Or fear the blurry shadows as the light begins to dim
When the buzzer says it’s over as the ball bangs off the rim
As the waves consume the lifeboat and some aboard can’t swim
You can choose to start believing that all of life is grim
But i say grab your Goblet and fill it to the brim
For Karma flips eternally and often on a whim
And your slice of glee and happiness is really not that slim
Things Change
So holy cow it’s January 12th already and my “new Year’’s Resolutions are sitting patiently by waiting for me to dig in. Now it could be that some of us make these resolutions and don’t start on them right away and are starting to feel guilty…let’s visit that a little later. It may be that we’ve already given up in which case pat yourself on the back for being an overachiever as research has shown that the majority of all resolutions are abondoned by January 19th sometimes known as National Give Up Day. Either way let’s figure out what we really. Want to work on and start today but… first….
Let’s figure out why we didn’t start right away… There are probably lots of reasons, however, maybe its mostly about fear of change? Maybe let’s explore this by relating it to something most people are taught to fear—MATH.
Yep… you see most people get taught to be afraid of math at some level and then they stop building the foundation to change their level of math skills. So … let’s substitute math skills for life skills and put some stronger math bricks in your foundation and then in the next couple posts bring the two together. Life hacks/ Math Hacks
We are usually taught somewhere around third grade. Or fourth grade the only math hack we ever learn… so your schools are ripping you off (big shocker). What’s that Hack?
The rule of 9
When you multiply. Any number by nine the sum of the numbers in the answer will add up to nine. While this is true no matter how high you go we are usually only taught up to 9 X 9.
That’s a good foundational hack, however, it just get’s left there with no building. On top of it and that leads to some uncertainty so let’s expand shall we? What is almost? Why 10 of course… So multiplying by 9 is the same as multiplying by 10 which is adding a 0 to the end and subtracting that number multiplying by 1 which is of course that number. So let’s say we want to multiply 319 X 9 well that is 3190 — 31990–19 is 71 and 3100 —300 is 2800 so the answer is 2871 and of course 2+8+7+1 is 18 and 1+8 is 9 (remember what we said about the digits adding up to 9? So instead of multiplying all this numbers you are simplifying be adding a zero and subtracting and subtracting shouldn’t scare anyone…
The 5 Hack
Now another hack we should all be taught is the 5 hack but we are not. Now multiplying be 10 is adding a 0 and 5 is half of 10 so take the you are multiplying by 5 let’s say 1286 just for giggles. So cut 1286 in half which is 643 and and the 0 there’s your answer so what if it is an odd number …pick the next higher or the next lower number and do the same thing and simply add or subtract the 5. So let’s do 6217 for example… we’ll add 1 making it 6218 cut in half that’s 3109 now add the 0 so you have 31090 then subtract the 5 and presto you get 31085
Squaring numbers that end in 5 … so let’s say we are going to multiply 25 time 25 the hard way is to multiply 20 times 25 and then add another 5 times 25 or the other way around. The easy way is to look at the first digit which. Is 2 and then multiply it by the very next number which is 3 and then stick 25 on the end. So 25 time 25 is 6 (3X2) 25. Now let’s go to 45 squared using the same hack it is 4X5 (20) with a 25 tacked on or 2025 so of course 85 squared is 7225 etc.. and yes 105 squared is 110 (11X10) 25 11025!
Just one more for today
Multiplying by 25…
Now 4 X 25 is 100 and just like multiplying by 10 adds one zero… multiplying by 100 adds two zeros. Now the trick here is to remember. We are multiplying by 100 divided by 4.. so we add the two zeros and then divide by 4 or divide by 4 first and then add the zeros. So let’s take 72 X 25 .. Now 72 divided by 4 is 18 and 25X72 is 1800 Now you say that’s all good but what if the number doesn’t plot by 4? Good question… since you are multiplying by 25 your answer has to end in 00 25 50 or 75 so after you divide if there is 1 left over your answer ends in 25 for example 117 X 25 = 117 divided by 4. Or 29 with 1 left over.. so the answer has to end in 25 which means 117 times 25 is going to be 2925 39 X25 would be 39 divided by 4 which. Is 9 with 3 left over so that is going to end in 75 or 975
The point is …. Math can be fast and fun and easy..however many of us were not taught that… We learned that there were piles of complicated numbers to be figured out. Carried put in columns and the very least we need a fancy calculator to even come close..
