The importance of achieving balance Dash maybe

HOW TO ACHIEVE. BALANCE—OR NOT

This  morning I was semi-staggering  around in my front yard.  No I wasn’t  drunk or high or tired or any of that fun stuff.  I was having a little difficulty with  my back spasms and that was causing me to walk on eggshells...I don’t really understand  that phrase.  If the eggs are already broken what  difference does it make how you w2alk on them?  Now walking on eggs that’s a different story.  Anyway so I’m in the yard and I hear a small bird chirping.  I have no experience at bird calls, unless ordering a chicken. McNugget  happy meal counts or an occasional experiment with a duck call, so I don’t know what type of bird this was.  So there was this  little blackbird sitting  up on the electrical wire chirping away and I thought—‘hurray, Spring is really coming.”  Then I considered that this bird was a. Little chick standing on a wire singing and here I am stumbling on the flat ground having walked for a really, really, long time.  What type of natural balance does that bird have?  Then of course I asked myself what kind of balance was I shooting fgor today and would I have to have a diet of worms to get there?  

Eventually I made. My way inside and let the whole  concept of balance wander around in my mind a bit—and the folllowing words started chirping.

First, I’ll never be Charles Blondin.  Who is that?  Check out Niagara Falls history, nor will I be a Fabulous Wallenda  from the finest circus tradition.  therefore, balance or the lack thereof will probably not kill me.  Then I thought is “living a balanced life” one of those sneaky peace and joy traps?  Does the idea of what it means to be successful and happy include being balanced in so many parts of life that it  has become a prime target for self-help lore because after all if you can’t achieve this miracle of balance you have some personal problems to fix. <sarcasm>.  How often do waste the experience. In front of you because you are focused on achieving  something  for some other part of your life.  When we are with our kids do we want them to be happy because  that’s cool for them or because “I’m a good parent if all my kids are  wealthy, healthy, and secure?  Do we think about that when we are sitting talking with our friends who are telling us about  a new book they really like, or when we are swimming in a refreshing  pool?  Does the idea that  we can have it all (even if we don’t know where to put it)  keep us from enjoying the extraordinary albeit limited set of gifts we have been given and developed?  For me, it seems easier to understand peace and. Joy when I’m in the zone focused not on everything, but living through the resent moment of what I’m doing right now.  Now I’m writing about the horrible expectation that our best self is balanced nearly all the time.  What if  Michael Jordon would not have honed his basketball skills because  he was practicing the trombone?  I don’t know if he played or plays the trombone because.his gift to the universe was being one of the finest competitive  basketball players ever.  

In short, every now. And then you might get a little out of balance.  You may feel like certain parts of your life are being ignored or cheated.  You can use your time  feeling  inadequate because you aren’t all things to all. People, at all times or maybe you can decide that  balance. Is not  your dream.  Maybe  you need to get really. Lopsided to expose your. Talents.  Maybe just let. Those little birds chirp and balance their life away while you seize the moment, race hard toward something, crash and burn...knowing that “burning” implies a fire and that  fire can light many fires for many others.  Gray is a balance between black and white... Do you want to live.a gray life or a cool blue or a red hot one?  Come  down off the tight rope that you  have chosen and run toward  peace and joy

The beauty of time warps – thank you Thursday

THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS WRONG

Spring is just around the corner—so they say.  Does that mean  Summer is down the  next street over parked back a bit back  from the street with a radar gun waiting to see. If it can catch you speeding through time?  It truly seems to me that  some time periods  are experienced quickly and some not so much as my younger daughter  left the ranks  of teen-aged on this week...How quick did that time go?  Some times not that quickly if I’m being  honest.  It does have me thinking about the passage of time a bit today, however, not in that philosophical way I often do, more in the what things seem to  go fast and slow in everyday life and what that means in terms of peace and joy.

The list could go on and on, so I’m choosing. My top four time warping events and  making a few  brief comments about them.

Experiences that seem. Longer than they. Actually. Last

Having the Flu—-

We can be healthy for months and months and years and years hundreds of days and yet if we get the flu for three or four days, those days go by like a snail walking through wet cement with a broken leg.   

Prostate  Exams—

At a certain age this becomes a part of a routine annual physical.  In  all the years since these started for me the appointment goes okay except for that moment both the doctor and I know is coming.  Depending upon the  doctor’s preference, the height of the exam table and your  size the position  required varies slightly—-and the conversation can be  humorous if you want it to be.  I mean—sometime ask if there were people in the doctor’s medical class who  failed  this the first time or. If there were any practice techniques students were asked to  engage in prior to their first live patient?  No matter what  transpires the actual  moments of the exam border on the strange no matter how quickly. The exam actually passes.  Next year I think I’m going to mention. That I swallowed  a half dollar a few days back and ask the doctor if he wouldn’t mind looking a little harder this time.  

Things that seem Shorter than they actually are—-

Vacation—

I don’t care if you are  cleaning out your garage or  visiting the  “happiest place on earth,” vacation days always pass more quickly than  other types of days...The only long part of vacation days is any part of a vacation day spent in the airport—what airport?— ANY import!

And Finally...

Shaving  Time No not daylight savings time—that is a whole  other topic.,  What I’m talking about is the time  it takes for  my beard hair to need shaved.    Okay I know that there about  10,000 hairs on the average human head that require shaving.  It’s also true that. A beard and any  group of hair has a grain and feeling  your skin in a particular direction matters in terms of how rough it feels etc...Nonetheless, this hair grows too fast and requires a lot of motions to  take care of.  A razor company that rhymes with  trick estimates that  I takes the average shaver. 100 to 150  strokes with a razor. Per shave.  I don’t know if that’s true and I’m not going to count, however it seems like it takes  more so not only am I shaving more often  because the time between  shaves go by  quickly, I’m doing it wrong.

