19 Jan Haiku 1
The thirsty child drinks from the inkwell his parents turn white....
10 Jan The Way Of The Way 114
I love everyone and feel everyone loves me. Though I realize some people can't stand me, I know they'll love me later. At this point I've got more love in my future than I do in the present as very few people can stand me for more than short periods. But when you love everyone and feel everyone loves you, everything is terrific....
02 Jan Haiku 12
Fertilizer makes roses smell sweet and bloom. With too much, it's stink and doom....
18 Dec From Pity to Compassion
We connect with those we perceive as suffering via pity, sympathy, empathy and compassion. Pity is a detached (intellectual) feeling one has for others who are suffering as one imagines themselves suffering if in similar circumstances. Sympathy is when one is emotionally moved by the suffering of others. Empathy is feeling the suffering of another, comforting them and sharing their pain which helps alleviate their pain. Compassion is helping others as we would want others to help us make the best of our circumstances and move forward to ultimately realize our potential. Pity and sympathy are self-serving (feeling good about ourselves having these feelings) and require nothing of us. Empathy can also be self-serving and is often potentially harmful to the empath in terms of emotional stress and time consumption. However, unlike pity and sympathy, empathy provides real relief to those suffering. Compassion is relatively easy but requires the willingness of the sufferer to move forward. Acute suffering is an immediate reaction to unfortunate circumstances that may come our way. Chronic suffering is selfish in that the chronic sufferer is oblivious to all for which they have to be grateful and their otherwise good fortune relative to others who are far less fortunate they are. Empathy is what selfish sufferers want. Empaths are ultimately selfish as well. Compassion is an expression of happiness and the wisdom and love of God....
16 Dec Regression to the mean
The mean is the average as in our average day. When things are going poorly (below the mean), best to be calm as they are likely to get better and regress back to the mean. In calmness we're less distracted by our mind and more likely to make the most of what comes next; that will bring us back to or above the mean. We calm down when we remember that however difficult our current circumstances, they could be worse; so we have much for which to be grateful. When our circumstances are much better than average, best to be anxious as the good times are unlikely to continue forever; at some point they'll regress to the mean or lower. Low levels of anxiety allow us to imagine (and thereby see before they occur) negative events which often precipitate the regression; thus allowing us the chance to avoid or minimize the affect of those events....
01 Dec Eric Hoffer
“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” The only constant in the now is change; sometimes slowly, sometimes suddenly. In the short-run, the fittest (ablest) and the fattest (wealthiest) are most likely to survive. However, over time, those most able to adapt to changing environments or to recognize their environment is changing and move elsewhere are the most likely to survive. The learned know the "it" (the seemingly static). The learners know the "is" (the everchanging)....
16 Nov Keys to Health
The key to health is reminding young. Most diseases are a function of old age. Smoking, drinking and cardiovascular problems are not much of a disease when we are young. The basic keys to staying young are food, sleep, laughter, aerobic exercise and energy. Food. Only eat things that look as you're eating them as they did when they were alive. Fruits, vegetables, small fish and birds look the same. Large fish, land animals don't. Neither does bread or pasta as they don't grow on trees. In other words, avoid eating refined foods and foods high up on the food chain which tend to accumulate toxic waste. Your body is built to eat naturally occurring foods, not man-made refined foods. Moreover, be careful to not get into eating accidents. These accidents are caused by overeating and often make us overweight. These accidents happen when we're not paying attention as we're eating. For example, there is a 90% reduction in fatal collisions in roundabout traffic circles where stop signs or light signals were previously used for traffic control. That's because when one approaches a stop sign or light signal one may be on their phone, talking or listening to the radio; but, when approaching a roundabout, one dispenses with multitasking distractions and concentrates on the road ahead. Focusing our attention lessens the chances of an accident. Likewise, when eating, best to focus on what we're eating. Best not to watch TV, listen to music, talk with someone or read. If you're hungry, eat as much as you wish but you'll notice your stomach is rarely hungry after a few bites. If the food is delicious, each as much as you wish but you'll find the law of diminishing returns results in each bite less pleasing then the bite before. Moreover, when you've got food in your mouth, close your eyes and enjoy the intense and subtle pleasure of the food, undistracted by your other senses. This is meditative eating. Sleep. Sleep a couple of times a day, a long sleep of several hours at night and one or two short naps during the day. Sleep is akin to dying of old age and awakening after is rebirth. Sleep allows us to recover from simply being worn out. Laughter. Laughing is the great elixir for pain and stress. As there is something funny about almost everything, one can find the funniness of a situation to relieve pain or stress. For example, I recently accidentally closed a car door on my finger; then immediately started laughing at how foolish I was not paying attention to closing the car door as I was talking at the moment to a friend. This otherwise painful experience was not painful. Aerobic exercise. That which is so to speak dead is inanimate, not moving. To be alive, move around vigorously as something that's alive to the point of getting your heart rate up. No need to go anywhere or use any equipment as you can dance or (if constrained by time or space) engage in sex. Energy Energy keeps us alive and protects us from malevolent forces like illness. Some people or situations are energizing and some are energy draining. Best to think about what brings us energy and what takes it away and embrace the energizing and avoid the draining....