What is being suggested here is that we are probably more likely to feel good about seeking peace and joy through New Year’s change if we start with a simplified scheme that we can feel good about.
So let’s say you want to eat better…. Start by multiplying by 10… What? Adding one zero… eating one piece of fruit or one green vegetable Then if you want to get a little more advanced multiple. By five.. Eat one fruit AND. One vegetable .
Back to the point about not starting yet… Screw it… You are the master of your own life calendar… start today … Guilt never changed history… and you may have to start again a few times in order. To figure out what formula works for you.. You may multiply. By 9 by simply multiplying by 9 but. You may find it must easier to multiply. By 10 and subtract.
Seeking peace and joy or any change or building any meaning is adding up the pieces from where you stand at any one time. And after a while you can start putting some anchors down like knowing that 74 squared is 5476 and 76 squared is 5776 and 88 squared is 7744… the point is practice facing fears to build a foundation from which to exercise curiousity … and be sure to show your work!
More Math hacks soon and your new year starts now…
Peace.
Point your fingers all around
Who’s to blame?—they must be found
Losers chosen Winners Crowned
The clock ticks for it’s tightly wound
Once again that popping sound
In the earth a tiny mound
We place our children in the ground
Political Differences?
Then the breaking story broke
No one laughed for it’s no joke
For with one quite careless stroke
countless giants they did poke
There’s all daggers but no cloak
Like burning gasoline with oak
Civil discourse up in smoke
SocialMedia
At the wheel of fate you wink
As you stand here on the brink
You’ll dare not even blink
Or count how many shots you’ll drink
As the bright sun morphs to pink
And the blue sky turns to ink
Hope conquers as fears shrink
Liquid courage
This weekend marks the “Spring Forward” point in our time calendar. Now this blog has had several references to this whole time shifting concept so we’ll only touch upon it “quickly” so that like an hour on the weekend it doesn’t get skipped altogether. Some folks continue to think of this skipping forward as the loss of an hour of sleep, however, pray tell...let’s flip the script a bit. You are an hour closer to payday.... you get an hour older without aging a bit...and best of all since you’ve entered daylight savings time you can take some extra minutes down to the Rolex Chronological credit union and make a deposit of daylight everyday until we go back to standard time. By the way are we at all certain time has standards? Have you seen your toes lately? Do you think the time they are experiencing has any standards...if so it certainly has no empathy and probably no morals.
Anyway enough time used there.... if in fact we have more usable daylight. It means more time to be spent outdoors and every March 8th, just prior to the change in time, marks the founding of one of the most remarkable places to spend outdoors—Yellowstone National park. Now for me there are some spectacular parks in the town(s) I gre up so before we go visit ol’faithful a salute to North Hill park and Mosquito Park on the North side and Perkins, Dankwardt, and of course, Crapo Park on the southside. Oh and as state parks go Lake Geode has had some glory days.
As I plow through here and get ready for park season...maybe this Burlington, Iowa parks need a post of their own and not just a nod....so look for that next... On to Yellowstone.
Yellowstone was our first National Park and if you are a believer in “go big or go home” this fits the bill at 3400+ square miles. Oh and speaking of big.... Yellowstone sits right on top of a huge volcano-like geological feature and thus Old Faitful and it’s pals put on a boiling liquid show regularly. So starting 150 years ago Yellowstone became the world’s first.National Park...so the next time the U. S. Gets called out for not being aware of the planet we can say “we started this.”
