About Me

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Do it with interest

The concentration and the learning follow if you are interested.  You are willing to do the extra work to overcome the obstacles if you are interested.  Without interest, nothing happens.

Am I interested to write about this topic?  Or am I quickly bored with it?  Is there a story that I would like to share about it?  Or is it a whim and fancy to mention on my blog and preserve it here so that I do not forgot about it?  When will I read it again or act upon it?  If the answer is never to both those questions, then why bother preserving it here?  So many interesting blogs that I have written over the past few years and I have not revisited them.  Maybe I should cull my blogs to find some nuggets.  My nuggets are fragmented in these bursts of activity.  Why have I not consolidated them?  Do I lack the conviction to compile them into a collection of useful thoughts that will help others?

Well, at any rate, I am baring my soul on this topic with considerable interest (and frustration, I might add).  Wait, wait, it is not all bad.  In the sharing of my feelings, I feel authentic and liberated and the writing is continuing to flow.  This is a good thing.  I may be on to something here!  I am interested in my chagrin about my fragmented thoughts in my blogs.  It is clearly a self love of some perverted form. Self love nonetheless.  Thank you for this moment of chagrin and thank you for reading, if you are reading, I mean.




Flow of Creative Energy

Creative energy needs to blossom into reality without resistance.  It is an act of unconditional love and caring for our own thoughts.  We have to learn to honor our own thoughts and follow them without fear.

As I look toward the door of my room, I see the "I love Pi" apron that I bought at Discovery World last year.  For me it is a memory of my preparation for the United Nations World Water Day Milwaukee.  I had walked from Milwaukee Water Works to Discovery World to experience how it might be after the walk.

As I look at the window of the room, I see the circle/bubble print curtains that Usha and I purchased after careful shopping together.  After taking measurements, we went to several stores to find curtains for this room.  When we did buy them at JCPenney, we both had a pleasant discussion with the sales person and really enjoyed the decision making to buy this combination of curtains.  The print for the outer two and the transparent ones for the middle two.

As I look at my desk, I see my Crayola Washable Markers.  "The Power of Kindness" by Piero Ferruci, "The Creative Life" by S. Radhakrishnan, a plate reading "Wander down the pathway of your dreams", and an owl and a tortoise from Park Guell made with tiles that are the trademark of Gaudi's creation.


This is the room that I would like to think is the room that puts me in the Open Mode.  Each day it would be sufficient for me, as a practice to sit in this room and remember the process of how the contents of this room came to be.  This would in itself allow me to honor my thoughts and feel reenergized and ready for the challenges in my life.  This is the source of my creative energy.  This is my creativity pool that I can immerse myself into each morning and emerge soaked with creativity.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Cherish the Dear Ones

Cherish every interaction because you never know if it is the last interaction that you will have with the person.  Interact zestfully and whole-heartly and make it worth the meeting.  Each person that you meet is a dear one.  


Thursday, December 20, 2012

'Tis the Season for Hats



When you go to a mall or a restaurant this week, you are probably going to run into a jolly man with a hat on.  Mostly and not surprisingly, the hat is red!  This got me to wondering if have you ever tried on a new hat?

Edward DeBono is known for the Six Thinking Hats.  You may already have heard of them but in the spirit of the season, here goes.   All of us tend to have a preferred mindset toward problem solving.  In the Six Thinking Hats approach we solve problems wearing one of six different colored hats.  Each color is associated with a mindset.

A White Hat is Logical, Green is Creative, Red is Intuitive, Blue is Organized, Black is Cautious, and Yellow is Optimistic.  Next time you are challenged to solve a problem, pick a hat, wear it, and think with the mindset of that hat.  For example, if you wear the Yellow Hat be optimistic in your attitude to the problem and expect to see wonderful solutions.  After about ten minutes with that hat, wear another hat and see what ideas you get with that attitude.  After wearing the six hats in turn, look at your list of solutions and somewhere in there you may find something totally unexpected.  Like your Christmas present! 

Whatever your form of celebration during this season, enjoy and be grateful for your gifts in life.  We all have many talents and we only need to remind ourselves of them.

Happy New Year 2013!  May you be prosperous and healthy and a colorful problem solver!

Monday, December 17, 2012

A constant companion

Thoughts are my constant companion.  Thoughts are there for me whenever I need love, compassion, bonding, solutions, healing, and more.  I am never lonely, my thoughts always travel with me.  And yet, I forget to appreciate and value my thoughts.  From today forward, I pledge that I will value my thoughts.  My thoughts help me persist until I succeed.  My thoughts teach me new skills.  My thoughts nurture my spirit.

