Tuesday, July 31, 2012

a mouse is a mouse

The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.

Joseph Joubert

I bought a charging cord for my phone so I will have one in each place I need it. It didn't work.

First, when I plugged it in, my phone didn't indicate it was charging. Then the second time I plugged it in, the light on the transformer (is that what they call them these days) didn't light up. Defective.

I took it back and got a wireless mouse. Brought my mouse home and HoneyBoy wanted to show me his mouse. Oh...yes, he did.

His was a shrew. It was dead...under the TV cabinet. Oh, yes. It was.

I hate to say it, but I am grateful.

Monday, July 30, 2012

do anything fun over the weekend?



If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

Herodotus

...or a cat.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Saturday, July 28, 2012

from my sister


I myself feel that I cannot get along with this society very well. There are so many things that make me want to withdraw, to go back to myself. But my practice helps me remain in society, because I am aware that if I leave society, I will not be able to help it change.

Thich Nhat Hanh

from
Being Peace

Boy, can I relate to that quote. I don't feel like I get along with this society very well most of the time. I have never really felt like I fit.

But here I am. So I show up and suit up. I do what I can when I can.

I don't know if I am helping to change it. I guess my act of being here and continuing on changes things. And that has to be worth something. It has to be enough for right now.

Friday, July 27, 2012

for real



My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.

Mitch Hedberg

Thursday, July 26, 2012

love thursday 07.26.12 ~ even blueberries must be planted in pairs

(our first blueberry harvest)


Sin is to avoid this path of intimacy and communion by any guise whatsoever, even celibacy or abstinence. Evil is to deny anyone, including ourselves, the possibility of this path by making their or our sexuality inferior, in any sense enslaved or controlled, or mere entertainment. If humans cannot enjoy the delighting and delightful face of at least one other, how will they ever seek or surrender to the seductive and loving face of God? They will not even know how. Sexuality and spirituality really are two sides of the same coin: one is body and the other is Spirit.

Richard Rohr

from “What Do We Mean by the ‘Sacred’ Character of Gender?”

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

banana is an optimist



I am quite happy to be called an optimist, but my optimism is not of the utopian variety. It is based on hope. What is an optimist? I can answer for myself in a very simple fashion: He or she is a person who has the conviction that God knows, can do, and will do what is best...

Pedro Arrupe

from
One Jesuit’s Spiritual Journey

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

i guess he likes the music....


In case it doesn't load, try this link.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Sunday, July 22, 2012

a jolting message

I have no words for you today...

...but Richard Rohr does.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

music

one good thing about music...
when it hits you,
you feel no pain


bob marley

Friday, July 20, 2012

Thursday, July 19, 2012

love thursday 07.19.12 ~ the mightiest word

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance. In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun. On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.

Elizabeth Alexander

from
Praise Song for the Day

I continue in my quest to know this. Not just to use the word gratuitously...nor lightly.

I continue to find in me the seed of Love that will allow me to love beyond understanding or measure. Not because. Not in spite of.

Love. Period.

That is mighty, indeed.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

what would i do if i couldn't read?

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.

Mark Twain

Read any good books lately?

I am reading Healing Through the Akashic Records. I am simply reading through it first. Then I will go back and start working on the exercises in the records.

What are you reading?

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

empowering others

The beauty of empowering others is that your own power is not diminished in the process.

Barbara Colorose

Some gifts don't cost us a thing!

Monday, July 16, 2012

why do you go away?

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.

Terry Pratchett

from
A Hat Full of Sky


Why do you go away? In recent years, I try to go as a pilgrim rather than a tourist. A Sufi teacher told me that pilgrims travel with the idea of giving something back. I never know what I am giving--only that I want to do more than take away from my adventure.

Any plans to go away? A little over 6 weeks from now, I get to go t0 my beloved islands. Oh, yes...I do.

Aloha....

Sunday, July 15, 2012

dialog

( mijo likes to eat from my bedside table. you will note...
he pretty much covers the table.)

I'm not in the business of converting anybody. Dialogue is not about bringing people around to your side of things. It's about offering them something, and if they don't like it, fine. Dialogue is about being prepared to be changed by the encounter.