Yellowstone is home to a healthy Grizzly bear population and an abundance of Jerry Lee Lewis Geologists who tell us there’s a whole lot of shakin/ goin” on due to the 1,000 to 3,000 annual earthquakes rumbling through Yellowstone. Now we’re not talking Yellowstone being like the park at your schoolground—you know the one that used to have “monkey bars” anchored in asphalt because you wanted to maximize the potential for injury made possible by kids crawling. On metal bars with bolts to catch scarves on, crossmembers to hit teeth and heads on, and a landing. When you fell that guaranteed you fell on someone else or a non-give surface. No, while you can run through and around a lot of parks, Yellowstone would meanrunning around or through someplace the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined and it will remain a better place to visit...unless we can put a fence around those two states which has been suggested on occasion.
Yellowstone calls three different states home...mostly in Wyoming but stopping for a cup of coffee. In Montana and a shot of potato vodka in Idaho? Yellowstone features great water falls and forest land along with hot springs and guessers like old faithful. Now this spout spurts every 93 minutes on the average And not the same time on the hour every hour as the myth Seems to imply. On the other hand why should the park keep track of time when we decide to skip an hour here and add an hour there and add a whole day every four years?
Peace and Joy and Yellowstone
Life, like Yellowstone. Has many wonderful features and one might think it should always be a source of joy,yet like Yellowstone we often have things brewing below the surface and some of them “hot” spring to the surface regularly. Life has massive features that have been around for what seems like forever and yet events come along often that shake up the situations at hand. Like Yellowstone, we can recognize that life his a marvelously complex and changing place and while we are in it we can view it with curiosity and share its interesting parts with others. Are there some bounds on life...yes...like. Yellowstone...there are some bounds...but the borders of what we can do often exist far beyond our current visions.
Anyway speaking about getting beyond—and time—-this has used about enough to both of those for us today... so more tomorrow with parks....I’m glad we have a National Park system and that life is often like a stroll in the park —-full of grizzly bears, earthquakes, and sitting on disruptive.forces...and still cherished and rightly so.
More tomorrow Get ready to Spring....sooon.
In the previous entry I hammered out my feelings about the current lock out and I make no bones about it, the owners are allowing the love of power rule over the power of love (the love many fans have for the game and the love many of us would pass on to others). In terms of seeking peace and joy, baseball is more than a hot dog and a beer or peanuts and Cracker Jack—why?—at least three reasons.
You see….
Baseball is not dictated by external time. Nearly all other major team sports, if not all, start with a symbol a horn a whistle and then the clock starts to run and every action has some time components to it. Baseball starts when the ball comes to the place where the first batter has a chance to observe it, act on it or let it pass and the story of the game at hand comes about. The game goes on until the last batter concludes an action and then the results can be considered and placed into perspective along with lessons from other games etc. The pitcher, the fielders, the batters, the umpire, and the fans don’t wait for a two minute warning and aren’t watching the clock at all as the only thing that counts is what is happening right now.
There is an expectation of “failures” leading to learning.
Even the “best” hitters fail to reach base about 6 or 7 times out of ten. The odds that any pitcher will pitch a no-hit game let alone a “perfect” game are smaller than tiny and all game long we cheer for our flawed hero’s. We expect the hitters to take wicked cuts in situations where they are challenged. I wonder how much more interesting life would be if we expected the same of ourselves and those we know? I wonder. How much more peace and joy would abound if we accepted that failure would happen often and lessons would be learned.
All game situations are temporary.
There are enough games. In a season, enough at bats and enough pitches in each game, that what happened in one inning or in what at bat in one game comes and goes and each action can be the beginning of a new plot twist, a new story etc. So even if todays game was rotten tomorrow is a different story. Thus it is. Or can be in life.
We cheer for people we don’t really know, however, we share a purpose with.
You stand and cheer for your home team. You don’t really know the players and they don’t know us, yet because we share a goal we all stand and cheer. What if, once we made our purpose known, like-hearted.people would stand and cheer when we had a good day?
Baseball give the players and the fans plenty of time to talk with each other on and off the field. While sitting in the stands you can turn to the person next to you and have plenty of time to connect, chat about the game or almost anything. You can also sit and observe many parts of the baseball universe and know that many people sitting around you also know and appreciate the subtle aspects of the life experience you are having in this moment.
Baseball as a sport gives us all. Of that not to mention all the joys children and their parents get playing and passing it along…maybe that’s for tomorrow.