I survive because of my thoughts.  Thoughts are my constant companion.  They do not mind the condition of their surroundings, they tag along all the time.  They do not mind being ignored, they keep coming back in new forms and persist until I pay attention to them.

Writing helps me to honor and reflect upon my thoughts.  My thoughts are precious and they must be preserved through writing.  Each thought is a gem, each word is worth reading.

Thoughts are my constant companion and their form is preserved in my journal.  My journal is alive and well, thank you!


Sunday, December 16, 2012

Grief and Recovery

Grief happens and you do not even realize its impact on your life.  You are immersed in your feelings and the feelings make you care less about engaging in daily living.  The extent to which you do not care is quite scary.  You can totally let go of daily responsibilities and lull yourself along.  It takes a few months of letting go before you look around you and realize that you have been depressed and that your lack of caring for the present has hurt you.  The damage is done and now you get worried about how to recover from the disaster that has become your life!

The first step is to acknowledge the present and the second step is to engage in uplifting activities in the present and the third step is to start along the longer term path to engaged living.  One step enough for me.  It is not easy to muster up the courage to acknowledge the present moment.  Your mind would rather ruminate and linger in the blues.  Breathing in and out helps pull you into the present moment.  Focus on the breathe.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.  Notice the movement of your diaphragm as you breathe in and breathe out.  Draw your awareness into your body and notice how your body feels.  Continue to focus on your breath.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.  Just this process of conscious breathing will give you a focus on the present moment.  Your mind is settled down in the present and you are be calmer and relaxed.  The noise in your head has dissipated away.

You exist in the here and now.  You notice your surroundings and do not attach any meaning to the surroundings.  Attaching a meaning creates emotion and want to avoid any emotion in the present moment.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.  You are a good human being; God loves you and you love yourself.  Breathe in, breathe out.  You are grateful for your life; you are unique and special and worthy of love.  God loves you and you love yourself.  You are safe and there is kindness all around you.  You are loved and you are returning the love.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

You step into a pool of kindness and as you are enveloped by kindness.  Kindness heals all the pain in your body and in your mind.  You are unique and special, you are loved by everyone.  How can anyone not love you?  You are wonderful and nice and you are grateful for your life.  Smile to yourself and share the kindness from your heart with the next person that you meet.  Share the kindness, share the gratitude, share the love.  Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Grief

Letting go of a colleague

She had amyloidosis, I had no idea what it could do.  From the time of diagnosis, it took less then two years.  At least she got to see her grandson.

It began with her dog.  He died suddenly at the end of summer 2010 and she was so sad.  Everyone thought that she was losing weight because of her grief for her dog.  She loved that dog!

The previous two years she had joked about how her doctor had told her that she was obese.  She joked about it and never did anything about reducing her weight.  Then her dog died and she lost her appetite.  At least that's what I thought!

In December 2010, she told me to web search for her diagnosis which she called amyloidosis.  The Mayo clinic website did not have much to say about it but indicated it could be terminal.  She tried to get a referral from her healthcare provider to go to Mayo for her treatment.  It took about a month for them to agree and then Mayo was not available to meet her until February 6/7, 2011.

I commented to her that she did not look well and that maybe she should go home for the day.  It was Jan. 21, 2011.  She stayed at work.

That weekend, I got a message that she had a stroke.

Chemotherapy....what? why?  is amyloidosis like a cancer?  Why didn't Mayo give her an urgent appointment?  Why didn't her healthcare provider act immediately and start the treatment during December 2010?

Hard to let go of that thought.  Hard to let go.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Personal Legend

Touched by "The Point" and "The Alchemist" today.  The stars are speaking to me and I am back in tune with them.  The choice of silence during the past two weeks was a good one.  I have let myself listen and the world has sent its message and I have heard it.  I know for sure that I am hearing it loud and clear.

My brain had run away from my heart and I have helped it find its way back.  You can go home again to your passion.   You can set your brain back in coherence with your heart.  Think, unlearn, and engage.  Engage back with your passion and your heart's longings.  Unlearn the wrong education - jettison the structure that is meaningless. Become yourself once again.  అ ఆ ఇ ఈ ఉ ఊ ఎ ఏ ఐ ఒ ఓ ఔ అం అః 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Ask me if it is important to you

Is it a good attitude to be silent just because no one thinks it necessary to ask me?  Should I speak up anyway?  Ever had they questions going around in your head and not been able to resolve them?

