Plan for Serendipity

Find the courage to express your self

2009-02-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

Something we were withholding made us weak
Until we found out that it was ourselves.

Robert Frost, The Gift Outright

Dreams at my back

2009-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

"Dreams at my back, pushing me -- oh I'm sailin' free."

Theresa Andersson, Minor Changes

The loneliness of MySpace

2008-03-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

(Using MySpace also benefits corporate media mogul Rupert Murdoch).

Sic itur ad astra

2007-10-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

Thus do we reach the stars.

HT: Yatpundit

Being useful

2007-09-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

To dance in the air

2007-08-01T19:18:00.000-07:00

Graffiti on a wall in a demo'ed building in Central City, New Orleans.

We all come from the same source

2007-07-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"The same place you're from."

Andrea Werhun, Adbusters, July/August 2007

When you wish upon a star

2007-05-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

When you wish upon a falling star, Your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

ThinkGeek, Inc. (HT: Felafel Sex)

Art's revealing deception

2007-04-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.

Pablo Picasso

The best things often come in small packages

2007-04-04T05:27:00.000-07:00

Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day.

Ben Franklin

You get what you give

2007-04-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

And the love you give can never be taken away from you.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

2007-03-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Speak the truth - even if your voice shakes.

Maggie Kuhn (HT: Karen)

Music Master

2007-03-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

You that love lovers,
This is your home. Welcome!

In the midst of making form,
Love made this form that melts form,
With love for the door,
Soul the vestibule.

Watch the dust grains moving
In the light near the window.
Their dance is our dance.

We rarely hear the inward music,
But we’re all dancing to it nevertheless,
Directed by the one who teaches us
The pure joy of the sun,
The music master.

Rumi

Plan for providence

2006-12-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Don't mistake providential opportunities as mere chance events.

Don't learn your limitations from others

2006-12-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

Those who can't do teach others not to do.

P.C. Vey, The New Yorker, 8/21/06.

Be careful who you choose for friends

2006-11-27T22:02:00.000-08:00

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Mark Twain

Having soul is about what you give to others

2006-11-12T23:12:00.000-08:00

Soul is when you have the ability to make other people feel better about being alive, regardless of their condition.

Wynton Marsalis, remembering Ed Bradley
60 Minutes

Don't get even -- laugh

2006-11-01T10:35:00.000-08:00

Some people are like slinkies -- not really good for anything, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs.

Willydo (HT: Little Miss, Miles Away From Here)

Se hace el camino por si mismo

2006-10-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Caminante no hay camino. Se hace el camino al andar.

Antonio Machado y Ruiz (HT: Venuzuela)

Discover opportunity

2006-10-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

Be pure in thought

2006-10-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.

Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.

Give

2006-10-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill (HT: Indian Child, Life Quotes)

Practice disappearing

2006-09-20T13:59:00.000-07:00

Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.

Naomi Shihab Nye

We give away most of our time to others. We don't even think about it. Let's all enjoy some solitude. At least, once in a while.

Sanket

Your life has already begun

2006-09-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin -- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

Alfred D. Souza, (HT: fortuitous encounters)

The spirit of the universe

2006-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I am a body controlled by a spirit, the spirit of beauty and the universe.

DJ review on a CD at WTUL (Spoken Hand Percussion Orchestra)

Look up at the stars

2006-08-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today give us the chance to love, to work, to play and to look up at the stars.

Henry Van Dyke (hat tip: Traveling Mermaid).

Keep moving

2006-08-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

A shark can’t breathe unless it’s moving.

Greg Meffert, quoted after he resigned from his job as the Chief Technology Officer, City of New Orleans.

You already are what you want to be

2006-07-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

Underneath all of our public personas, we already are that which we desire to be. Our only job is to see past our own limitations so that we can return to that which we already are.

Debbie Ford, The Best Year of Your Life

Prepare for providence

2006-07-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive.

Mohandas Gandhi

I do not like your Christians

2006-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

Mohandas Gandhi

Karmic healing

2006-07-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

There's no accident in who we are attracted to and why we married them. It's in the seeds of our karma. Every person we attract into our lives is there to move us to the next phase of our personal evolution. They behave in whatever manner is necessary to show us the places where we need healing and make us confront the issues that prevent us from fulfilling our potential. When we take full responsibility for our lives, we understand that the relationships we find ourselves in are not mere accidents, but custom-designed opportunities to heal our emotional and spiritual wounds.