For now —let’s get the bargaining agreement done.
A Two-Part entry on the Lock-out
Well…there are many reasons why baseball may be the best sport for seeking peace and joy, however it’s not reasonable to go forward without claiming my stance in the current baseball lock-out so today’s blog entry. Does just that in an eight line rhyme. Tomorrow we will take you out the Ballpark for more. For.now put me in coach for a few words that reflect my notions.
Your mess you could not mop
So some games you chose to chop
More cash you would not drop
Instead you took a flop
The grounders will not hop
Nor will the big bats bop
You rich cats at the top
Will kill the game—so Stop!
Lock Out
War! What is it Good For?
Ask Edwin Star
The Benefits of Being Centered?
So yesterday someone accused me of being a peace extremist...okay do you think someone who titles a blog and podcast seeking peace and joy is going to get riled up about being handed that label? Well actually I did get a little upset and instead of screaming out I have decided to use today’s blog to counter the extreme by talking about the center. Oh not the political center. Oh not the economic center. Oh not the religious center. We’re not even going with Bell Russell, Wilt Chamerlain, or Shaquille
No we’re going for a smile instead of hate and going right for the ore. What then is the thing that creates a smile at the center? Well of course...
It’s the chocolate at the center of the tootsie pop (you know the 1930 modification to the roll——the tootsie roll.
This week marks the birth of the tootsie roll and since 1896 (although some places say it was 1899) it’s inventor Leo Hirschfield started rocking the world for Stirns and Saalberg.
Over time the tootsie roll has found itself. In some crazy places. Oh sure this 2 inch treat made it’s way. Into candy stores and general store displays, yet that’s just a start. It, along with m&Ms has gone to war. The TR has found its way into engineering labs at major universities where budding young academics have constructed elaborate licking machines specially designed to address the critical question of. “How many licks does it take to get. To the center of a tootsie pop (with or without. The Indian shooting an arrow near.a star). The two major universities that built the most sophisticated and best functioning licking machines were at Purdue University and the University of Michigan. According to the Boilermaker brains it takes 364 licks and according to the Michigan mouth machine makers it takes about 413. My own research indicates it takes only about 213 to 227 depending upon mouth moisture levels. And speaking of numbers...Data indicate that the standard tootsie is a bit over 2.2 inches long. Now there are smaller “fun sized”. And jumbo versions. Manufacturing sources estimate that each day sees the birth of 64,000 thousand delightful treats and placed end to end that’s just a hair over two and a quarter miles every day
Now here’s some other wisdom to be found in tootsie...
they didn’t avoid changing and trying to honor diverse tastes. The newest is mango, however, there are raspberry blueberry, root beer, and watermellon flavors just to name a few. My personal favorite tootsie pop/roll combo is likely grape with chocolate, however I’m not turning down red or orange—let’s face it I’m not turning down any.
So what’s this have to do with seeking peace and joy?
You can be at the center just like the tootsie roll and still be loved by them masses and fulfill your purpose. You can change with the times and try new flavors for a while. Other people can have other preferences and it doesn’t.need to upset you because there is plenty in our culture to go around. In short you can love the center and explore many different ways to do that.
Finally.... does anyone wonder how much taxpayer money went into building. These. Lickers and where they are nw? To quote the wise owl.... “three.” Or as the voice over guy offers, “the world may never know.”
War! What is it Good For?
Ask Edwin Star
The Benefits of Being Centered?
So yesterday someone accused me of being a peace extremist...okay do you think someone who titles a blog and podcast seeking peace and joy is going to get riled up about being handed that label? Well actually I did get a little upset and instead of screaming out I have decided to use today’s blog to counter the extreme by talking about the center. Oh not the political center. Oh not the economic center. Oh not the religious center. We’re not even going with Bell Russell, Wilt Chamerlain, or Shaquille
No we’re going for a smile instead of hate and going right for the ore. What then is the thing that creates a smile at the center? Well of course...
It’s the chocolate at the center of the tootsie pop—the tootsie roll.