How do I want to contribute to the dialog?  Or do I?


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Unlearning

I have to get out of the habit of too much introspection.  I have to unlearn it.  It is unhealthy for me.  It gets in the way of living.  

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Reflecting

Balance the action with reflection.  Reflection is the opportunity to unlearn or learn.  A bad habit may be preventing the action from producing the required outcome.  So no matter how much action you produce, the result is unacceptable.   Reflection gives us the ability to recognize the bad habit, train ourselves to unlearn it, and prepare us for a new habit.

"Cancelling" of a bad habit is done by deleting it.  It can deleted only if it is identified.  The corollary is that denial of the problem makes it hard to solve it.  How can I elaborate upon this theme to make it easier for you to understand?  What do I mean?

Thursday, June 07, 2012

Writing to empty your mind

Too many thoughts can leave you overwhelmed if you do not somehow express them.  When you have too much happening in your life, it sure helps to dump the words somewhere.  That way they help you find focus in the moment.  Tackle one problem, one detail, one issue at a time.  Tackle your life with the to-do list for each day.  What you accomplish in the today determines the future.  Do something that makes sense right now.  Don't second guess yourself.

Write the thoughts down; it clarifies the situation for you and off-loads your mind.

Too much thought is the equivalent of worry and it creates stress in your life.  Writing is the vent that relieves this stress.

You live today, focus on the today.  The tomorrow will depend on well you do today.  Inane worry does not do anything for you.

These aren't short lists of rules, these are tools to thrive in this world.

Thrive don't just survive!


Friday, June 01, 2012

OCD vs. Habit

A habit doesn't have to be compulsive though sometimes it does seem so.  The same brain cells that get trained for a habit can get overly responsive in certain situations and appear obsessive.

Anxiety is the same way.  Sometimes anxiety helps you to be careful and that tends to reinforce itself and you think that you have to be anxious in order to succeed.

Success can be relaxed and enjoyable.  It does not have to feel stressful and like it is going to kill me.

Winners attitude without over-optimism is a balancing act.  Call it confidence!

Good habits can lead to confidence, repetition of success with a habit makes for repetition of a habit.  

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Take the time to Find your Voice

Give yourself permission, give yourself an A.  It's okay to cry, it's okay to fly.

Being an independent person forces you to be strong and determined and responsive to the demands of life.  In the process, you become outside in, always thinking about your demands and pressures from the outside world - in order to survive and be independent.  You forget to listen to yourself, you forget to feel sorry for yourself, you forget to be vulnerable, you forget about you.  Oh yes, there is a "little" you under all the rush and clamor and bustle and stress of the world.  Allow yourself to cry, allow yourself to pity yourself, allow yourself to be you.  It's okay to cry.

 Being a modest person makes you hesitate to celebrate your successes.  Your achieving nature, your perfectionist attention to detail, makes you feel incomplete and that you have not achieved your goals.  Stop and smell the roses, you are a success, you are a winner.  Think about all the many things that you have accomplished and savor them for a moment.  Acknowledge the successes, celebrate the achievements.  Give yourself an A, it's okay to fly.

It takes a build-up, not a breakthrough.  Like the tortoise, "slow and steady wins the race".  It's true!
Ahoogah, chugachugchug....a personal note of reflection for myself from a story that I used to read to my son when he was two or three years old.

I find that this process of becoming vulnerable and acknowledging me in my authentic form, allows me to self-discover and slowly, shyly but surely, my voice starts to feel heard in my head.  It slowly feels validated and loved.  I feel good.  Feel the love for yourself, strange as it sounds, feel the love for yourself.  It starts here, your journey has begun.  You are recharged and rejuvenated and ready to face up to the challenges of the world from the inside out.

I doubt that this blog is ready by anyone other than me and maybe my wife sometimes now that she knows about it.  If you do read this far, please do take a moment to comment.  Thank you!  I am grateful for this beautiful world and I would love to share and collaborate and engage.  I would like to live as though there is no tomorrow and that today is when I will do what is most meaningful to me.  Thank you for reading this far.  Share the love, feel the joy, It's okay to cry, it's okay to fly.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Healing Gate

Materialize a portal, magically arrive at the doors of heaven,  and walk through the gate of healing.  It seems as though this concept of arriving at a magical destination ("heaven") is prevalent in many cultures.