Debbie Ford, Spiritual Divorce

Truth precedes logic

2006-07-18T18:48:00.000-07:00

You can only find truth with logic if you have already found truth without it.

G.K. Chesterton (hat tip: Glenda in the Land of Oz)

Be courageous

2006-07-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

And when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcome, but when we are silent we are still afraid. So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive.

Audie Lorde (Hat tip: Markus)

Overcome

2006-07-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.

Helen Keller

Feed the white dog

2006-07-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

There is a story in Native American history of an Indian chief who one night talking to his tribe tells them there are two dogs inside his mind. One a white dog who is good and courageous, the other a black dog who is vengeful and spiteful. He tells the tribe the dogs are fighting to the death. A brave, not able to wait for the end of the story asks "Which one of them will win?" The chief responds "The one I feed."

Choose your course curse wisely

2006-07-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

It has been said that you can’t heal if you cannot curse.

Bloody Mary's Spirit Realm (hat tip: Lisa)

When words fail, listen

2006-07-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

No one offers the name of a philosopher when asked the question, "Who helped you most?" Most often they answer by describing a quiet, unassuming person -- someone who was there whenever needed, who listened more than talked, who didn't keep glancing down at a watch, who hugged and touched, and cried; someone who was available, and met on the sufferer's terms, not their own.

The life waiting for you

2006-06-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

Joseph Campbell (with hat tip to Mr. Melpomene)

Music cleanses the soul

2006-06-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everday life.

Berthold Auerbach

On Joy and Sorrow

2006-06-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

Kahlil Gibran
(Related: The Prophet, online edition via Cornell University).

Love's salvation

2006-06-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.

Reinhold Niebuhr (quoted in Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization).

As above

2006-06-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

As above,
So below.

Bumper sticker.

Life is music

2006-06-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Many say that life entered the human body by the help of music, but the truth is that life itself is music.

Hafiz, 14th-century Persian poet, quoted in Studs Terkel, And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey.

Favor disposition

2006-06-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

Choose friends and lovers not for money -- you can always earn more; not for knowledge -- you can always learn more; not for looks -- we grow older by the season; favor disposition, that's the best reason.

Grandma Lillian, via Joe Paris, New Orleans Pentimiento

New worlds

2006-05-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

Anais Nin

Hat tip: Traveling Mermaid

Letting it in

2006-05-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

Limited thinking can place artificial constraints on what you are actually capable of realizing for yourself.

Visualize what you want to achieve, and allow yourself to believe that you can achieve your goals.

It's a process of "letting it in" -- allowing yourself the opportunity to change your situation, and letting the change come into your life.

Hat tip: P.A.G.

The importance of napping

2006-04-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Daily OM:

In the modern world, we're often compelled to be as productive as possible during as many hours of the day as we can be. While this can lead to great feats of accomplishment, we may become exhausted and find ourselves craving rest and rejuvenation. We may feel like taking a nap but feel guilty about indulging in even ten minutes of rest. This need for personal downtime, which many people experience in the early afternoon, isn't a sign of laziness nor is it necessarily related to how much sleep you had the night before. There was even a time when taking a nap was considered a natural part of everyone's day.

Napping is a pleasurable yet brief period of sleep when our minds and bodies can take a break. Though judged by many to be a pastime for children or the elderly, napping can benefit people of all ages. The desire to nap is a trait shared by many mammals, and napping is still an important part of the day in some countries. Snoozing for a half-hour can be an enjoyable way to promote physical well-being, and naps have been known to improve your mood and memory. A 20-minute nap can sharpen your senses and revitalize you, while a ten minute nap can leave you feeling more cheerful. Falling into a light sleep during the daytime can feel meditative. The thoughts you have as you are taking a nap and the dreams you experience may offer you insights about your life that you may not have at night when you are in a deep sleep.

In order to fully enjoy the benefits of napping, you may need to give yourself permission to nap. Feeling guilty about snoozing or worrying about your to-do list won't do you much good when you are trying to take a nap because your thoughts or feelings will keep you awake. Try to nap at the same time each day, and use an alarm clock to ensure that you don't sleep for too long. If you go to an office, try crawl under your desk for a nap. Learning to nap and enjoy its restorative benefits can help you wake up restored, rejuvenated, and ready for the rest of your day.

