, so someone had to put him there.
Like you, I'm a sucker for cats, and for all the same reasons. 