This week marks the birth of the tootsie roll and since 1896 (although some places say it was 1899) it’s inventor Leo Hirschfield started rocking the world for Stirns and Saalberg.
Over time the tootsie roll has found itself. In some crazy places. Oh sure this 2 inch treat made it’s way. Into candy stores and general store displays, yet that’s just a start. It, along with m&Ms has gone to war. The TR has found its way into engineering labs at major universities where budding young academics have constructed elaborate licking machines specially designed to address the critical question of. “How many licks does it take to get. To the center of a tootsie pop (with or without. The Indian shooting an arrow near.a star). The two major universities that built the most sophisticated and best functioning licking machines were at Purdue University and the University of Michigan. According to the Boilermaker brains it takes 364 licks and according to the Michigan mouth machine makers it takes about 413. My own research indicates it takes only about 213 to 227 depending upon mouth moisture levels. And speaking of numbers...Data indicate that the standard tootsie is a bit over 2.2 inches long. Now there are smaller “fun sized”. And jumbo versions. Manufacturing sources estimate that each day sees the birth of 64,000 thousand delightful treats and placed end to end that’s just a hair over two and a quarter miles every day
Now here’s some other wisdom to be found in tootsie...
they didn’t avoid changing and trying to honor diverse tastes. The newest is mango, however, there are raspberry blueberry, root beer, and watermellon flavors just to name a few. My personal favorite tootsie pop/roll combo is likely grape with chocolate, however I’m not turning down red or orange—let’s face it I’m not turning down any.
So what’s this have to do with seeking peace and joy?
You can be at the center just like the tootsie roll and still be loved by them masses and fulfill your purpose. You can change with the times and try new flavors for a while. Other people can have other preferences and it doesn’t.need to upset you because there is plenty in our culture to go around. In short you can love the center and explore many different ways to do that.
Finally.... does anyone wonder how much taxpayer money went into building. These. Lickers and where they are nw? To quote the wise owl.... “three.” Or as the voice over guy offers, “the world may never know.”
Well this is technically Part III of the “President’s” theme. However, much like Jaws 3 and the Matrix 3 or The Godfather 3 it is not necessarilymuch the same as the initial one or two. Only cultural phenoms like Halloween and sharknado can pull off sequels without some digression or regression right?
Anyway...
Seeking Peace and Joy and What to Be.
So this blog and the podcast that constitute the SPJU get from inspired thoughts to digital domains through Apple products. This is not a commercial, yet these devices do make sharing fairly simple and on the birthday of Steve Jobs it seems appropriate to tip a madhatters hat to him. Steve’s life has been abundantly documented and described, yet probably misunderstood. Seeking Peace and Joy almost always requires experiencing the now and then bringing the meaning to these experiences into awareness. This is not always an orderly human experience so it might be considered a “crazy” way to approach Peace and Joy. On the other hand search Steve Jobs and “crazy ones” and some insights might be gained as to how peace and joy and the seeking of same are linked to Jobs....
Would a person like to grow up to be like Steve Jobs? If you mean rich and misunderstood —well I’m halfway there. Sorry I’m not going to work on the rich (in money terms) part so maybe I’m all the way?
I’ll make no more comments about money with the exception of saying we have a lot of people acting like Monopoly tycoons these days and all I can think is—there is no such thing as “free parking” nor have I ever seen a bank error in my favor.
The whole thing about growing up is that there is a stealth implication that a person gets to a final point where they are “up”.
Maybe the question we could ask ourselves and others would work out better if. It was—
Who or what will you be when you are convinced of and dedicated to growing? You know dedicated to growing. In knowledge and wisdom—dedicated to growing in empathy—dedicated to growing in service to your purpose and the purposes in others who share the same values?
What or who would we/I become. If we/I we started to grow in curiosity instead of fear and love instead of the need to be worshiped?
No I don’t want to grow up to be president, yet I do want to grow wiser, more empathetic, more curious, and more able to find ways to love my fellow human passengers on this blue marble.
...and yes in seeking peace and joy there seems to be some growth in those directions so like our first president. I’m looking For my distillery And opium?