The Cloud Appreciation Society

2006-04-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

Photo: Alberto Visocchi

The Cloud Appreciation Society manifesto:

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of
a person’s countenance.

Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.
They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save
on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who'll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

Join.

Hat tip: Duncan

Solar eclipse

2006-03-29T08:40:00.000-08:00

A Yahoo AP article has an interesting gallery of photos from the event, showing a fascinating congruence in the developing world of cultural antiquity and traditional dress with technological and manufacturing progress, providing what may be a first real opportunity for more people than ever before to appreciate the event safely.

NASA's Earth Observatory has an interesting article and photos as well, including the following photo from space showing the shadow cast by the moon as it passed between the the sun and Earth in an earlier 1999 solar eclipse.

4/09/06 update:

The shadow of the moon falls on Earth as seen from the International Space Station, 230 miles above the planet, during a total solar eclipse at about 4:50 a.m. CST, Wednesday, March 29. This digital photo was taken by the Expedition 12 crew, Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, who are wrapping up a six-month mission on the complex. Part of the Mediterranean Sea can be seen outside the shadow.

Nasa Earth Observatory

Inquire

2006-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

Inquiry is an altogether fitting response to the Creator.

Michael Novak, "The Most Religious Century," NY Times, 5/24/98.
Graphic by Jason Logan.

It's never to late to be what you might have been

2006-03-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

Remember yourself, from the days when you were younger and rougher and wilder, more scrawl than straight line. Remember all of yourself, the flaws and faults as well as the many strengths. Carl Jung once said, "If people can be educated to see the lowly side of their own natures, it may be hoped that they will also learn to understand and to love their fellow men better. A little less hypocrisy and a little more tolerance toward oneself can only have good results in respect for our neighbors, for we are all too prone to transfer to our fellows the injustice and violence we inflict upon our own natures."

Most commencement speeches suggest you take up something or other: the challenge of the future, a vision of the twenty-first century. Instead I'd like you to give up. Give up the backpack. Give up the nonsensical and punishing quest for perfection that dogs too many of us through too much of our lives. It is a quest that causes us to doubt and denigrate ourselves, our true selves, our quirks and foibles and great leaps into the unknown, and that is bad enough.

But this is worse: that someday, sometime, you will be somewhere, maybe on a day like today--a berm overlooking a pond in Vermont, the lip of the Grand Canyon at sunset. Maybe something bad will have happened: you will have lost someone you loved, or failed at something you wanted to succeed at very much.

And sitting there, you will fall into the center of yourself. You will look for that core to sustain you. If you have been perfect all your life, and have managed to meet all the expectations of your family, your friends, your community, your society, chances are excellent that there will be a black hole where your core ought to be.

Don't take that chance. Begin to say no to the Greek chorus that thinks it knows the parameters of a happy life when all it knows is the homogenization of human experience. Listen to that small voice from inside you, that tells you to go another way. George Eliot wrote, "It is never too late to be what you might have been." It is never too early, either. And it will make all the difference in the world. Take it from someone who has left the backpack full of bricks far behind. Every day feels light as a feather.

Anna Quindlen
Commencement address delivered to Mt. Holyoke College, 1999

Knowledge, Freedom, Peace

2006-03-05T07:11:00.000-08:00

There is no freedom without knowledge. There is no peace without freedom.

Arna Mer-Khamis

Attitude

2006-03-05T07:10:00.000-08:00

Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitute determines how well you do it.

Empower me

2006-01-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

Empower me
to be a bold participant,
rather than a timid saint in waiting,
in the difficult ordinariness of now;
to exercise the authority of honesty;
rather than to defer to power,
or deceive to get it;
to influence someone for justice,
rather than impress anyone for gain;
and, by grace, to find treasures
of joy, of friendship, of peace
bidden in the fields of the daily
you give me to plow.

