Beautiful People Do Not Just Happen

3 Observations & A Question

Just because you have prepared for something doesn’t mean you don’t still have to go through it.

You really can trust the Spirit of God in another person — at the very least, consider the consequence when you don't....

Most of the time, we are operating out of how we prefer to engage the world…as opposed to how someone else prefers to.

It is really difficult to not always measure things in the terms of progress — what is wrong with contentment or simple existence?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Scotland could become first ‘rewilded’ nation—what does that mean?

At the end of the last ice age, Scotland was a truly wild place, where the Highland tiger, a distinctly banded wildcat, and the wolf, lynx, and bear roamed among Caledonian pine forests. The Romans called the country’s north “The Great Wood of Caledon.” But over time, humans purged the land for timber, charcoal, and agriculture. Native species such as wild boar, polecat, and elk vanished. By the turn of the 20th century, only 5 percent of Scotland’s land area was covered by forest.

Now the country is experiencing a zeitgeist moment for rewilding—in essence, the rebuilding of ecosystems to their natural uncultivated states—with new efforts and a matrix of wild lands and natural corridors spreading across the country. The actions of those responsible are aligning and, if successful, would make Scotland the first rewilded nation in the world.  Continue here....

-- Mike Maceacheran

For Who?

'Poem for the week' -- "For Who?":

When the heavens with stars are gleaming

   Like a diadem of light, 

And the moon’s pale rays are streaming, 

   Decking earth with radiance bright; 

When the autumn’s winds are sighing, 

   O’er the hill and o’er the lea, 

When the summer time is dying, 

   Wanderer, wilt thou think of me? 

When thy life is crowned with gladness, 

     And thy home with love is blest, 

Not one brow o’ercast with sadness, 

     Not one bosom of unrest—

When at eventide reclining, 

    At thy hearthstone gay and free, 

Think of one whose life is pining, 

    Breathe thou, love, a prayer for me. 

Should dark sorrows make thee languish, 

     Cause thy cheek to lose its hue, 

In the hour of deepest anguish, 

     Darling, then I’ll grieve with you. 

Though the night be dark and dreary, 

     And it seemeth long to thee, 

I would whisper, “be not weary;” 

   I would pray love, then, for thee. 

Well I know that in the future, 

    I may cherish naught of earth; 

Well I know that love needs nurture, 

    And it is of heavenly birth.

But though ocean waves may sever 

     I from thee, and thee from me, 

Still this constant heart will never, 

    Never cease to think of thee. 

-- Mary Weston Fordham

Recognition of Another Person's...

Love is really...a recognition of another person's integrity and truth.

-- Robert Graves

Good At, Interested In, Exposed To

Is it not the case that what we are good at is often a function of what we have most applied ourselves to?

And, is it not also the case that what we apply our self most to is largely a function of what we’re interested in? And, again generalizing, are not the things we are most interested related to something innate within us?

Assuming some type of progression in this particular sequencing, could we propose that it is our interests that gives us a clue to what we could most benefit from truly pursuing?

So, how does one identify their interests? Of course, there would be many paths to answer that question. But one of them, at the very least, might be that exposure to a variety of things and experiences create opportunity for those interests to be revealed.

I am mindful of some of the things that I love the most today are the same things that I was exposed to as a child. That is probably more than a coincidence. Not to say that if I had been exposed to something else, I automatically would be interested in those things instead of the things that I’m interested in now (though that is theoretically possible). Nonetheless, it is conspicuous that what I enjoy is a function of what I do and what I do is a function of what I’m interested in and what I’m interested in is often connected to what I’ve been exposed to.

It's not hard to notice that exposure to things often sets a number of things in motion. I've watched this in my own experience (as a child...and ever since), in my grand-children (see above), and in the stories of others.

So, what are the implications of such observations?

Finish here....

Insincerity

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

-- George Orwell, “Politics and the English Language”

You don't have to stop very long these days to feel the resonance of this observation.

On the Lighter Side: Announcement

On the Lighter Side:

Tribune Content Agency

Stop Long Enough

Ever noticed...how much there is to see, if you stop long enough and stay in one spot to see all the things that are happening in that place? 

It’s almost like the faster and more we move, the less we can notice about what is, in any particular place. 

I wonder if that’s true about our sense-of-self as well….

While our culture rushes from one thing to the next thing and onto the next thing and never really stops, the wisdom of some other cultures fairly consistently seem to indicate that being still is a better way...to move.