Technology makes it possible to create such a Healing Gate almost at will.  In some ways, if we look around us, we have "heaven" around us.  We walked through the portals of civilized society and through achievement we surrounded ourselves with clues of "heaven".

And yet, in our minds we chose to find reason not to feel as though we have arrived at a beautiful destination.  Every time we take a moment to feel gratitude, we ought to realize that our generation of mankind has found a kind of "heaven" on earth.

I pray that we do not spoil it for future generations.  Let us cherish our natural resources and use them wisely and nuture these resources for the future of life on this earth.  Let us show reverence for life.  Let us love, care, and be kind to life.  Each morning, let us light a candle, say a prayer, walk through a healing gate, and arrive at humanity.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Good Habits

I was reading an excerpt by William James called "Making Habits Work for You."

He said "The more of the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless custody of automation, the more our higher powers of mind will be set free for their proper work.  There is no more miserable person than one in whom nothing habitual but indecision, and for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day, and the beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of deliberation.  Half the time of such a man goes to deciding or regretting matters which out to be so ingrained in him as practically not exist for his consciousness at all."

As I was reading this excerpt, it reminded me of a rule that I had written on a large 5in. by 7in. index card about ten years ago.  I have now pulled out this card from a drawer in my desk and it is sitting on my desktop now.  It is from Og Mandino's "The Greatest Salesman in the World" - "I WILL FORM GOOD HABITS AND BECOME THEIR SLAVE"

Parenting is about inculcating good habits in their children.  At an early age, if a child is taught habits that he or she will do automatically, this will set the stage for better development of their mind.

Brush your teeth, floss your teeth, wash your mouth after eating sweets, all of these are habits that maintain dental hygiene.  Read the newspaper every morning, listen to the news on the radio or watch the news on the TV, discuss the news with friends, are going habits for you as a citizen of the world.  Exercise every morning, take a bath, eat a healthy breakfast, are all excellent for our physical fitness and hygiene.

These are habits that most of us have developed by observation in the morning.  What about later in the day?  Usually it is your job and the habits of work.  If you are at home, you need to develop habits for the day.  When I was in boarding school, every part of the day was regimented.  These were good habits but I had bad associations and when I "grew up"  I shunned the habits.  It has taken me all these years that indeed my parents sent me to a good school that taught me good habits that were supposed to be skills to help me have a good life.  I have spent many years resenting the discipline and feeling bad about being sent to boarding school and not maintaining closeness with my family.

Aha!  Lost closeness can be an outcome of discipline and habits.  I see this happen around me.  In the habits of morning rituals such as exercise and meditation, my father-in-law does not make time to talk with his wife and garner the relationship.  For all their many years of marriage, they seem to be quite estranged and unable to relate to each others.  Did good habits get in the way of their relationship?

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Intensify awareness

How hard are you focusing are your intent?  If not hard enough, why not?  Is it a lack of confidence?

What if you were sure that you could achieve your intent?  Would you focus harder and be fearless in its pursuit?

Intensify your focus, and bear down on your problems to solve them.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Off-court training

Any sport requires fitness training, as proven by the pros.  The same is true of the brain.  Unless you are stretching the mind in the quiet moments, you find it difficult to get results from your mind when you are stressed.

Get into the habit of doing brain fitness exercises.  Doesn't have to be very complicated.  As a starter, in one minute list as many words as you can that start with the letter g.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Please be patient

"Please be patient with your life, it's only morning and you have still to live the day" in "Tis the Morning of my Life" by The Bee Gees.

Look around you and feel grateful for what you have in the present.   This morning I am grateful for the cool breeze, the birds chirping in the trees, my mowed backyard, the birds feeding on the feeders, the fun dinner we had with Maria and Mike, the clock's chime and gongs striking six am.  I am grateful for my computer, my ability to type, and to say some words.

I am grateful that I am able to be present in my living this morning.  I am present in the moment and cherishing the beauty that surrounds me.  This is a new day, and new things are about to happen.  New life is in the making; I chose to live and thrive not just survive.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Permission

Give yourself permission to be happy.  Give yourself an A!

Most of the time, when I am happy, I find myself wondering whether I deserve to be so happy.  Then I start finding reasons to not be happy and pretty soon I am unhappy.  Strange how that works.

Happiness just does not last as long as we would like because of the cascade of thoughts that follow the feeling of happiness.  Feeling looks to thought for validation and this is a set up for failure.  Thought does not know how to validate feeling.  Thought does not understand feeling!