Ted Loder
Affirmations and Invocations

(Hat tip: Cerissa)

Rise to the level of love

2006-01-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

Another way that you love your enemy is this: When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hates you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That's the time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It's not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

(Hat tip oyster)

Don't take for granted the time you share with others

2006-01-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

The Rational Creature:

An acquaintance of mine recently died. I can't say "friend", because we really weren't that close, and it didn't strike me until his passing that I would actually miss him. We both worked towards a common cause, and that was really our only link. But here I sit, thinking about the last time I saw him, and what I now know was the finality of that moment, and I feel bad for not being more congenial to the guy, for not being kinder. I didn't treat him with contempt or anything of the sort; but I wasn't as nice as I could have been. He was a good guy with a good heart and he loved his church and family, and I have found that his absence has affected me, and that I'm genuinely sad to see he is no longer with us.

"Let us thank God ahead of time for whatever He forsees is pleasing to Him, leaving everything at his divine disposal, including, with all its circumstances, when, where, and how He may be pleased to dispose the events of our death."
~Blessed Solanus Casey~

Karmic charm

2006-01-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

This newsletter and the work I do as a life coach, is all about helping you become consciously aware of your thoughts and actions and to translate that awareness into creating the life you want. I believe that the good you put out to the world will come back to you. All it takes is a little faith, patience, and diligence.

Let's take a closer look at karma again. The fourth law of karma is like the inverse of the third law of karma. If the third law states that no experience can be had unless a previous imprint for that experience was planted, the fourth law states that every imprint planted must produce a corresponding experience. As stated by Geshe Michael Roach in "The Diamond Cutter':

Once an imprint is planted in the mind, it must lead to an experience: no imprint is ever wasted.

This reminds me of high school physics. I recall my teacher telling us that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. With karma, it's not exactly the same but the key, with respect to the fourth law, is that every time you produce a thought or action (good or bad), the experience will come back to you. It must.

Consider that the jerks in your life are producing bad karma by being jerks. Therefore, the karma will come back to them and they will suffer, whether or not you react. It's like there are "Karma Police" (a song title by the band Radiohead) who are out there catching the perpetrators and making them pay for their harmful acts.

This month I encountered an aggressive pedestrian while bicycling on the bridge. The man purposely stepped into my path nearly causing me (and other cyclists) to fall into the automobile traffic. When I explained that what he was doing was dangerous, he told me to move along before he pushed me into the traffic.

Shortly after the incident, I noticed a couple things. First, I realized that I had caused anger and frustration to others to be experiencing it in this moment. It had nothing to do with the way I was riding my bike. Second, I noticed that this man had experienced a lot of bad karma to be creating even more bad karma and threatening my life. Imagine what it takes to threaten another's life! I truly feel for this man.

The next time you experience a jerk in your life, try not to react. Take a deep breath and let the anger and frustration pass. It always does. Then remind yourself that the jerk will suffer for his/her wrong-doings. You may even feel contented or somewhat righteous by this. But to really make a difference, feel for the other person. Know that he will suffer. Know that he is creating bad karma that will come back to him. Know that he is simply reacting to his circumstances, which is the opposite of what I am urging you to do.

Do this once every day. Feel for the jerk. And if you get caught up in the moment and react, forgive yourself and feel for the other person afterwards. The more you do this, the less you will experience jerks. Your compassion will help others so they don't need to get upset and take it out on you. It's preventative.

Remind yourself by writing it down or giving away a dollar every time you feel for someone who has created bad karma in your life. Or, transfer a stone from one pocket to the other as a reward. Do whatever works for you. And keep passing along the good karma.

Karma is like the salt and pepper shakers at a huge dinner table. Pass it along!

Steph
Inspirations Newsletter

We move in infinite space

2005-12-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

I believe that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension that we find paralyzing because we no longer hear our surprised feelings living. Because we are alone with the alien thing that has entered into our self; because everything intimate and accustomed is for an instant taken away; because we stand in the middle of a transition where we cannot remain standing. For this reason the sadness too passes: the new thing in us, the added thing, has entered into our heart, has gone into its inmost chamber and is not even there any more, is already in our blood. And we do not learn what it was. We could easily be made to believe that nothing has happened, and yet we have changed, as a house changes into which a guest has entered. We cannot say who has come, perhaps we shall never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters into us in this way in order to transform itself in us long before it happens. And this is why it is so important to be lonely and attentive when one is sad: because the apparently uneventful and stark moment at which our future sets foot in us is so much closer to life than that other noisy and fortuitous point of time at which it happens to us as if from outside. The more still, more patient and more open we are when we are sad, so much the deeper and so much the more unswervingly does the new go into us, so much the better do we make it ours, so much the more will it be our destiny, and when on some later day it "happens" (that is, steps forth out of us to others), we shall feel in our inmost selves akin and near to it. And that is necessary. It is necessary and toward this our development will move gradually that nothing strange should befall us, but only that which has long belonged to us. We have already had to think so many of our concepts of motion, we will also gradually learn to realize that that which we call destiny goes forth from within people, not from without into them. Only because so many have not absorbed their destinies and transmuted them within themselves while they were living in them, have they not recognized what has gone forth out of them; it was so strange to them that, in their bewildered fright, they thought it must only just then have entered into them, for they swear never before to have found anything like it in themselves. As people were long mistaken about the motion of the sun, so they are even yet mistaken about the motion of that which is to come. The future stands firm ... but we move in infinite space.