.Well…maybe not if it means Rhino teeth…you see the universe throws you some balance points. That leaves us with one final question….
What are we going to be when we grow to be more like children—full of wonder—full of laughter—satisfied with simpler things?
SO LET’S GET RIGHT TO IT—IN THE PREVIOUS POST I STATED THAT MONROE WAS THE SKINNY-DIPPING PRESIDENT.
THIS WAS WRONG!!!!! IT WAS. JOHN QUNICY ADAMS
Also the entry didn’t make mention of some other important historical note. Washington used a lot of strange dental work and heck yes this was painful. Therefore George used a lot of opium. Was he the Father of the Opiod epidemic?
This entry is being written and posted on his actual birthday of 2/22 and while we need to get to the topic of what we are going to be when. We grow up as promised in the previous post that has to wait one more day or so. Why? well there is another more important thread to follow today.
What’s more important. Than growing up and what’s to be done then? Well…. Ask Galileo
You see it was on 2/22 that Galileo made the public declaration that scientific study shows the Earth moves around the sun and that the Earth is not at the center of the universe.
So answering this debate should have been celebrated right? Not exactly. Galileo was prosecuted and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Yes indeed he used science to observe and present the available facts/observations. His reasoning was correct and still wham! This makes me wonder. If we are treating the extreme proponents and opponents of COVID. Shots fairly. After all science will eventually get to shining a light on this to the point where we can feel relatively certain about what getting COVID means and what life after the “pandemic” will be. For now let’s maybe be patient and curious and understand that most of the time people. Motivated by wisdom usually aren’t trying to gather power and influence. Now those seeking riches?…try not to judge them either, however, stay aware of the difference of treating symptoms with products and healing. We will have treatments far sooner than we have healed.
were all the scientists that stared into the heavens bad scientists? Or. Bad People? Who has earned the right to throw the first stone?
Anyway the next entry will focus on “what to be when grown up”. For now let’s raise a glass to the opium using, liquor making “father” of our country and also salute Galileo for being right and being treated like he was wrong…. Remember that history draws strange lines,yet, justice is nearly always done….well most the time…okay sometimes.
The point is that maybe we can all honor our imperfections as attempts to learn and that moving forward adds light helping nearly all to stay fully engaged in today and able to form meanings that might shape tomorrow
Happy Birthday George
Maybe some should read it twice
For with very little sacrifice
You hold the latest phone device
Shouting takes not keys nor mice
Yet if you choose not to be nice
You just rolled the cosmic dice
Which can’t be cleaned when dipped in rice
#think first
To those young and to those old
To the meek and to those bold
To those wild and those controlled
If what you seek is gold
Your heart will soon grow cold
Your mind shall turn to mould
And your soul’s already sold
I FOR ONE Like Roman Numerals—and a couple more things to ponder
Let’s say you sit down to write the true historical account. Of your first car...
Is that an autobiography?
Puns and word wrinkling can be fun and yet over the past couple years it seems that folks are taking some words and their meanings to their limits of utility. Almost everyone today runs into the question “what are your pronouns?” well I use them from time to time, yet is it really necessary to claim ownership and then be defined by these? For example, if I say I’m a he/him is there a formula where he/him+she/her = They/them? Doesn’t He/himx 2. Also = they/them? Who gets to decide when and where... and more importantly why pronouns get to be so important. I think we are sneaking a bit too many adjective attributes into the process and so maybe we could admit the subtle attachment of meani?”
By asking someone to give a pronoun are we really saying you have to express an extreme? Do we want to simplify folks into a three letter word? What if we had to go through life. Only using three letter words? That would work for a hot dog and ham, yet how would we get a hamburger... Oh wait “Big Mac.” Red would be a color yet what names would we give to other bands on the rainbow.
We would. Have a cat a car and still go to the bar to get gin or a mug of ale, yet the limits of what we could say, do, or mean get really clear really quickly.
As stated.words can be fun yet we need to be sure that we have something to say at least as often as we feel like we have to say something.
also there is the whole process of building meaning in context. We have more opportunity to read the text of a speech than ever before and thus the spoken word can have all its richness stripped away. Not everything looks the same naked.... take for instance a marching band or the symphony.... Oh too harsh?