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Hang in there

Don't feel like it?  That's okay, you are allowed!  You are allowed to make mistakes.  Allow yourself to make mistakes.  You are fine!  The world is totally unfair and nasty.  You have to be nice to yourself.  Allow yourself to let go and forgive yourself.  Be gentle to yourself.  Around the corner there is something wonderful about to happen. 

Identify bad habits and break 'em

Time wasters are bad habits.  Take a few moments to list three of your time wasters on a small piece of paper.  Now burn that paper as a symbolism of getting rid of those bad habits.  On another piece of paper write down, three good habits that you would like to form.  Read these habits as affirmations each day.  Carry the paper with you at all times!

Flywheel

Habit is like a flywheel, it is hard to inculcate at the start.  The more you make it turn, the easier it gets.  Once it becomes easier, it is easier to do and becomes automatic.  The idea is to make a habit out of good practices.  Make a habit of best practices......hmmm..... good for organizations too.

I think it was in "Good to Great" that Jim Collins talks about the flywheel effect.  It takes about seven years for the good companies to become great.  Once the flywheel is turning well, the organization takes off!  I have to re-read this portion of the book.  I think I have it on CDs so I will take it in my car today.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Shatter me

Break bad habits by replacing them with good ones.  Make your habits your friends instead of your enemies.  Good habits make us move towards our goals, bad habits prevent us from reaching our goals.

The sooner we realize the difference between the habits that allow us to reach our goals and the habits that prevent us, the sooner we activate our success mechanism.  The success mechanism is a series of automatic responses that allow us to access our higher powers of the mind.

Indecision about the small stuff reduces our time available for the important stuff.  Time is precious, use it for the important stuff!

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Slow thinking morning

For some reason, I awoke with a very positive frame of mind.  My thoughts are very present and in the moment and I feel at one with the world.  My coffee is weak and that does not bother me though I do notice it.  It is important to notice and observe and accept and feel okay with it.

Maybe that it is the feeling of success, is to be okay with everything just as it is.  No thought of the future and what needs to get done.  Or maybe that is a slowing down of thinking that will help me tackle the day to come and solve problems as they arise.  So is that confidence?  Yes it is.

On this slow thinking morning, I am feeling confident about my abilities to face up to the world.  I am proud of me and I will face the world with my chin up.

Monday, May 07, 2012

Multiple Boards

Life is often like playing multiple chess boards.  All you have to do is make one move at a given time on each board.  As long as you focus on the board in front of you and follow the tactical rules of chess, the plan for each board develops and within that board the nuances of the game will unfold.  Each board unfolds differently depending upon the response of the other player.

Often, a shoddy beginning (opening) to the venture (game) creates obstacles to later move.  If you are a grandmaster, you take precautions in the opening to avoid difficult situations in the middle game.  Same is true of strategy in life.  If you begin a journey with a good understanding of how the subsequent steps may develop then you prepare for those situations in advance and position yourself accordingly.

On each board, you strategize during the opening and then your next moves become tactics dependent upon the responses.  As long as you are paying full attention to the board that you are on at present, you are likely to be able to make a decent move on each board and therefore make good moves in progression on all the boards.

If you confuse the boards, you get into a tizzy and mess everything up.  Do not get overwhelmed by multiple boards in life.  Focus on one at a time.  

Life in Layers

We seem to have to gently lift one layer in order to access another layer.  Most of time, we are not even sure that there is another layer.  Like transparent Scotch tape that is too thin to see, we have to guess that there is a layer and start gently scraping the surface.  Not too hard, just in case there is no other layer, and we end up scratch the original surface and damage it.

Hard to know when we reach another layer in a relationship.  Suddenly there is a breakthrough and we feel the world move.  These are the choice points in our lives that happen when we are genuine and feel that what we have to do is the only thing which is right.  No second guessing the decision, you make the choice, thinking it will help one person and that the other person will just have to accept it and hope that you will have both relationships hold strong at the end.

I forgive unconditionally, will you do so with me?  I hope so.  Life is meant for love not grudge and regret.  Life is beautiful, it is up to you and me to appreciate it.  There is a layer that you have not seen yet, look for it.  Once you find it, the magic will be yours too.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Journeying forth

Felt like coming back to my blog this morning.  Feeling comfortable in this space after a long time.  The last two years were quiet on this front and I am opening myself to this space again.  Not focused on cohesive frameworks yet, just enjoying the thrill of being in this space again.  I love being in the zone of writing and expressing myself and discovering myself in the process.