Rainier Maria Rilke
(Hat tip: the_velvet_rut)

Discover your story character

2005-12-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

- You Are The Apt Mind

"I know that. And that. And yes, that
too."

You have brains, and you are not afraid to show it.
Your intellect and intelligence may have others
constantly asking for your help with things
that take a lot of thought or are difficult
puzzles. Academic values are held highest in
your opinion, and you may also have a bleak
view of humanity. You may find trouble dealing
with emotional issues, however - as they are
illogical and inunderstandable. Your friends
consist of intelligent and intellectual people
to challange you and continue your mental
growth. Even in the easiest of times, you are
not afraid to show anyone just how much you
know.

Which Classic Story Role Do You Play?
brought to you by Quizilla

Purposeful inspiration

2005-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

Pantanjali

Tip: Livin' in the land of the cold and the flat

Plans may go awry

2005-11-23T22:44:00.000-08:00

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes, this makes planning the day difficult.

E.B. White

Tip: nokatrina.blogspot.com

Make your own luck

2005-10-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ozzie Guillen, manager of the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox, has frequently been quoted saying, "It's better to be lucky than good."

Perhaps echoing Guillen's elaboration of the theme, White Sox catcher Chris Widger said, "We've heard that we are lucky, but I think you make your own luck."

Meanwhile, Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Greg Couch improved upon the adage by saying it's better to be lucky and good:

The best teams always seem to have the best luck. You know why? Because you make your own luck, and even if you don't, then you make the most of what you got.

Love and hope in the French Quarter

2005-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

A must read by Clayton at Operation Eden.

Friday Rorshach ink blot test

2005-08-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Tickle's Original Inkblot Test:

Schroeder, your subconscious mind is driven most by Peace

You have a deeply-rooted desire to make peace in the world. Whether through subtle interactions with loved ones, or through getting involved in social causes, it is important to you to be able to influence the world in a positive way.

You have a deep respect for humankind. You care about the future of the world, even beyond your own involvement in it, and you inspire others to feel the same way. Your innate drive toward peace guides you in daily life towards decisions that are respectful toward yourself and others.

Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.

Sadists who wish to inflict pain on their enemies might try the Liquid Generation version. Don't subject your aging grandmother to this. Turn your computer's sound way up if you're at work ;-)

There's a Google Answers message with links to essays about the meaning and merit of Rorshach ink blot tests.

Plan for unplanned thought

2005-08-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

Thought that is planned is tradition.
Thought that is unplanned is imagination.
Thought that is both is spirit.

Ancient Sufi expression

Live, learn

2005-08-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing that is worth learning can be taught.

Oscar Wilde
Quoted in the Whittier, Calif., Daily News, printed in The Week, 8/19/2005

Character

2005-08-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Character is a diamond that scratches every other stone.

Minister Cyrus A. Bartol
Quoted in Forbes.com, printed in The Week, 8/19/2005

To every thing there is a season

2005-08-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

Composting Time
By Verlyn Klinkenborg

One of the reasons I moved to the country was to try to have a more deliberate awareness of time. I imagined a sugar maple coming into bud in spring, then leafing out and darkening into the overshadowing presence a maple becomes in midsummer. I imagined watching it lose its leaves in fall and somehow banking what I'd seen, as if those images would help me experience time more fully.

But I had no idea how much time the country contains. I thought the seasons would come and go and that that is what I would pay most attention to. Instead, I find myself watching what the seasons leave behind.

