Unique

I'm unique. You're unique. We're all unique! But what makes any of us unique?
This isn't really my autobiography - but it's probably as close as I'll ever get to writing one. It's just a timeline of some of the events in my life that make me unique. (The entries in parenthesis are context setting - not really all that unique.)

May 4th
1949
(Born. My dad was a Presbyterian minister, my mom was a housewife and later a travel agent.)
Dec 1950(Moved to Leland, Mississippi)
1952(My sister born)
1953
1954
Osteonecrosis (Perthes Hip) in my left hip. I spent 6 weeks in bed, 6 months in a wheelchair, and a year in brace and crutches - this is how I was when I started kindergarten in 1954. By the end of kindergarten, my hip was 100% cured & both legs the same length.
Jan 1967Page in the U.S. House of Representives in Washington DC
May 1967Graduated from Leland High School - Valedictorian, Math medal, Science medal, American History medal.
Sept 1967(to college in Memphis, Tennessee)
May 1971Graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis with a B.A. in mathematics with honors, Phi Beta Kappa
May 1971(married)
Summer
1971
Began a 37+ year career of playing with computers for money. I still can't believe they paid me that much money to have that much fun!
May 1974(Moved to San Francisco, California)
June 1975(divorced)
Spring 1976Discovered the Great Outdoors: Hiking & backpacking, whitewater rafting, canoeing, etc.
Dec 1978
Dec 1981
3 year solo trip around the world visiting Pacific islands, Australia, New Zealand, SE Asia, Nepal, India, Western Europe, Canada, USA
June 1985Began meditation at a 10 day retreat taught by Ven. Ayya Khema.
July 1986(Moved to Marin County, California)
Jan 1988
Jan 1989
1 year solo trip visiting Australia, SE Asia, China, and Tibet. Stumbled into the 1st Jhāna while on retreat in Thailand.
Feb 1989(Moved to Alameda, California)
May 1990Learned jhāna meditation from Ven. Ayya Khema.
June 1992Began learning Tibetan Dzogchen meditation from Tsoknyi Rinpoche.
Nov 1995In Kathmandu, Nepal to finish 1st version of a Tibetan Word Processor and Database program which I wrote to assist Tsoknyi Rinpoche's Tibetan text preservation project.
Feb 1997Began teaching meditation retreats. My first retreat was taught at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center in southern Washington state.
Aug 1998
Jan 1999
6 month trip around the world. In Nepal again to finish 2nd version of the Tibetan Word Processor and Database program; continued on to Western Europe and across the USA. I only paid for 1 night's lodging during the whole trip - I have friends all over the world by now.
Nov 1999The Tibetan Word Processor and Database program released to the public as freeware.
Nov 2008
-
Nov 2016
Retired from playing with computers for money. Began 8 years on the road: meditating at IMS's Forest Refuge (20 out of the initial 36 months of retirement spent there, and then more months after that); teaching retreats; visiting friends; and enjoying the National Parks.
April 20119.5 month retreat at IMS's Forest Refuge.
Jan 20131st draft of my book Right Concentration finished.
Oct 2015Right Concentration published by Shambhala Publications.
Nov 2016(settled in Oakland, CA)
Aug 2017Bought an electric car. Most fun car I've ever driven!
Winter 2020(Global Covid-19 pandemic begins)
Spring 20211st draft of my book Dependent Origination and Emptiness finished.
Oct 2021Altho I had an offer from a publisher, I decided to self publish Dependent Origination and Emptiness as a free eBook. This made it available immediately instead of waiting more than a year for it to become available.
March 2024The Gradual Training self published as another free eBook.

Of course, this is only some of the events of my life that have made me the unique person I am. It doesn't even mention all the wonderful women I have loved or all the fantastic friends I have! And there have been many more highly influential events in my life than these briefly described unique ones.

What events of your life have made you the unique person you are?  


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Leigh Brasington / EmailAddr / Revised 21 Mar 24