In the cyber age it’s important to offer a little context that can sit on the shelf with the bits of info we share so when our friends followers and such drop in our gifts don’t get regifted in strange and unintended ways. In short understand that words live in the now just like people do and change like people do as well.
In summary word play is often fun, yet let’s not get too cute with the subtle defining. That can go on even if respect is intended. Some words need to stay subtle and complex so try to have the patience. To wade through with those words. Be careful with words like always and never. Work as hard on having something to say as on making sure you are always saying things.
For now just remember being certain about who is he/she/him/her/ they/them needs to be balanced with how WE can get to a Place for all of US
Here it comes....
So before we go running for the shelter—Rolling Stones lyric to be continued below—
As promised the SPJU will include some insights from books that have seeped through my awareness recently. Let’s start with the non-fiction. 4000 Weeks is by far the finest time management book out there. Of course those terms time and management are completely erroneous. In the seeking peace and joy world we are not concerned with “time” per se—it’s about experience creation and it’s not management it is “use.” You can’t manage time because it happens and you have no way to make it go any direction but “forward” or seemingly forward. Actually it doesn’t go anywhere because when are you living? You aren’t living in the future and while sometimes your thoughts are influenced by what has happened you aren’t breathing air in the past either. so this book helps people focus on the illusions we get caught up in. For example it reminds us that the better we get at doing some things the more we “get” to do —like the more e-mail we respond to the e-mail we are likely to get and the better we use our time the more things we are likely to attempt. The book reminds us that there will always be more experiences that we might choose than there will be “time for so we can best find peace if we accept that instead of feeling overly anxious about it.
Every Minute is a Day... Authors: Robert? Meyer and Dan Koepell.). This is a book about New York emergency room activities and personnel and the initial COVID slam. No matter what your stance on the virus—and the virus doesn’t care what your stance it by the way—this book gives a compelling description of how some real human beings dealt with the real onset of this era in New York City.
Fiction.
Well it’s the “who-done-its” that usually get my attention and we’ll see what Scooby and Shaggy pulls the mask off about these in a second. By far the best fiction so far this year is
Mitch Albom’s.
Man in a Life Boat.
You want social commentary, spirituality, exploding luxury liners with rich people? You want tropical islands romance and more... This is the book for you. It’s a book about the real power. Of believing in something and coming to grips with the meaning of life’s experiences. If there was a Seeking Peace and Joy Universe Library, this would lead the suggested reading in the fiction section and for quite some time.
Jack Reacher and Jessie Stone are the hero’s of record in most the other fiction consumed since the first of the year. Lee Child and Robert Parker (as interpreted. And channeled by Mike Lupica) provide The good guy wins mob, Terri or its, drug cartel villain riddled adventures of quick witted good people who creatively weave justice through intense situations. There’s also Jack.Noble as a hit man (can’t remember the author) in a series of adventures I’ve read. This year. Why these books?
well... unusual circumstances happen and people act fairly decidedly which is an approach to fear that seems pretty effective and in sync with seeking peace and joy. Oh and Now back to the top and The Rolling Stones..
Running for the Shelter of Mother’s Little Helper....
Yesterday the reading pile was topped with a little dessert from the November issue of Good Housekeeping.... and lo and behold the magazine suggested that we all might share instead of getting off of my cloud and look to the promise of organic medicine... yes Good Housekeeping featured the upside of magic mushrooms and other psychedelics which are now being seriously studied for their beneficial properties....
So Betty Crocker is not only baking with stones... we might be seeing our domestic engineering magazines supporting getting stoned and baked as well?
Seriously, alternative medicine is being used with greater effectiveness every day and Good Housekeeping showed real courage in publishing this. Here is another instance where folks the bed their nose at fear and said let’s tell the story.... seeking peace and joy behavior at its finest.
Well it is time to do some domestic engineering of my own (don’t you just love a “good” Housekeeping term?
Stay warm wherever you ar Peace