Nice News: That's Just 4 Things

My 3yo said she wanted to be an astronaut, and I said she had to study hard, go to college, learn a lot of science, and take a physical fitness test, and she shrugged and said, "That's just 4 things." So she's basically a nonchalant motivational speaker.

-- jendziura, nicenews.com

Other Nice News....

Sabbath: We Are More Than We Produce

Instagram: richvillodas

We keep Sabbath not because it makes us more productive at work.  We keep it to resist the idol of productivity.

We are more than what we produce.

-- Rich Villodas

3 Observations & A Question

Sometimes you just have to live life long enough to know what it ISN'T about.

There is the need to say something and there is what needs to be said — both are needed.

When its leadership normalizes lying (especially programmatically), society pays a big price.

When will we know the full impact of a culture framed by constant competition (when winning and losing effectively translates to people being viewed primarily as winners and losers), or do we already?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On The Lighter Side: Not The Man I Married

On the Lighter Side:

Herman by Jim Unger

Veterans Day

In 1926, Congress passed a resolution noting that since November 11, 1918, “marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed,” the anniversary of that date “should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations.”

Thank you for your service to preserve peace.

How You Do Anything

How you do anything is how you do everything. 

-- Zen Buddhist saying

Election Results

AP NEWS

AXIOS

Vote

...at the very least, consider the content AND assumptions (even if it's not your flavor of choice).  

We actually have to re-learn how to listen for the possibility of truth from POVs that aren't familiar to us— our unwillingness to do this collectively IS, in fact, lethal to our society.  We have to join the process, because "Why bother voting because it doesn't matter" can't help anyone.

Why does it seem like comedians are the ones who are more willing to speak the truth, while political leaders are more than willing to tell lies they don't even really believe (primarily just to get votes)?

Extend Gains

I’m wondering…about our apparent need to always extend gains.

In other words, when something is gained or achieved, we seem to have this expectation that it not only continue, but that it also should increase. And, it’s gotten to the point where it’s not just expected, it’s required. Nearly all success is expected to both continue and grow. If it doesn't, then we frame in terms of some kind of failure.

This seems true in our view of history, in sports, in business, in our jobs, in politics…even our religion seems to fall prey to this habit.

But, isn’t there a logical limit to this idea? Can everything, in other words, always be extended further? And, what comes along with that requirement or expectation?

Is there no reality left for the concept of dialectic, not to mention contentment? Or, is it always just more more more?

Too often, perhaps, we get things like drivenness and contentment caught in a binary-type function, rather than allowing for the possibility of there being both (especially over time). One at the expense of the other.

Does everything that is gained need to be perpetuated? Does everything that is gained need to be extended or advanced even further?

What about the idea that something has had a good run? It served its purpose. It’s time for something else.

…or, God forbid, someone else.

Cosmic Optimism Which Trusts

In the long run, violence does not achieve its own stated purposes, because it only deepens the bitterness on both sides. It leaves both sides in an endless and impossible cycle that cannot be stopped by itself. Instead, some neutralizing force must be inserted from outside to stop the cycle of violence and point us in a new direction.

Nonviolence relies on a kind of cosmic optimism which trusts that the universe/reality/God is finally and fully on the side of justice and truth. History does have a direction, meaning, and purpose. God is more fundamental than evil. Resurrection will have the final word, which is the very promise of the Jesus event. The eternal wind of the Spirit is with us. However, we should not be naïve; and we must understand that most people’s loyalties are with security, public image, and the comforts of the status quo.

We must not separate ourselves from the suffering of the world. When we’re close to those in pain, their need evokes love in us. Very few of us have the largess, the magnanimity to just decide to be loving. Someone has to ask it of us. We have to place ourselves in situations with people who are not like us, outside our systems of success and security, so we can read life from another perspective. The needs we witness will pull us toward love, toward generosity and compassion.

-- Richard Rohr

4 Observations (from Others)

It takes an entire community for us to feel whole.

-- Marisa Franco

Understanding, love, and respect build cohesive families and communities.

-- Jimmy Carter

Cultures of gratitude must also be cultures of reciprocity. Each person, human or no, is bound to every other in a reciprocal relationship. Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them.

-- Robin Wall Kimmerer

We must also be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us and all around us, everywhere, anytime. 

-- Thich Nhat Hanh

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

Only Thrive In Groups

 

Aspens are like people — they only thrive in groups, never alone.

-- Phil G., captured on the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway (Highway 92) in the Wasatch National Forest, Utah.

