Spring Training peace and joy it ain’t over ‘til well you know

IT AINT  OVER TILL IT’S OVER—and Where do you begin?... At the beginning of course...

WellSpring Training is well underway and the Astros are being plunked like so many targets at a carnival shooting gallery for a significant  and discovered  episode of cheating.  I’m personally not a big fan of this sort of justice as indicated in a former post a far better. “Nun-driven” solution is possible.  However, tomorrow is another day...well actually is not another day... it is today when it happens and it never happens before today... and that means today is another day and when the earth spins around again that will be the next  other day.  By the way since it’s leap day I need to  spit out some little known facts about  the earth and our nearest heavenly body the moon and then we will get to the peace and joy and “it’s over” parts.

Did you  know that NASA had the Apollo crews  set up  some mirrors on the moon?  No, it wasn’t. In case MTV makes a comeback and  an ancient  astronaut rocker. Like Bon Jovi travels there and needs to catch a quick look before  posing for the  camera.  It’s there. So that we can shoot a laser at it from earth and measure how long it takes for the  reflection to get back.  That gives us an exact measurement of how far the moon is from. Earth.  We have discovered that the moon is drifting about  4 centimeters  further away from earth.every year or some secret Russian or Chinese probes are  flying to the moon and moving the mirrors just as an international cosmic prank.  So the moon is drifting slowly away...but we don’t really know when the drift started or if the rate is constant so it may decide we’re okay and drift back ...who knows..where’s Galileo  when you need him?   

Also a day is not 24 hours long.  Actually the time it takes for the  earth to complete spin is on average only 23 hours and 56 minutes.  This is  going to correct itself eventually (we think) as the Earth when newly formed only  took 6 to 8 hours to spin once around.  Those  three hour work days were a bummer and making love all night long wasn’t as much pressure  on the males of of the species.  I wonder if cave bragged they could go  two or three days straight?  JK???? 

Anyway due to this spinning pattern and due to the fact that the  Earth is moving just slightly faster around the sun than it once did...there will be no need for a leap year 4 million years  from now.  Therefore  and here comes the peace and joy part..

Historically you have an extra day this year so my suggestion is to take the 23 hours and 56 minutes, divide into. 10 minute segments and treat. Yourself  to a “leap for Peace and Joy”. 

Perhaps spend. 10 minutes a day dancing to your old favorite  songs...Call an old or a new friend and talk for ten minutes.  Take a walk that lasts  an extra ten minutes.  Sleep an extra 15 minutes...let’s face it you are going to hit the snooze button.  find a few minutes to make a hand made batch of cookies or take time to eat one slowly taste each and every bite.  In short, take the extra day and chop it up into Little experiences that you can carry with you for a few days and then your extra day will really spawn great  fruit, and of course enhance your peace and joy.  And if someone catches you in an exceptionally happy mood or smiling and asks  why you are in that mood just smile at them and say “It’s not over till it’s over...Use your  extra time well.

And when that thing we call tomorrow becomes today.,..watch for the fourth and fifth building blocs for song two... but  is the song done... it’s not over till it’s over.

Peace

Yogi 

Finding and building your field of dreams peace and joy

“If You Build It—He Will Come”

Field of Dreams

This  haunting quote that prompted the construction of a ball field (that actually  exists)  in an Iowa cornfield, is the. Next to last baseball  quote to be featured in the “spring Training” series for this. Blog.... what’s last?  Well it Ain’t Over. Till. It’s. Over of course.  

My perspective  on this quote may vary from that of most, however in the perspective of seeking peace and joy, I’ll offer it for consideration.

My perspective is “if you have the courage to do what it takes to reach out beyond your personal needs, wants, desires,  and path—then possibilities  expand in incredibly wonderful ways.  Also once you start down. A new path all types of interesting things become possible.  about 15 years ago now, I started playing the guitar.  I’m planning  on doing a three part series on this  in a couple weeks, however, for now I’ll just  say it opened up a whole dfferent part of my mind and create3d a mind/body/practice/artistic  connection that I didn’t think was  possible outside of athletics for me.  It opened up a way of looking at the world, processing thoughts and feelings, and generally helping me grow in ways that I didn’t imagine.   Hence, If I tried to  learn the guitar all that new and growing area of my soul did come into awareness.   I knew I had this connection with music, the guitar became  the key to bring it forward.  So in a way my. Ghost would. Have said “If you strum it—you will  know.  