When we moved here, nearly eight years ago, an old honeylocust loomed over the vegetable garden. Its ashes have long since been spread. A pair of white spruces are beginning to tower over me, though I planted them as whips. There are finally apples - 11 of them - on young trees not far away. The posts in the rail fence beside them have just about reached the end of their useful life.

I think of myself, naturally enough, as the still point amid all this change. My leaves never fall. If I lie fallow for a while, I'm not suddenly overcome with nettles and vagabond hollyhocks, as is the vegetable garden. The ducks and geese molt, the horses hair up and shed, but my coat is constant.

I have banked nothing, or everything. Every day the chores need doing again. Early in the morning I clean the horse pen with a manure fork. Every morning it feels as though it could be the day before or a year ago or a year before that. With every pass, I give the fork one final upward flick to keep the manure from falling out, and every day I remember where I learned to do that and from whom. Time all but stops. But then I dump the manure on the compost pile. I bring out the tractor and turn the pile, once every three or four days. The bucket bites and lifts, and steam comes billowing out of the heap as though I had set it on fire. It is my assurance that time is really moving forward - and decomposing us all in the process.

NY Times, 8/15/2005

For more on this theme, read Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, or one of my favorites by Robert Frost on the impermanence of things, and of human labors, The Woodpile.

Begin your book today

2005-08-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Serendipitously found at Akh: 3'60

Allow mystery into your life

2005-08-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it.

Elizabeth Bowen
Quoted in the Associated Press, printed in The Week, 8/19/2005

Memories of melodies

2005-08-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

The beautiful things we shall write if we have the talent are inside us, indistinct, like the memory of a melody which delights us though we are unable to recapture its outline. Those who are obsessed by the blurred memory of truths they have never known are the men who are gifted.... Talent is like a sort of memory which will enable them to finally bring this indistinct music closer to them, to hear it clearly, to note it down.

Marcel Proust
Quoted in Lynn Freed, "Doing Time: My years in the creative-writing gulag," Harper's Magazine, July 2005

What's in a wrench

2005-07-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

My colleague Poptart shared with me this photo of a late 19th century monkey wrench her father bought for her:

Which brought to mind rich memories for me:

That wrench is a truly a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, from another time, when a tool was more than a hunk of stamped metal made in China and sold in a big box warehouse - when a tool was something that represented a way of life, a means of support, which with use developed a unique patina and pattern of wear matching its owner's hands, and measuring unknown loves.

The way the wrench is worn reminds me of the well-used tools in my father's basement workshop up in Milwaukee. The smells of old grease soaked into rags and into the wood of the workbench mixed with the cool moist air of the basement. Despite the cold environs, it was an emotionally warm and comforting place to visit. As my dad diligently worked away on an engine or some other project, thick, coarse hands fidgeting with parts to see how they worked, or didn't work, his quiet presence was calm and reassuring. My siblings and I might play around in the basement, or just sit and watch my dad working.

Thanks for sharing.

Refuge

2005-07-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

Albert Schweitzer

Mars sunset

2005-07-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

From the NASA Earth Observatory service.

There is a silver lining...

2005-06-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

Louisiana cloudscapes can be spectacular, and views like this frequently draw my gaze upward:

The image, and more like them, can be found at Cloudman's Cloud Gallery.

Looking for tranquility

2005-06-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

Francois de La Rochefoucauld

This begs the question: Is tranquility a natural state, achievable, or even desireable?

Are we alone among the stars

2005-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

But who shall dwell in these worlds if they be
inhabited? ... Are we or they Lords of the
World? ... And how are all things made for man?

Johannes Kepler, The Anatomy of Melancholy

See the light

2005-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

You can see the stars and still not see the light.

Already Gone
The Eagles

Skidding through life

2005-06-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

And remember this motto to live by:

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming...

Damn, What a ride!!

Martian invasion

2005-06-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the premiere of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds...

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Mars is approaching. In 2003, at its point of opposition (the point when a planet is directly opposite the Sun as seen from Earth) Mars was closer to Earth than it had been in 5000 years. It won't come this close to Earth for another 60,000 years.

Although the 2005 Mars opposition won't be quite as close (about 25 percent farther away), the view for people in the Northern Hemisphere may actually be better because Mars will be higher in the sky, and much further north than it was in 2003.

Sky and Telescope:

Mars will be closest to Earth on October 30th and at opposition on November 7th. It will not appear as bright — or as large in a telescope — as it did during its 2003 opposition, but it’ll certainly be a red beacon in a constellation that’s otherwise devoid of bright objects.