Give-Away Song

We collectively called them 'savages' (surely, some of them were; but, so are many of us...).  This poem acknowledges what many of them actually were, as opposed to how they were so often portrayed.  We can learn a lot from good people who have lived before us.

'Poem for the week' -- "Give-Away Song":

This is my give-away—

            not because I don’t want

                  it anymore,

            not because it’s out of

                  style or

                broken or

                useless since it lost

                its lid or one of its buttons,

            not because I don’t understand

                the “value” of things.

This is my give-away—

            because I have enough

                  to share with you

            because I have been given

                  so much

                    health love happiness

                    pain sorrow fear

            to share from the heart

            in a world where words can be

            meaningless when they come

            only from the head.

This is my give-way—

            to touch what is good in you

            with words your heart can hear

            like ripples from a pebble

            dropped in water

            moving outward growing

            wider touching others.

            You are strong.

            You are kind.

            You are beautiful.

This is my give-away.

     Wopida ye.   

          Wopida ye.

                Wopida ye.

-- Gwen Westerman

From the Author:

“‘Give-Away Song’ honors our Dakota value of generosity and sharing whatever we have with those around us. This poem is also a response to the missionaries and Indian agents who often reported that our ancestors did not know the value of things that the government provided them—blankets, flour, meat, food, tools, other supplies—and that when those goods were distributed, the people would immediately share with others who did not have as much as they did. But I think our ancestors did know exactly the value of things and that value only comes when you can share.”

Write the Sonnet Yourself

Life, with its rules, its obligations, and its freedoms, is like a sonnet:  you're given the form, but you have to write the sonnet yourself.

-- Madeleine L'Engle

Being Seen

I've noticed...that some days I don't feel very seen.  It's like I just exist between everything else and no one really notices.  On such days, I feel more like an idea (that someone may or may not remember) or a product (that performs certain things, especially the expected things) than I feel like a person.  It doesn't really matter what is happening to me or how I am feeling about life, about my life.  If I want to, I could make a fuss and require some kind of attention from others; otherwise it feels like no one would even notice.

I'm not saying I am alone with this feeling (that others don't feel the same thing), but it also seems that there is something in me that wants to mute what I am feeling by even making this observation (that others experience this, too).  The fact that we all may feel this, from time to time, isn't really the point, is it?

Invisibility is not a good feeling, but it is also likely not one that is as bad as it seems.  It may, in fact, create something — like space for us to consider what it is that we actually desire, not to mention the various and sundry ways we often go about procuring it.

In our age of social media, such compensating efforts can really create an equally false phenomenon.  Do we really need to draw attention to ourselves?  Or, is chasing that really an endlessly unsatisfying kind of futility.

What is it, then, that we really desire...besides being seen?

Manipulate or Inspire

There are only two ways to influence human behavior:  you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.

-- Simon Sinek

NASA Sun, Space & Scream

@NASASun

Sure, why not? It IS Halloween!

Nice News: Eating Pie

When my daughter was 7 years-old, she once interrupted a bedtime story to tell me, "In a pie-eating contest, it doesn't matter if you win or lose because you get to eat pie."  I think about that a lot.

-- NicolasG, nicenews.com

Other Nice News....

We Can Do, Heal, or Correct Nothing

We can try, at great personal sacrifice, to be perfectly righteous, a perfect friend, perfectly responsive, perfectly available, perfectly forgiving. But at the heart of our efforts must lie the knowledge that, by ourselves, we can do, heal, or correct nothing. The point is not to be perfect, but to “perfectly” leave Christ to do, heal, and correct in us what he wills. 

-- Heather King

3 Observations & A Question

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether we should be directing more of life or cooperating more with it.

Our true desires are too often submerged below many layers of other things.

You really can’t expect of someone something they don’t expect of themselves, unless you are willing to do the long, slow work of helping them see what they can expect of themselves.

Where do we get our expectations — are they more largely innate within us or imposed upon us?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Epic Lightning Storm and Swirling Star Trails Caught in One Incredible Photo

Photographer Marc Sellés Limós captured this photo of an epic lightning storm while also encapsulating star trails caused by the Earth’s rotation.  ...continue here.

Those Who Dwell

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

-- Rachel Carson

Tyranny of Ignorance & Prejudice

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. 

-- Benjamin Franklin

...we are being seriously played by the current machinery of political personality.

Religious prejudices are the deepest of all prejudices, and religious conservatism is the most conservative of all conservatisms. It may take a whole generation to emancipate the mass of the people from the tyranny of ignorance and prejudice.