I said all that. To say this...

In seeking peace and joy I learned to peak around the corner to see what might  be down the side roads in life.  From time to time. I have the courage. To try a few new things to see  if these are interesting and my gifts  can be applied there.  This blog is in some ways the result of  one of these  back alley  explorations.  I wanted to record these thoughts of mine so I could leave some of them alone for a few minutes  and then come back  tho them when my present required more depth of consideration.  I did not want to keep  building up a wagon full of curious musing that I needed to always carry into the present.  I wanted a library  so to speak.  Writing them out loud helps me view the connections I see/feel between everyday items and thoughts to. Deeper themes and experiences .  Well as it turned out I used to like writing a lot more than I  realized and I still do like  words a lot as notes in the songs of language or voicing a public thought.  So because I built this blog...my joy for words and expresasion has expanded.  I can use the words and it feels  frustrating some days, however  it feels magnificent just often enough that  I have joyous moments in the process of. Writing almost each time I sit down to do it... “If you build it...”. 

So  in summary—look down the side road ... try something that is interesting for you and that is shareable.  Your  tribe will come to support you at the strangest and most  magical times and in ways you will not expect.  Sure you may  have to “ease his Pain” for more than one person and you may need to “Go the Distance” to learn all the magic of building it so to speak—and you. Just  might find a whole “Field of  Peace, Joy, and Dreams

The future is not uncertain and here’s your proof

THE FUTURE IS NOT UNCERTAIN AND HERE’S  YOUR PROOF...

Some of you  live in a world where there is not enough money to do  what you would like.  Some of you live in a world where there is not enough time.  Some of you live in a world where there is not enough help.  Yes and some of us live in a world where there is not enough peace or joy.  It seems to me a great teacher once said..”there will be poor always.”  

My point?  If we  as humans live in a world where there is always a need for more of one thing. Or another and has always  existed in  that  state, then where’s the uncertainty?  

Because it’s Spring Training time I have dedicated  a few posts to featuring baseball quotes and if I weren’t tired and a little lazy I’d insert the James Earl Jones  monologue from the”Field of Dreams here.  I’ll put a link to ayoutube  clip below.  However,  I’ll turn to good old. Yogi Berra for a shorter quote now.  He remarked, “the future ain’t what it used to be.”   And well...it sure feels like  he’s got a point...so let’s look at that .

Estimates suggest that we. Produce and share  as much information every two years to equal all the information that has been produced and shared in recorded history.  The term information. Overload seems woefully inadequate.  If you feel overloaded and disturbed then  feel free to repeat a phrase I use when that information anxiety creeps in.  

INFORMATION REQUIRES BRIEF CONSIDERATION TO DETERMINE  IF IT INCREASES MY KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIRES REFLECTION TO BECOME WISDOM—ONLY SEEK INFORMATION WHEN YOU FIND THE NEED FOR  WISDOM AND YOU SHALL ONLY FILL THE CUP OF INFORMATION WHEN  NEEDED SO YOU SHALL NOT DROWN IN IT.   

Ok that’s a long reflective. Thought, however you could fall back on an old Irish  Folk tune...

I’m a rambler. I’m a gambler I’m a long way from.home

If you don’t like me then leave me alone

I’ll eat when I’m hungry and I’ll drink when I’m dry

And if the women (or whiskey) don’t kill me I’ll live till I die.  The fact is peace is possible if you don’t worry. So much about uncertainty and trust your  current self.  

Mark Twain (I think) reminds us that worrying (or uncertainty) is the most useless way to use our imagination.  

So here’s a task that I try to complete at least once a day... I try to imagine transforming something  in my hands into something useful  in the near future.  For example, my daughter handed me a clump of candle wax she had  removed from the jars the candles had been  held in.  I liked the smell and instead of thinking “what a waste..or why do candle companies rip us off...I started to imagine the candles  being  used through a new  wick.  I don’t have a cabinet full of  those on hand, however, I do have  an old bootlace and I can make a hole in the wax.... 