There's more of an explanation about this opportunity to view Mars in this 2003 Sky and Telescope article, and this National Geographic article, which described the absolute closest point Mars had come to Earth.

There's more about War of the Worlds here.

The Orson Wells radio broadcast can be found here.

And some nice stills here.

I am Qui-Gon Jinn

2005-06-01T07:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to La Profesora for the link.

Ocumare chocolate

2005-05-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

Ocumare allows you to experience the exciting varietal characteristics of a legendary cocoa: the Criollo cocoa from Venezuela.

Smooth perfumed aroma with tones of exotic wood, nuts and dried fruit as well as spicy nuances. Refined and lasting taste, balanced and round at the same time. Also, aspects of cedar, tobacco and dried plums are particularly noteworthy.

Unique Origin Varietal Chocolates
Ocumare
71% cocoa
Chocovic, S.A.

All things work for good

2005-05-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

I do not interpret this to mean that suffering is intended to teach us something, but that if we have the "right mind" about the things that are in the world for us to experience and learn about, we can make the best of them.

Thanks to Warren "Gee" Arthur, II, whose presence is still felt, even though he has departed this world, and who is still having a positive influence in people's lives.

On focused, principled action

2005-05-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

Know which principles you're willing to fight for to the very end. Limit the number of principles you're willing to fight for to as few as possible.

David Kelley
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
interviewed on Charlie Rose, 5/25/05 WLAE broadcast

Eunoia

2005-05-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia defines this word from its Greek origins, meaning "well mind," or from Aristotle, "good will."

I prefer its use by Christian Bök meaning "beautiful thought," and used as the title for a "universal lipogram," a book of poetry based upon the restriction that each chapter would use only one vowel. Brian Kim Stephans examines the idea in the The Boston Review.

There are other restrictions placed upon the poetry. Each chapter must describe a culinary banquet, a prurient debauch, a pastoral tableau, and a nautical voyage. Each chapter must exhaust at 98 percent of available word with the chapter's assigned letter.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter E:

Bells knell when the keep gets levelled; then Greek rebels cheer when Helen enters her Greek temple (the steepled glebe where jewelled steeples shelter her ephebes); there, the reverends bless the freed empress. The Greek sects revere her gentleness, her tenderness; hence, these prefects help her seek self-betterment. The zen seers tell her: 'greed begets greed—never be self-centred: be selfless'. She defers. Her deference seems reverent. The empress kneels, then keens her vespers. The pewter censer spews the sweetest peppered scent. She feels refreshed; she feels perfected.

But it's far better to hear the works.

Thanks Camille for the tip.

Can you hear me now?

2005-04-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a little nugget of wisdom that can save a lot of grief.

About half of the people you talk to are only listening to you about half of the time.

Expect frequent interruptions, 90-degree turns in the direction of conversation, and having to repeat yourself often.

Once you understand this fact, you can learn to groom those people to give you more of their attention, or just ignore them altogether.

We are all survivors

2005-04-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

I decline to accept the end of man ... I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal not because he alone among creatures has an unexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

William Faulkner, upon acceptance of his Nobel Prize for Literature

This reminds me of something I once heard about how all of us alive on earth today come from generations of survivors. We have as much stuff in us as we need to endure most problems that people could confront. If our families survived through the generations, then we can too.

Chocolate serendipity

2005-04-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

72% cacao. Noir. Eclats de feves de cacao. Cocoa nibs in dark chocolate.

Thank you Chocolat Stella.

Love like water

2005-03-24T03:12:00.000-08:00

Love is like water: It runs around and between obstacles, and works its way into the most inhospitable cracks.

Jemima Lewis, The Sunday Telegraph, in an article about office romance, reprinted in The Week, 25 March 2005.

Immortality on a rainy Sunday afternoon

2005-03-24T02:28:00.000-08:00

Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Susan Ertz, quoted by the Associated Press, reprinted in The Week, 25 March 2005.

Be careful where you tread

2005-03-24T00:58:00.000-08:00

For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled.

Hunter S. Thompson, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, reprinted in The Week, 25 March 2005.

Where two or more are gathered

2005-03-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

The key to harvesting serendipity is found in nurturing relationships based on loving fellowship, according to an article by Carol Hay, "The Science of Serendipity."