-- Philip Schaff, 1885

So, on that premise, it's only going to get worse, unless we embrace a more fundamental shift:

Instagram: sarcasticlutheran

LT: Isn't Linear

Know that career progression isn’t linear — sometimes you have to go sideways for a while before you go up. Broadening your experience is hugely valuable. The more you learn, the more valuable you are to this company or the next.

-- Janet M., Orlando

Patiently Waiting

Ever noticed...that Truth is always just sitting there in the background?

It really doesn’t care whether I believe it or not, whether I know about it, or even whether I engage with it — it just sits there and patiently waits until I’m ready for it.

Seeking God

In many circles, seeking God is, among other things, a virtue.

But too often, seeking God often drifts faster towards clichéd beliefs than towards true activity.

In that context, perhaps it is helpful to contrast what seeking God is with what seeking God isn't.

Contrasts would only scratch the surface, to be sure.  But, at the very least, seeking God would need to include being actively interested in what God is interested in — to be doing the kinds of things God did, especially as represented by what Jesus did.

Population Shifts in the US

AXIOS

3 Observations & A Question

One predator of the 'moment' is analysis.

More than anything else, our experiences (good or bad) inform what we believe.

You can’t really trade the means for the ends — they’re always one and the same.

We just can't avoid this one — why is it that Jesus spent so much time with marginalized people...and so many who claim Jesus don't?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On The Lighter Side: TSN - Top 10 Bad Luck Moments

On the Lighter Side:

  

Verses to the Moon

'Poem for the week' -- "Verses to the Moon":

Oh moon, who now look over the roof

of the church, in the tropical calm

to be saluted by him who has been out all night,

to be barked at by the dogs of the suburbs,

Oh moon who in your silence have laughed at

all things! In your sidereal silence 

when, keeping carefully in the shadow, the

municipal judge steals from some den.

But you offer, saturnine traveler,

with what eloquence in mute space

consolation to him whose life is broken,

while there sing to you from a drunken brawl

long-haired, neurasthenic bards,

and lousy creatures who play dominos.

-- Luis Carlos López

Revealed

There is no deeper desire than the desire of being revealed.

-- Kahlil Gibran

I Got Nothin'

I got nothin' today.

...some days really are like that, aren't they?  

No shortage of material, actually.  Just of motivation — maybe it's how I slept last night, or how I woke up, or some kind of general malaise....

Unless there's something wrong with just me, I'm guessing this is more common than we think (or like to admit).  And, we live in a culture where this is not particularly fashionable — we always have to be presenting something or have something to say.

But, what if we don't?  Will we really lose what we tend to think we would?

Besides, we don't always have something to say — and making up stuff to compensate is more than a little weird (when you really think about it).

So (before I end up contradicting myself by going on and on after all)...

...I got nothing today.

LT: Little Congruence

Instagram: richvillodas

The level of power we hold must be commensurate with the level of inner work we have done (and are doing).  Otherwise we destroy people & ourselves.

This is why there's so many tragedies of leadership in our world:  There is little congruence between our inner and outer lives.

-- Rich Villodas

Approval

I’m wondering…how much of our actions are organized for approval from someone or a group whose approval we need or desire?

Would the actual percentage astonish us?

Doesn't so much of the group behavior that we observe around us really come down to that question? We are believing (behaving) this way, because it gets us some form of approval from the group with which we want to be associated.

IF that's true, what is it that we're really after?

Great Simplicity

The first way to develop presence is in living each day with great simplicity.

The practice of the presence of God, although a little difficult at first, secretly achieves marvelous effects in the soul, attracting an abundance of God’s graces, and when done faithfully, it imperceptibly leads the soul to this simple awareness, to this loving view of God present everywhere. This is the most sacred, the most robust, the easiest, and the most effective form of prayer.

-- Brother Lawrence

3 Observations & A Question

Establishing your ways and becoming set in them are not the same thing.

Even a tacit review of history exposes the fact that many acts we view now as barbaric were not particularly viewed that way at the time.

Religion often tries to manage power. Love releases it.

How can some days feel so monotonous, while others feel so full of wonder?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Fall Tree Of The Day, 2022

In light of yesterday's post, here is this year's contribution to a now annual series — Fall Tree Of The Day:

 

Winona Lake, IN

More Fall pics here....

The Autumn

Poem for the week' -- "The Autumn":

Go, sit upon the lofty hill,

    And turn your eyes around,

Where waving woods and waters wild

    Do hymn an autumn sound.