Will that work?  I don’t know, but I’m already imagining it will and that candle light  will brighten the future (or at least maybe later tonight

Well... I’ve written.enough. About this for now and  my future present  is about to include candle making and dishwashing so  imagine...don’t worry... and listen. To James convince  me that baseball is  still the greatest game.  More when tomorrow becomes today

https://youtu.be/-UlzParBeWE

Catholic nuns good End cheating and bring peace and joy back to baseball

WHAT BASEBALL  COULD LEARN FROM  OLD SCHOOL CATHOLIC NUNS

Sometimes these posts are like  knuckle balls.  As Bob Ueker would say, “the best way to catch a knuckle ball is to wait till it stops rolling and pick it up.”  Sometimes the best way  to get to the  mesasage I’m shooting for is to wait till you.  Have read the whole thing and  pick up what you  can use no matter what  I’ve floated out there in my delivery.  In fact, that would. Make me smile—if writing this were about me—and some days it is.

Anyway, I will get to the peace and joy part a few paragraphs from now, however, as this baseball themed week rolls on it is  not really possible to ignore the  elephant in the. Batter’s box.  The “illegal” sign stealing antics  of the Houston Astros in the year they won the World Series.  I don’t know what the rule book says about  such activities and the penalties for  them, however I’m pretty sure the Sisters of Mercy and the Franciscans  and the Holy  Mother’s of Divine Terror (I don’t know if that  is an actual order of service, but it might be. Like the special ops unit like the  Navy Seals) had a code to deal with  finding out. Who was the culprit in almost any situation.  So here’s what baseball needs to do.  

Get like three of these nuns and bring them to the set of Sports Center.  Gather all the Astros players and coaches from the 2017 team as well.  Make the Astros stand on a red line in the studio and turn loose the might wrath of the  nuns.  Here’s what I imagine.  the first. Nun would. Give a resounding lecture on how this cheating  was wrong and unacceptable and that. A full confession was the only salvation.  She would pick out a few players and ask them if they agreed.  Thinking  they would get off the hook each player would of course agree.  Then Nun 2 steps up...walking  back and forth in front of the. Team and  says “now I know  all of you didn’t cheat, but it’s not right to do it at all so we need to find out who. Did.  Now’s the time to let us know who was involved so that  we can get this business over and move on.”  Of course the team members  would stare at their feet and at each other, however no one would speak out either  to admit their own guilt or to  rat out a friend.  Finally Nun 3 swinging a very well made yardstick would step forward and  shake her head.  She would then tap the stick on the ground a couple times and  start in.  “Since  none of you can  seem to remember who did what, we are left with no choice but to figure everyone in  this line is guilty.  Therefore all of you will get some  punishment like your team will get two less outs in each 9 inning game...the first chosen by your. Opponent and the second determined. By a random drawing.  Every batter who  doesn’t  make a statement will start with one strike in their first at bat every game and  two strikes  in their second at bat in every game until the players who had the most to do with this come forward.  These players will serve a 25 game suspension where all. Salaries are donated to  a randomly chosen charity.    This starts in two minutes if  no one comes forward.  I want all you  young boys to think about the  sins you have. Committed and how disappointed your mothers and friends are in you.  Okay two minutes  starting now.”  

Now. A lot of national advertisers would pay big money to  run their. Commercials during this event and Vegs could have an over/under on the number of players who. Might crack.  All proceeds of course would go to charity as well and the league could  force the Astros to  use holy water before stepping to the plate until this all got settled just to reinforce the effort to find justice.  

Peace and. Joy—-

Baseball is a game in which the most successful hitters fail seven out of ten times and the most successful fielders aren’t allow to fail more. That’s a few times in a hundred.  Each game approaches perfection in some  aspects and  repeats failure in others.  Seeking Peace and Joy in baseball means accepting failures and yet cherrshing each new opportunity to  take your next turn at bat, field the next ball hit in your direction or  make the. Next  unhittable  pitch dance along the black stripe on the outside corner.  Cheating the process.  Of the game or the rules disturbs the chances for. Learning the lessons connected with probable  failure and with unexpected success and in the end cheats all the players.    For me this serves as a reminder to avoid cheating myself of experiences even if there is. Fair chance I can’t control or  won’t like the outcome.  If  there is no action, then learning isn’t likely  to happen and so as Yogi says “We can’t win when we make all the wrong mistakes.”  

Anyway grab a bat take a swing straight up no garbage cans or scoreboard cams.  

