Figuring there's no time like the present to get off my ass and do something, I went to yet another sitting group tonight. Remarkably for me, I felt more energetic when I left; notwithstanding my fantastic social skills, I'm an introvert, and I often find people draining, as I have with the groups at the other two Zen centers I visited this week. As with other things I don't like or get annoyed with, that also is part of my practice, but since it's my practice, I get to choose the balance of different elements, and I'm unlikely to join the group where the group's questions had a self-help vibe (which isn't uncommon, and is a necessary first step in practice, but it's not where I'm at now), or the group where everyone is happily intellectualizing about what is supposed to be a practice of direct experience (and the teacher isn't stopping them). The tough thing about criticism is deciding when it's valid, and when you're just projecting your own inner bitch on the rest of the world.

Little-publicized fact about Zen in the Bay Area: hot chicks. Seriously, all three places I've been this week. Not at all what I need or want right now, but pretty funny.