The summer sun is faint on them —

    The summer flowers depart —

Sit still — as all transform'd to stone,

    Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,

    May yet be in your mind;

And how you heard the green woods sing

    Beneath the freshening wind.

Though the same wind now blows around,

    You would its blast recall;

For every breath that stirs the trees,

    Doth cause a leaf to fall.

Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth

    That flesh and dust impart:

We cannot bear its visitings,

    When change is on the heart.

Gay words and jests may make us smile,

    When Sorrow is asleep;

But other things must make us smile,

    When Sorrow bids us weep!

The dearest hands that clasp our hands, —

    Their presence may be o'er;

The dearest voice that meets our ear,

    That tone may come no more!

Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,

    Which once refresh'd our mind,

Shall come — as, on those sighing woods,

    The chilling autumn wind.

Hear not the wind — view not the woods;

    Look out o'er vale and hill-

In spring, the sky encircled them —

    The sky is round them still.

Come autumn's scathe — come winter's cold —

    Come change — and human fate!

Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,

    Can ne'er be desolate.

-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Try Slowing Down

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.

-- Jane Wagner

Skinning Our Knees

My grandson recently fell and skinned his...nose.

It got me thinking — why do we react, or not react, the way we do...to events like skinned knees (or noses)?

And, I've concluded maybe we all should keep skinning our knees....

When a kid falls down and scratches his or her knee, we seem pretty much OK about it (a little more concerned when it's their face). But, the basics are there — we kind of know a few things about this situation and don’t really worry about it too much.

The reality is that skinning your knee (at any age), even it it feels uncomfortable or painful, is not too “serious". Somehow the bumps, bruises and scrapes of children on things like sidewalks are just part of what it takes for them to understand where and how to be careful — to learn what to watch out for, when to be cautious, etc. We empathize and hold them for a few minutes, but we don’t go overboard and we don’t take them to the hospital. We kind of know that, in some way, it’s a necessary part of their process of discovery in navigating a world where such things are learned about how to avoid some of the problems or things that can be painful in life.

But, here's another observation. It would appear that we have a decreasing capacity to handle much pain individually or as a society. Sometimes it feels like nearly any contrivance is an offense of epic proportions, and one hast to wonder what our kids are learning as a result of that kind of collective disposition to life. It’s almost as if we now have no tolerance for pain, dealing with it primarily by to trying to extinguish it all together with a rather wide variety of tactics.

Perhaps, like many things in our society, a lot of the remedies that we have are no longer viewed simply as situational enhancements. They have become the only means with which we know how to experience something. Take pain medication, for example, if we can't get it, then it appears at times that we think we will die. We know that’s not literally true, but psychologically it sometimes appears as if we believe it is.

Either way, the question might start to become, do we get too good at avoiding our skinned knees situations? Do we get too good at navigating and avoiding; anticipating everything that could result in the scrapes and bruises of life? I’m afraid, sometimes we do; at least, those of us who are privileged to have the option of making those kinds of choices. But, it’s also a little conspicuous that the flip-side of avoiding anything that would be a bump or bruise in life can end up keeping us from doing or trying anything.

The beauty of children and an unanticipated crack is...finish here.

LT: Attention Under Assault

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. Attention is the basis of the most essential of leadership skills — emotional, organizational, and strategic intelligence. And never has it been under greater assault.

-- Daniel Goleman

We All Make Assumptions

I've noticed...we make assumptions about other people all the time; at least I do...often to my chagrin.

My chagrin, however, is likely not the most significant thing about doing this....

Happy Are The Peacemakers

5 minutes on Jesus' version of peace....

Randoms...?

Many current manifestations are related to prior problems.

New times test old assumptions.

Empathy requires understanding and understanding requires acknowledgement.

At the end of the day, truth is exhausting (at least the human experience of it) — but, isn’t this why the beauty and power of truth is not as much its integrity or perfection (completeness), as its ability to come to life through the human experience of it?

Prior Randoms...?

2022 Audubon Photography Awards

Amazing photography:

2022 Audubon Photography Awards

A Decade

'Poem for the week' -- "A Decade":

When you came, you were like red wine and honey,

And the taste of you burnt my mouth with its sweetness.

Now you are like morning bread,

Smooth and pleasant.

I hardly taste you at all for I know your savour,

But I am completely nourished.

-- Amy Lowell

Nothing For You

Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.

-- Anonymous

Which History?

UPDATED:  Full-disclosure — the first version of the below was…well, a bit of a mess (really needed an editor, at the very least).  Hopefully, this version makes a little more sense, of the essence anyway.  At the very least, a little more readable.