See You Tommorow 

Grab a bat no cheating peace and joy take the fork

A WEEK’S WORTH OF PHILOSOPHY FROM THE BLEACHER’S TO THE DUGOUT  PART I

With a quick nod it begins.  The ball rests and then the hand grips it in the prescribed manner.  The body twists.  The front leg rises and stretches forward.  The arm and hand  grasping the ball extends back as the body rocks back and then explodes forward.  The throwing Arm whips forward and the red stitching spins feverishly on it’s 63 or so foot journey...the story has begun.  

You see it’s the first pitch of a new game and maybe when it’s the  first pitch of a new year there’s a bit more importance because. That pitch starts all the stories  of a   new season—a new hope.  

Well seeking peace and joy is a lot like  that.  Every experience comes flying our way and while it fits somehow into the context of all our other experiences, it is a thing unto itself.  We may have seen. Experiences like this and our responses may have seemed to increase or decrease our peace and joy, this is a separate event and. There is some uncertainty about the  outcome.  We. Are once again facing. The decision. About how to. Assign meaning to this experience unfolding.  Do we watch it go by mostly ignored or do we take a swing, make the connnecgtions with what the universe is offering  and wait for  the outcome which then. Has a whole. Different  set of variables?   We are  at the proverbial “fork in the road.”  

So... I said all that. To say. This week is in honor of quotes about baseball.  Many will be from Yogi Berra or could be attributed to him.  Others will be from stage and screen.  They will all have something to to with. Seeking  peace and joy.  

‘WHEN YOU GET TO A FORK IN THE ROAD—TAKE IT.”

Yogi Berra

What?”   According  to Yogi and I’m in agreement.  Life is a series of decisions and fears about the outcomes of those decisions.  Taking it simply means make a decision and live it out rather than getting stuck.  Trust yourself to know when you are truly at the fork in the road not simply anticipating  that you will reach a fork.  seeking peace and joy and just living in general creates a stream of options, a few of them will require actions and these actions will  create results that lead to yet other decisions.  You can approach the whole. String of  decisions and actions with an endless  fear or  can grab the fork and use it as a tool.  You can be retain that. You had good reasons for making a choice.  Could  it turn out to be  wrong—oh yes—we are all human so  that could be.  On the other hand the consequences for not  choosing are  disastrous. In most cases.  Your “indecision” is in fact a choice  to remain paralyzed in the confusing place where life has. Deposited you.  You are staring  at the fork and not. Going anywhere.  Your supporters can’t support your choice and you  can’t really apply any past  lessons when assigning meaning  to new experiences.  If you are standing there at the fork the best you can. Do is endure the waves of change without growth.  

So when  you come to a fork in the road. Take it and believe in those who.will support you and believe in your ability to change with the new circumstances that will. Come with  taking  a new path.  

By the way that pitch is a fast ball—high and inside —hit the. Dirt you are ahead in the count 1 ball no strikes and the game is on.

More  tomorrow.  uoy 

A new look at laundry and life

A LIFETIME OF LAUNDRY?

Well it’s Monday and for   Many years that  was the day  we washed clothes in America.  There was a kids song about domestic activities and the days of the week and  Monday was  “wash the clothes.”  Now, however, the task is not relegated to a single  day of the week and it would be difficult to do this and the. Average time it takes to do a load of laundry is esatimated to be  1 hour and 27 minutes and we  do eight to 10 loads a week.  Therefore  if we did all the laundry on Monday it would be a 15 hour marathon.  Now there are people who only do their laundry once a week and some do it less frequently.  If you ever want a real fashion treat go to a college town and visit the laundry mat.  You will get to see what people wear when they have absolutely nothing else to wear and the combinations of regal rags can be downright entertaining.  You can also save countless techniques for sorting, choosing laundry soaps, deciding on wash times etc.  One thing is very noticeable.  No two people or now two households elect to do laundry the same.  This is point one.

The history of. Doing laundry.  Some hieroglyphics indicate that ancient Egyptians did laundry (of course they wrote it down so they get the credit.  They placed the clothes in water and stomped the dirt out.  Ancient Romans. Also employed or enslaved people to do laundry by the “stomp” the dirt out method.  In the Middle Ages things advanced to the beating  things on a rock in the river or over a “washboard”  method.  This was the primary  method up until the late 1700s when some foot pedaling wash machine came into being.  Legend has it that some husband invented this for his wife for her birthday thus starting the tradition of men giving their. Significant  others presents that continue stereotypic roles and lead to more work.  The first “motorized” or powered machine was invented right around. 1900 and was called “Thor.”  I’m sure washing machines have been called much  worse things since then and the men who bought them and never used them  have been called a variety of names as well.   This is a second point

Much of the world’s laundry is still hung out to dry so to speak, but  in the 1950’s the use of  electric or gas dryers became more popular.  