From the level of partical physics and quantum mechanics, to the highest order of organization, human interaction, Ms. Hay presents a holistic view of a universe based upon adaptive processes, which in response to disruptive stimuli evolves into higher orders of understanding and creation.

In summary, she argues that serendipity is simply a glimpse into what life would look like if we had the faith that our lives are in God's hands. Of course, this requires a definition of the word "God", but that can be left to the reader. Ms. Hay says that "When we wrestle with events that affect our lives, we often move so far away from the guiding principles and patterns of the universe that, when we bump into them, mostly by accident, we have a serendipitous experience."

Ms. Hay contends that a fundamental nature of the universe is its tendency toward fluctuation and change. Through that change, greater order and resiliency is achieved. She quotes recent scientific research in support of this view of the universe. Research on "dissipative structures" by Nobel Laureate scientist Ilya Prigogone, for example, demonstrated how certain chemical systems respond to environmental demands by regenerating into higher levels of organization. Likewise, human organizations can emerge better and stronger from chaotic stimuli than they were before they lost their equilibrium. For this to happen, however, those organizations must communicate within themselves.

Most often, however, organizations are not set up in accord with principles of dissipative structures, but instead are made rigid and complex to defend themselves from fluctuation and change. This leads to unhealthy organizations that are inflexible, which can't evolve in response to change and new information.

The problem with mainline Christian churches, according to Ms. Hay, is that they suffer from lack of information, leading to deterioration of interest and purpose. Even though clergy are highly educated in the seminary, they conform to rules of behavior that deny discussion of profound, but sensitive topics, such as the true origin of the bible, and blood atonement theory. While sharing this information with parishioners would shock many of the faithful, it would also lead to a restructuring of organizations of faith into more relevant and vital spiritual communities.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the strongest organizations are not those that have strong individual leaders, but those that have more freedom in self organization. Self organization succeeds when the independent activity of members follows from a shared vision of the group's ideals. In this kind of organization, leadership is shared by all individuals, some of whom may rise to an occasion at any given moment to share their particular assets of information or ability.

Overlooking her reference to the cultish Book of Urantia, Ms. Hay provides valuable insights which prime the reader for a more profound appreciation of the nature of the universe, and the possibility of living a more spiritually fulfilled life. Conspicuously absent from her analysis, however, is an explanation of how the thoughtful individual can operate outside of organized communities to strengthen and perpetuate an appreciation of the serendipity that follows from a more inspired understanding of the universe.

I've never read the Book of Urantia, and don't view it as anything more than a book of enlightened fiction, but it may be worth reading. An objective interpretation of the Book of Urantia can be found at Wikipedia.

Actions speak louder than words

2005-03-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

Always preach the gospel. Use words when necessary.

St. Francis of Assisi

Thanks to Phil B. for teaching me St. Francis' wisdom of helping others by living the example of Christ, not by using an evangelical bludgeon. Words are imperfect, they differentiate meaning rather than create harmony, and worse, can ostracize well-meaning people who may disagree with another person's explicit interpretation of spirituality.

Success follows failure

2005-03-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

Japanese Proverb

Follow the path of beauty

2005-03-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.

Anatole France

Allow what life intends you to do

2005-03-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.

Douglas Adams

There is a negative side to this, which occurs when we allow bad circumstances to trap us. Don't allow yourself to be trapped inside of bad circumstances that drain you of your potential and your opportunities. One must always have the courage to challenge negative situations--to remain optimistic, and strive for a more positive outcome.

Let life happen through you

2005-03-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

The important thing is not what happens to you, but what happens through you.

I love this quote, because it describes the essence of how the sereniditous planner should approach life--by being a positive participant in life, life responds with opportunity.

Don't wait for tomorrow to live your life

2005-03-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

None of us is promised tomorrow. Today, in all its beauty, is all we have.

Kent Nerburn

Do what brings you joy

2005-03-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

Never resign yourself to circumstance.

If you do not like what you are doing, if it causes you stress or unhappiness, then you must get out. What you do with joy will infect others with cheerfulness and energy. What you do with gloom will make no difference whatsoever.

Teddy Roosevelt

Lessons from Teddy Roosevelt

Go where this is no path

2005-02-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

Ralph W. Emerson