I've been thinking more about last Wednesday's post.

When considering the nature of history, it seems important to ask a question pretty quickly — which history?

I know, for example, that I grew up quite differently than many other people — not necessarily in my neighborhood, but certainly in my geography.  It wasn't better per se, just different.  Is that important to recognize?  If not, when could it be?

As a society, we have and continue to discover the diversity of our lived experience historically.  So much so that it, in fact, surprises us.

You could have the impression right now, especially in some sectors of our society, that the value of history (other than the one I'm familiar with) is relatively insignificant.  It could seem as if the only thing that really matters is our present experience. Certainly, our present experience matters. But, we must acknowledge that the way we experience the present is highly conditioned by our particular past.  And, the ideas that our mythologies have brought us influence the ways we try to understand the present experience we have.  This is especially true collectively, which of course translates to how we see and do things personally. By asking this question about history, we both acknowledge and potentially address the reality that the experiences of different groups of people can vary greatly.

We can have a kind of cognitive integrity and acknowledge that any recording or documentation of history is influenced largely by the context that the person or people who are doing the recording are living in. Obviously, this is a given, because you can’t record something that you’re not seeing or experiencing. This would have to mean that history itself is largely a recording of specific sets of experiences, even if experienced commonly by other people, due to things like circumstances, or technologies, or whatever else the context may be.  Any particular recording of history involved is a record of what felt important to record at that place in that moment of time. 

We know, for example, that a record of history in eras when transportation was nearly exclusive to animals would have had all kinds of implications in terms of both what was experienced and what wasn’t (simply because of technology that was yet unavailable). Or, what about astrologers?  They were able to deduce through observation (mostly using the human eye or perhaps primitive versions of telescopes). Obviously, they could not portray what can be seen now, in both depth and range, with  telescope technologies available today.  So, the rate or extent of understanding, at any given point, by any given person or people recording things, was obviously constrained by what was able to be a) seen and b) recorded. 

We could go on and on, but a question might be bubbling up...finish here.

LT: Must Belong

If a movement is to have an impact, it must belong to those who join it, not those who lead it.

-- Simon Sinek

Psychological Gaps

Ever noticed...that, in one way or another, nearly everyone has gaps psychologically?

Even when these are difficult, perhaps they are among our better opportunities to extend kindness.

That It Is You, God

When the signs of age begin to mark my body (and still more when they touch my mind); when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off strikes from without or is born within me; when the painful moment comes in which I suddenly awaken to the fact that I am ill or growing old; and above all at that last moment when I feel I am losing hold of myself and am absolutely passive within the hands of the great unknown forces that have formed me; in all those dark moments, O God, grant that I may understand that it is You (provided only my faith is strong enough) who are painfully parting the fibres of my being in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance and bear me away within Yourself.

-- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Stickers

 Sometimes, it’s all about the stickers.

Randoms...? (from Others)

BONUS (given that it's now October!):

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.

-- L.M. Montgomery

Now, back to the music:

Imagine living life so carefully that there are no signs you lived at all.

-- Raven Leilani

Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. -- Paulo Coelho

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. -- Gloria Steinem

Your mind can deceive you and put all kinds of barriers between you and your nature; but your body does not lie. Your body tells you, if you attend to it, how your life is and whether you are living from your soul or from the labyrinths of your negativity.

-- John O’Donohue

...any thread?  Prior Randoms...? (from Others).

Seriously?

AXIOS

I saw something similar this week, too, in our our town.  They're selling...because we're buying.

Oh, regarding those selling us stuff, it's challenging sometimes to avoid being cynical at patent self-interest of our politicians:

Spreading Kindness

It’s often easy and quick to do something small to help someone, but we rarely do it.

Why it matters: We underestimate the value of small and random acts of kindness until we’re on the receiving end of one.

Let's hear from Axios readers who paid it forward recently...

"I was next up in a long, slow line at a service desk with a single clerk. The person being waited on was harrumphing his displeasure at the speed of resolving his complicated transaction. After a few minutes it was my turn, and I said, 'I have all the time in the world, would you like to take a moment to breathe?'" 

-- Key H., Jackson, Mississippi

"Last night, a lady I don’t know was lugging laundry and supplies to the laundry room at Oceanside RV Resort. I offered to put in the code to unlock and open the door for her. She was pleasantly surprised and said, 'A thousand blessings to you!'" 

-- Jackie R., Mesa, Arizona

Continue here...

twitter