How do astronauts  do laundry?  

Just like some college students.  They just wear things till they can’t be warn anymore and then  “burn them”—or toss them. Into space where they will burn up in the atmosphere in  re-entry.  This leads me to wonder if the stray sock that always seem to  happen in earthbound laundry somehow escape and there are random socks floating  around the cosmos?  

Peace, Joy, and Life as Laundry

The next time unlucky are folding together that pair of your favorite  socks or  concert t-shirt, take. A minute to think about  the idea that  seeking peace and joy in life is a good deal like doing laundry.   First, like life laundry goes on and on sometimes.  For the most part we treat life and laundry as if it will never end and almost never experiment with doing it differently.  While we know other people do it differently than us we aren’t  really judgmental about laundry as long as people don’t screw with your  method.   Maybe that’s something  we all could take a life lesson from.   Every now and then in the washing process you may notice that  this pair of shorts just  can’t work one more time. And you set it free.  Peace and Joy could be possible if we did that with ideas and behaviors that have become worn and no longer  fulfill the original function.  So laundry and the machines we use to  do it evolve over time and that’s how seeking peace and joy sort of goes—it changes for any individual over time so wise might expect that  somewhere in the middle of our 48 thousand loads of laundry in life, there will be some  significant changes.  

The Things we add to Laundry and Life...

Well the first soaps we used to do laundry were  made from ash and animal  fats.  Somehow I son’s see “Gopher Guts Tide as being a big seller these days.  Eventually soap specifically for  laundry was developed and converted to detergent  form.   Tide  is the top seller in the U.S.  and nearly 1 in 5 loads is done with a tide produc t or in dollar  terms about 1.02 Billion annually.  Proctor and Gamble is cleaning up in the  laundry and toothpaste market.  

Anyway let’s  put this into spin cycle and finish this load.  We seek peace and joy and we do laundry over the course of a lifetime.  If wee observe closely we find that people go about these things in different ways and can choose. To help one another or complain about how others a do things.  the process for  you and me and lots of folks changes in time and will continue to do so.  Acceptance of differences and change seem to be successful tactics in doing laundry and guess what  maybe that goes for seeking peace and joy.  

Happy Laundry Day!Hey 

“Belated Birthday Building Blocks

BUILDING BLOCKS 20202

Yesterday  marked the birthdays of  three important people.  The guy who wrote  “over the Rainbow” and Life’s only a paper moon —something. Arlin I think although I read that wasn’t  his real name Zimmerman.  He was maybe only the third most significant. Person. Born on that day... second and first are probably a tie for many and that’s an argument I don’t want to have, however, in seeking peace and joy I’ve found some people  like to run fast to the opposite corner and scream at almost any idea.  

The other two  people are Susan B. Anthony and Galileo.  Anthony, of course was. A leader in the women’s rights movement and the movement for  having little coin dollars that people  mistook for quarters.  To that  I say come on US mints and treasury what kind of discounted respect were you thinking about in that design?  That was an insult to all the hard work done by people seeking civil rights for so long and would be the same as putting a mustache on Washington and printing a paper half dollar.  Anyway Susan B. Was a driving force and women now share the blame for electing some of the people we have in office.  

then there is Galileo .  Now  he had a last name...but you’ve  got to respect a scientist who was known by a single name.  That means he was the  Cher, Madonna, or Prince of his time.  Here’s a guy that  pretty much invented the telescope so that he could  see heavenly objects or some cute Italian  chicks  a few blocks away...no to the contrary Galileo who was prosecuted by the church held fast to his religious.belief even though he was hauled up before the board of inquisition where he didn’t party like it was. 1999.  basically Anthony had a vision of a more equal society and Galileo made sure we could  have a clearer view of our cosmic sircumstance including. The fact that. We were not the center of the universe.  Both of these people were awesome.