Writing is a journey to discover me.  I have to think of myself as another person when I write and this helps me to appreciate me better.  My focus of attention is the tapping of my fingers unconsciously revealing the inner workings of my mind.  Journey forth and enjoy the adventure of me.  

From Twitter to Blog

I was working on increasing my "followers" on Twitter and came across a tweet that reminded me about the importance of having a practice for writing.  It reminded me of "Morning Pages" that Julia Cameron recommends in her book "The Artists Way".

This morning, I determined to start writing as soon as my coffee was ready and now I am here at my desk, sitting on my exercise ball and typing into a blog on my Macbook Pro.  It is very pleasing just to be here and doing this activity.  It makes me feel alert and in the moment.  My coffee tastes great too!

On my wall, in my room, I have written, "Luckily the world is absolutely full of interesting things to do!"  This is an exciting time in our lives when we can cross from visual, to sound, to written word, to conversation.

Let's not forget smell, taste, and touch.  The digital world has not taken over smell, taste, and touch.  I cannot touch my mother, nor can I touch my great-niece, through Skype.  I cannot get a full feel of them through digital media.  I still have to be there to enjoy them with my whole brain and all of my feelings.  The gentle touch of our hands, the cuddle, the whiff of scent, the after-taste of a kiss on my lips.  I cannot reproduce these through digital media.

We get so much stimulation of simulation, lol, where did that come from?  Our two senses of sight and sound are inundated and saturated with triggers that create expectations for the other three senses.  Only to disappoint them.  Two tempt the three and leave them bereft of closure.  No wonder we have a sense of incompleteness in our lives.  The crescendo of visual and auditory stimuli leave us longing for the stimuli to our other three senses and a deep sense of longing for the wholeness of the experience.

Memory can fill in a few gaps.  Our brains are miraculous and can do fill in the sensory gaps.  The brain does not know the difference between a fantasy and a reality.  I could pretend to be on vacation in my mind and actually feel like I was on a vacation.  I could pretend to have sex with a gorgeous woman and actually feel like I did have sex with her.  Really?  Can I really derive the full benefits of those physical experiences through my imagination alone?

I am not trying to make "sense" of my lack of stimulation to the other senses.  Remember that this kind of like a morning page and I am doing this to exercise my writing skills without inhibition.  I am exposing my raw thoughts in a blog that I will make public for those who "stumble upon" my blog.

Interestingly, I am confident enough in my writing skills that I am not worried about judgement and the media of the blogosphere leaves me talking to an anonymous audience.  Maybe then, this is the ideal way to throw my thoughts out into the universe.

Julia Cameron recommended three pages for morning pages, what is that equivalent to in a blog like this one?  Before I close this blog, I would like to acknowledge the author who reminded me of morning pages.  For that, I will need to open another tab and look in my tweets.  Wait a moment, I will be back with that information from the other tab momentarily.

Her name is Arielle Ford, see link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arielle-ford/fitting-your-author-life-_b_1199107.html?ref=tw

I am following her on Twitter now.  Thank you Arielle Ford for reminding me of a practice!  

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Whitewater rafting

If your efforts feel like whitewater rafting, be glad. It means that you are doing something right. Life is at its best when you feel somewhat out of control. You become focused and subconscious strengths take over.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Unlearning

My latest theme is unlearning. Unlearn bad habits, unlearn bad practices, unlearn irrelevant cultural riturals. Unlearn the crap. Our minds are so full of irrelevant learning so often that it is difficult to experience and live in the present. The joie de vivre comes from letting go of the trash thoughts and the trash learning. Engage without the baggage and live forth with renewed energy.

Monday, January 02, 2012

Interest

Live with interest and zest in 2012. Keep your spirits up and engage in activities that inspire and interest you. Overcome obstacles and press on with liveliness and energy. Life is short, live it to the full! Live up to your potential, listen to your inner voice. Make time for your inner voice and be gentle to yourself.

My new favorite poem for 2012 is Desiderata. "Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle to yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."

Move with confidence in the New Year! Embrace new opportunities and look for growth in yourself. Plan for the next twenty years. This is the Kindergarten of your life. Use a beginner's mind to take a fresh look at everything that you have achieved and realize your good fortune. You are much better off than so many people in the world. Be grateful, live with an attitude of gratefulness.

The past two days were spent with my young nephew and niece and their fresh outlook has helped me to refocus and recharge my mind. I am grateful for this time with them.