Well now I’m sure you have a list of your. Own when it comes to things that don’t quite fit a linear pattern of time—-so what’s that have to do with peace and joy?

For me it has to do with the “flow” of things.  I don’t like to think about shaving and I don’t let it enter my Thought process until it needs to happensIn short, I give. Beard growing no attention and thus experience peace about this  until that peace is interrupted.  the point I’m making is that I don’t appreciate  the time in between or pay attention enough.  The same goes with the flu...so much of our lives are spent in a healthier than not state and we don’t pay attention to that either. Over the past few years, I’ve been noticing health and time between the things I find that punctuate  or puncture. “Normal” time.  This awareness allows  appreciation and gratitude for such Moore. Of what  happens in life.  I notice more about the mundane  and don’t discount the experiences that used to float right by.  Sometimes  this raises my anxiety, however, more often than not. It sharpens my  joy of little cool experiences such as in the past.couple days when the sun in the sky really felt like it was producing  heat on my skin.  What that means is it will soon be time to  play guitar outside again and the thought of that brings both peace and joy.   

In the end I’m suggesting  we all search for the little. Things that change time and value the fact that they. Prompt. Us to pay attention to the opportunities to reflect and creat meaning or dismiss the old meanings we have given to  things in exchange for. Meanings that work better for. Our growth.  

Anyway...it’s time for me to go. For a walk and then when I return home I’ll need to shave.  I’m predicting  187 strokes of that razor—I’ll keep. You posted.   In the meantime since it’s thank you Thursday I want to express my gratitude. To the. Universe. For slapping mearound a little so that I pay some attention to life as it flows through and past me.   

another set of building blocks

BUILDING PEACE AND JOY—YOUR TURN?

In keeping  with my commitment to toss out  these building blocks here comes the final couple for this  song/poem.  Yes , I feel a little sheepish just after celebrating the champ Dr. Seuss—however if you  compare yourself to others on a constant basis, peace and joy will almost always run slightly ahead of you and only now and then spit into the wind catching you  on your brand new T-shirt.  As it has always been, I write the new stuff fresh while  popping out the existing lines from memory or with changes that hit me in the moment.  So if I had some ado to spare I’d use it here but I think it’s upstairs in the drawer where I have 21 ties I’ll never wear, a sock I’ll never find the match to, and a couple of electronic adapters that I’ve used three times in the past quarter century.  So with no further ado here goes 

Working Title —Junkyard Wings

Galileo winks right at the pope

“We’re at the center?”  I’d say nope.”

If you weon’t hang me from a rope

I’ll show you with my telescope

Comes the warrior. Susan. B.

Till we  all can vot none can be free

Finally got the men to  nod and agree

One more stride toward liberty   (Chorus—sort f )

When will we learn to grasp new things

Hear what soulful wisdom sings 

Act like  servants even if we’re kings

Dawn  our fragile halo and junkyard wings?

**New and Final Block for now*

Bobby says. Be thankful for the stuff you’ve got

If they ask you “why?”  Ask back “Why Not?”

Add al little  stew to another’s pot

Do not forget  it means a lot

And

Chorus

I’ll try to record a tune with this  today...—If  not... Dare to breathe in  your values and share your feelings and ask Why Not?

Peace

BUILDING PEACE AND JOY—YOUR TURN?

In keeping  with my commitment to toss out  these building blocks here comes the final couple for this  song/poem.  Yes , I feel a little sheepish just after celebrating the champ Dr. Seuss—however if you  compare yourself to others on a constant basis, peace and joy will almost always run slightly ahead of you and only now and then spit into the wind catching you  on your brand new T-shirt.  As it has always been, I write the new stuff fresh while  popping out the existing lines from memory or with changes that hit me in the moment.  So if I had some ado to spare I’d use it here but I think it’s upstairs in the drawer where I have 21 ties I’ll never wear, a sock I’ll never find the match to, and a couple of electronic adapters that I’ve used three times in the past quarter century.  So with no further ado here goes 

Working Title —Junkyard Wings

Galileo winks right at the pope

“We’re at the center?”  I’d say nope.”

If you won’t  hang me from a rope

I’ll show you with my telescope

Comes the warrior. Susan. B.

Till we  all can vote none can be free

Finally got the men to  nod and agree

One more stride toward liberty   (Chorus—sort f )

When will we learn to grasp new things

Hear what soulful wisdom sings 

Act like  servants even if we’re kings

Dawn  our fragile halo and junkyard wings?

**New and Final Block for now*

Bobby says. Be thankful for the stuff you’ve got

If they ask you “why?”  Ask back “Why Not?”

Add a little  stew to another’s pot

Do not forget  it means a lot

And

Chorus

I’ll try to record a tune with this  today...—If  not... Dare to breathe in  your values and share your feelings and ask Why Not?

Peace 

To the cat behind the hat

BE YOU A CAT OR BE A MOUSE SALUTE THE DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE

I had  no thoughts but wait oh then

My thinker blinked and worked again

This I must type— I have no pen

I pray you’ll read it and say amen

At times my thoughts stray like a dog

Jump here and fro just like a frog

Some  notions clear some more like fog

Let’s all relax it’s just a blog

Another  verse this is the third

I softly curse—can’t find  a word

I prod myself—come on you nerd

Think quick of all those songs you’ve heard

Then off my tongue  rhymes pour and pour

But does the reader want much  more?

Is this poem already quite a snore?

If  so I’m sorry Theodor

I feel it’s time to let you loose

I hope I. Haven’t been. Obtuse

Eat Green Eggs and  Ham and have some juice

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

Let Peace and Joy run through. Your day like thing.one and thing two...

More  when tomorrow. Becomes today

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