So what does this have to. Do with “building” blocks?  These people  were there to lay the foundation for so much to follow and offered the ‘building blocks”  for many to follow.  If they can undertake these. Tasks then I can keep my promise to toss out a rhyme or a song lyric to be.  So with no further or prior. Ado... Enjoy... I’ll give you the story behind. These when  the blocks all fall together.  For now I end with. The building blocks below....have a great day

Block One Galileo winked and told the Pope

We’re the center? I’d. Say Nope

Please don’t  hang me from a rope

I’ll show you my telescope

There was the warrior. Susan  B.

Until all vote, none can be free

At last  enough men said  I agree

Came one more stride towards liberty

When will we learn to grasp new things

Accept what soulful wisdom brings

Hear the  bird of peace each time it sings 

Dawn our fragile halo and junkyard wings?

Peace,

More soon

Things you should know about VD Saints sentiments and sales Peace And Joy

VALENTINE’S  DAY OF SENTIMENTS, SAINTS, AND AND SALES (OH  YES & PEACDE & JOY)

sometimes my writing sort of wanders around opening some  doors and windows so that  I show how I. Connect peace and joy to every day life.  I’d like to say this is a clever technique, however, it’s not.  This is just  one of the ways my mind and soul runs through the world and I refuse to conform to  some other logical patterns of writing.  I’m sure it shock some to know that I am well aware that I’m supposed to tell you. What I’m going to tell you, then tell you, and finish up by Ellington you  what I told you.  I do that lasts thing sometimes.  Anyway I said that to say this....today I’m starting ought with the end and then  spreading out some dessert thoughts—some dove chocolates or some of those little pink rock-hard candy with cute little saayings on them.

So Peace and Joy and Valentine’s Day... A day. Dedicated to celebrating  love can’t be all bad and feeling love in any form has to contribute to. Peace and joy.  Therefore, when you feel  like sharing  that sentiment do so in your actions and your attitudes.  Don’t wait for  a particular  day and especially just because you are supposed to or because everybody else is doing it.  How to express love?  Offer some of your soul to others—be that one or many.  Don’t  offer negative thoughts  to people or about people.  Now that is not always. Easy as it sometimes seems fairly warranted and congruent with how these people have hurt your feelings or treated you unfairly in a myriad of ways.  Love means seeking fairness without seeking revenge.  

If thIf. My words seem to be pretty clinical and fall short of “love” to you that’s good because no words can adequately express that feeling and I don’t pretend to be able to.  Love is not something to be pretended.

Anyway make sure you find a lot of  ways to express it and  to be open to it that’s all....

...And now the rest of the things you should know about Valentine’s  Day—

the rooot’s of  Valentine’s Day are. Tied to an ancient Roman festival called. “Lupecalia.”  The festival of spring celebrated romance and love and a very special  feature.  the festival included a  lottery where singles were paired up for marriage using a lottery.  No messy dating game questions, no Tinder, no chat rooms, singles bars etc...let’s just  spin the wheel or pull out the ping pong ball and find your soul mate.  Take that. True harmony.    So it  transitioned to Valentine’s Day through an ironic turn of events.  It seems the Roman. Emperor  Claudius II was having a hard time recruiting  single.soldiers to go around all of. The known  world using. Letters for Numbers and stuff—so he remedied this problem using  a well-thought. Out solution.  He made marriage illegal.  This was. In  269 BC.  Well it seems this “Valentine” named cleric decided to. Hold some secret weddings and  unfortunately got caught.  Well Claudius II  threw. Valentine into prison for just long enough for him to fall in love with a slave girl who was bringing his meals and after learning he was to be executed he wrote her a note.  You got it....the first Valentine.  Luckily a stone chiseler  named Hallmarcus  the richer” was serving a short  sentence across the  dungeon for using alchemy to turn. Paper into gold coins and saw the. Exchange.  

So as fate would have it. Valentine was put to death on February 14th, however, 7 centuries later he achieved sainthood for his actions.  

A holiday was born.

So what else do we know about the holiday these days?  Mostly we know that men spend about twice as much as women on this holiday because cards and roses are expensive  and easy.  How much do we spend on cards?  Estimates place the  dollar value of cards at about. 36 million a year making Valentines’ Day only number. Two to Christmas.  It’s also  estimated that in 2020 flower sales will  reach 18 million+ stems.  ... there is a lot of data available  on how much candy is sold, however, I think the point has been made.  We. Buy a lot of trinkets instead of figuring out  the everyday  ways we. Love each other and affirm them.  We can find. Many many ways of  opening up our souls , however, we choose to highlight  the mundane.  I’m not suggesting  we do some. Illegal marriages in a land where  marriage has been outlawed or write secret love notes like junior high kids.  Try listening. To someone a little closer or a little longer, do some chore you usually don’t do, play a song someone else likes.  In short show a little bit of you that goes beyond a piece of colored paper and some flowers you had someone kill for you.  

