I felt that making a practice log would give me some more motivation to meditate on a regular basis, so here it is.
Long term goal:
4th PathCurrent goal:
Stream entryMy current practice consists mainly of soft jhana/metta for sanity purposes.

I also dabble in second gear type practices with an emphasis on anatta, eg Maharishi's self-enquiry, some Tibetan "peaceful abiding" practices, and some of Eckhart Tolle's techniques. This is also mostly for sanity purposes, but it also comes in handy when cushion time is sparse, which it most assuredly is. Flickering impermanence is awesome, but I need some solid cushion time to really get to that point. Adopting a more natural, open, equanimous attitude throughout the day seems to help move things along, and I suspect these techniques helped me cross A&P two years ago.
Practice HistoryI've always been really "into" spirituality for as long as I can remember. When I used to go to church I would always be interested in some of the concepts, especially ones revolving around personal experience of God. My parents attended a Baptist church so personal revelatory experiences like that were rare and often viewed with suspicion. It's almost as if the whole congregation felt that religion is supposed to suck, but somehow it would stop sucking if you read the right holy text and and ended up in heaven.
I was always frustrated when my peers would talk or text during sermons. Why weren't they as interested in this stuff as I was? This was eternity we were talking about! In hindsight, I suspect I may have crossed the A&P when I was really young, because I've always felt I was looking for something. But that's just speculation now.
Fast forward a few years. Christianity is no longer a part of my life, but my interest in personal experiences of a spiritual nature were still there. I became interested in earth-centered traditions, especially because they emphasized travelling out of body to see the spirit worlds for one's self, rather than reading about it in a holy book.
I experimented with lucid dreaming and OBE techniques but had only limited success. I found Robert Monroe's books and found his cosmology fascinating.
At some point I ran into a psychic online who offered to "coach" me. She did, over email, and it worked. I started giving readings online at a reasonable rate of success that often surprised even me. However, while this made me happy, I felt like the experiences were too vague, like there was some kind of wall in my mind that I kept running into. Thus, the efforts to explore lucid dreams and the like continued.
I also began meditating, with the vague expectation that this would somehow sharpen my experiences. I found myself experiencing Mind and Body and soft first jhana. The experiences were so cool that I studied more about Buddhism and Hinduism.
I found and read the first part of MCTB at this point. The three characteristics really caught my attention, and I decided to experiment with some of the techniques and see if I could pick up on them. I guess I must have. I went to bed that night and had a very vivid, colorful dream where I was the Buddha. I was sitting on a hill, and this creepy army of darkness was on another hill. They charged, but instead of running away, I decided to sit down and note them. This decision felt spontaneous and natural. They surrounded me, but as long as I noted them, they couldn't touch me. I realized that they represented reality. As long as I noted reality, it could not cause me suffering. There was a sound like rushing water, and all of reality exploded.
I thought it was a pretty crazy dream. I also felt a little concerned about how it seemed to happen on its own. I hoped I didn't start anything that could not be stopped, but of course, I had.
I never read through the rest of MCTB. We all know what happens after A&P. I didn't realize what had happened or what was about to happen. I also had some pretty difficult ordinary life circumstances. Thus, I got really, really screwed up for a while. I managed to hit EQ last spring by looking at a Huichol mandala. A knot untied in my chest and a fog lifted, and everything sort of became the same thing for a little while.
So, for about a year, I've been in this weird place where I'm technically pre-path, but I'm too far to go back. Thankfully, I re-read MCTB and realized what had been going on all this time.
If I'm not meditating or relaxing in the sunshine, I very quickly drift into this angsty, bitter place where I feel dark about everything. Not the OMGWTFBBQ dark of the dukkha nanas, but more like a mild depression, where everything is unsatisfying at a deep level.
Oh, and I don't bother with siddhis anymore, the Dark Night kinda messed with that aspect.
Current PracticeLike I said, I'm pre-path, but post A&P and DN, so I'm in a frustrating place. I feel like I don't have a baseline anymore, my mind is just kind of all over the place. My most immediate goal is to cross A&P again and give it another shot, but cushion time is limited. I have three kids and one on the way, and a day job.
At any rate, I look forward to logging some more time on the cushion and posting about it here.