Bottom Line find  ways to love each other that aren’t the same old  song. And dance... and really celebrate the effort made by someone else trying to  show you love no matter how lame the effort is.... 

Well that’s. Enough for now...I’m going to see if there’s some she’ll spinnningapp that  can be converted for  a tinder deal... If it was good enough for the great Roman  civilization I should be able to get  people to. Use Apple Pay to connect with very special person.

More  Soon XOXOX

A salute to Abraham Lincoln

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  MR. LINCOLN

If you remember  a scene from the Miracle on 34th Street my “Santa” move will feel familiar...if not don’t worry It’s still a Wonderful Life.  Why am I. Going all holiday today?  Well I’m trying to get ready for Valentine’s. Day and my next entry is forming in my head fairly quickly which  scares me a bit.  Oh well I promised myself I’d write today to honor. Abe Lincoln the 16th President and after about three minutes of sitting here, I realized there was nothing I could. Write  that would honor him in the same way his own words might.  In short, I think I’ll just go all Gettysburg on this  For there. Are no words that can really capture the. Character of a man who. Would form a team of rivals to bring the ideas needed to unify and hold together a country that was  divided.  It took rare courage, not a bully, to do this...but I’m  not going all political now...I’m just saying Linclon’s words can consecrate this post  even when this blog is long forgotten.  

Well of course I mentioned that address which was a three minute speech that followed a two hour ramble by one of the most.famous orators of the day.  I have placed a link to a video rendition of the speech below so that you may  listen/watch and reflect at your own  pace over and over if you’d like.  

As far as seeking peace and joy goes, I have found three of Lincoln’s  quotes to be  most helpful especially in seeking change and in being. Patient while preparing for change.    I will close this post with the quotes and  be back for Valentine’s Day 

Reflect on these...

“You can fool all of the people some of the time and you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”

“Given. Six hours to chop down a tree, I believe it is. Wise to spend. Four hours sharpening your axe.”

“If you count a dog’s  tail as a leg how many legs does a  dog have?  Four.  Calling a tail a leg does not make it one.”  

Thanks Abe!

https://youtu.be/9TCMHVmNc5w

Five unconventional or secret steps to a healthier life

So no one will ever accuse  me of being  connected with “big pharma.”  After all, I can’t smile and  give you incomplete.information at the same time, don’t have one hand  in the pocket of health care administrators and  the other handing politicians money, and mostly my bank account provides enough evidence  lol.  I will, however, borrow from the big pharma playbook right at the beginning of this. Entry (except in reverse order).  So it’s  caveat and disclaimer and warning to start with and. The message at the end here.... I will however, not spend half the time. With the disclaimer because. If you are. Allergic to this you already know and if your doctor doesn’t know something about this I am not.telling you to ask her about it.

Okay back to the post.... I don’t claim the  starter stapes below will work for. Everyone and certainly they have not been tested  in a double-blind control group study (oh wait neither  are some of the meds).. These are just  some ideas I offer up and use myself.  Here are five  things that I  focus on when trying to improve the circumstances surrounding seeking peace and joy.  I have. More than five, and I will share them  as time goes by.  It should be noted that. These have little to do with  threats to the earth’s environment such as  “global warming, desertification, deforestation, narrowing of biodiversity, and poor waste management”, they are just five simple things to try when you need to feel  a bit more peaceful and  to enjoy things a bit more.  Here we go.

One—S—Sit Still 

The world is sometimes like an ocean of chaos and becomes very difficult to surf for a prolonged period of time if you don’t find a place and time to sit still once in a while.  I listen closely to music, pray, and meditate to assist me in sitting still.  You  might find other things to do like knitting or petting your. Dog.  The important thing is that you do  this activity without the intent to do something else while you are. Calming your spirit.  No matter. How cool you are with your baggy shorts and shades you can’t surf all the chaos  all the time if you don’t carve out a few minutes very regularly  to sit still

2. M- Make Things

Use your hands or  your computer or your oven or shop equipment. To build, coook, sew,  assemble, something every day.  Make it something tangible  so that the world knows you  saw the potential for something and put it together.  The world includes you..  It doesn’t have to be creative (see below) but it needs to be concrete.  The product of this. Effort to make things doesn’t have to  be incredibly successful or permanent  it just has to take some material and transform. It into something else.  You see you are engineering change and the ability to do this is very  important  in seeking peace and joy.

3 I- Initiate This goes along with. “Making”  but  it doesn’t have to be a product.  You can start a conversation in a new way or eat a meal you haven’t eaten before or almost anything, but the key is to do something differently than you usually do for the first time or for the first time in a long time.  One of the biggest barriers to seeking. Peace and joy is  just waiting to see what happens  next.  Yes earlier I said sit still, however, that doesn’t mean  become frozen by fear to the extent you are sitting on the tracks wondering how fast that train is coming.  This is the birthday of Thomas Edison who  initiated. A lot of new inventions and stole the ideas needed to  get credit for some others.  The point is he  started working on things and while  most of them fell short, they all were starts toward a product or process that. Did create peace and joy for him.  

4. L-Learn

If you always do the same thing in the same way (including thinking and feeling). Then what result do you expect?  Well that’s no mystery, so why not take a shot at learning something new?

So how do you learn new things?  For me it is a  three or four headed monster and I devote some time to it every day.  I passively listen to. Books and podcasts that provide info.  The  challenge with. That is finding. A variety of things that I will consume.  If I am doing it passively, I usually find things that interest me or that I’m looking to  agree with.  I don’t mean to do that , it is just what seems to happen.  So that’s not enough.  I then go out and find in we land or on TV or. Google some. Things I don’t agree with and try to listen/watch/read carefully to the ideas and the trains of thought in these messages.  I want to  learn not sit in the echo chamber.  In some instances I find the  “teacher” or other press enter is headed. To the same goal but using a different form of transportation so to speak.  In other instances I at least find a way to connect with someone I disagree with so that sharing on the NEXT thing might  happen.  This is a way to make my own knowledge more flexible and resilient.  

Now it’s not enough to learn something—for me it is important to  take that knowledge out for a spin and seeking peace and joy means solving. Puzzles, playing jeopardy, etc.  If you know it well enough to move it around in your head quickly, then  you can use it in several ways, hand parts of it to others, and you know you are ready to learn even more.  But if game shows aren’t your thing then find other ways to exercise what you are learning.  One of my favorites is  playing with. Language and for that there’s nothing like writing a rhyme a couple times a week.  To do this I just stare into the  distance and  pick an object or think of one and diver in.  So right now... 

In the distance I see a car

Is it going near or far?

Is it headed to that bar?

To hear that washed up drunk rock star?

Who can’t  sing his songs or play guitar?

I just hope I don’t see something  orange...lol?

Some days I just let the rhyme sit and some days I work with a word for a couple days especially if it’s part of an interesting phrase.  The other day I came across  the phrase “scientists and saints.”  Here’s what I’ve cooked up so far...

It’s time to break through old constraints

Applied by scientists and saints

Relax the fears breathe through the faints

Paint your new  smile with sparkling. Paints

Well it’s not Carl sand berg or even Ryan Sandberg  but I feel a little more peaceful and joyful after stringing the words together and exercising  my mind and soul.

5. E- Enjoy

Okay you are thinking. Building a healthier peace and. Joy environment HAS  to include this right?  True, and yet where on your calendar or to do list is the word enjoy.  do your new year’s resolutions include. Eat chocolate slowly?  Do you build in time to listen to your five favorite songs once a week or even one song a day?  Do you watch a video with. Puppies in it?  I mean do you do these things on purpose?   I would. Argue that if you have time to.  Put things on your schedule like getting a colonoscopy...you can find  time to listen to the full length version of Alice’s Restaurant every. Now and again.  Finally found all else fails and you are in a really crappy set of circumstances look around the room or listen to hear. Something that. Is your favorite color or makes a favorite or funny sound.  If you don’t see something your favorite color then imagine an object you could bring into this space to add that color.  For example imagine wrapping a purple  bandana around the head of that former university president just for giggles.    In short enjoy things with intent and intensity on a regular basis.

Well to sum  all this up.. I’ll go back to the letters of the five starter steps.

S M I L E  

More soon