Karen Armstrong

Saturday, July 14, 2012

now *that* could have been a very bad day...



Correction: This IS a bad day. Come on people...you post videos on YouTube and then remove them before we can share?

The video showed an elephant charging a car driving down the road. The elephant hid behind a bush and ran out at the car--much like HoneyBoy attacking Mijo these days.

Friday, July 13, 2012

love friday 07.13.12 ~ because i totally spaced love thursday this week and who can't use more love on friday the 13th?


Even if it's a little thing, do something for those who need help, something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.

Albert Schweitzer

Have you ever stopped to notice how good it feels to do something for someone else? We need more of that...both the feeling good and the doing for others.

If someone does something for you, is it hard to receive it without feeling like you have to pay them back? It's good to want to be reciprocal, yet every gift doesn't have to be repaid--that takes away some of the joy of the giver.

So...do something for someone else. We all get the good juice that way. And we need more of that.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

how to defeat fear

Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn’t want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave instructions for the battle.

The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?”

Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.”

Then the young warrior said, “How can I defeat you?”

Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don’t do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don’t do what I say, I have no power.”

In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear.

Pema Chödrön

Too often as women, we are unwilling to do battle. We have much to learn from the Eastern traditions and martial arts about this.

Not all battle requires aggression...or blood...or violence.

Sometimes, battle means being willing to show up and face down the opponent...attacker...problem. Sometimes the opponent is just a bully who needs to know that we may be afraid, but we will not give in or give up.

Sometimes that is enough.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

i declare....

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Declaration of Independence

Oh, that the rest of us would learn what it means to pledge our Lives, Fortunes, and sacred Honor to each other. Wouldn't this be an amazing place to be?

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

new task

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your imperfections but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the new task.

Francis de Sales

I started a new old task today. I (hopefully) am on the last leg of the painting project in the kitchen/dining room. Fortunately, this wall is small. I'll finish it tomorrow. (Maybe even post some pics.)

I've needed patience with myself in this process. I wanted it done months ago.

It is what it is.

Monday, July 09, 2012

are we still first world?

(no, he's not leaning against a mirror...that's his brother's back)

No one should live a third world life in a first world country.

Chuck Currie

Sunday, July 08, 2012

where there's a will....


Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.

Will Rogers

Saturday, July 07, 2012

what part of speech would you be?


Why indeed must 'God' be a noun? Why not a verb - the most active and dynamic of all.

Mary Daly


Happy birthday, brother mine!

Friday, July 06, 2012

courage

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Each journey may begin with a single step, but it is a collection of those that takes one to the end of the trail. Consider the possibilities of what the critics have to say because sometimes they hold a partial truth. All the while, hang onto what is true and right.

You'll know it when you see it.

Thursday, July 05, 2012

moving forward

Once social change begins it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.

Cesar Chavez

I love this: You cannot uneducate.

When I was teaching high school, kids would ask me why they had to read. I told them that if they could read there was nothing that they couldn't learn to do.

I wonder how many of them believed me. Even one would have been worth it.

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

indendence: a sinister beginning

Richard Rohr says it so well:

In the biblical tradition, the power on the Right and the power on the Left are symbolized by the kings and the prophets, respectively. There is almost a necessary tension and even opposition between them. There is only one time in all the Hebrew Scriptures that those two ever made friends, and then only barely. That is when David the King accepted the critique of Nathan the prophet, after Nathan accused him of his sinfulness and David had the humility to say that he was correct: “I have sinned against the Lord” (see 2 Samuel 12).

The Right always considers itself the product of rationality, experience and civilization. The people on the Left are always the product of these “silly” people’s movements arising out of high-minded ideology, unbearable injustices, or both. Neither of these currents is totally rational (even the Supreme Court disagrees on what is rational). Movements from the Left are normally not well-planned at the beginning. They are intuitive and come from what is suffered by the little people, who at that point are of no account and have no press or status. Thus they rely on symbols, songs, slogans, and momentary charismatic leaders to get off the ground. Remember when white people laughed at black people for singing, “We Shall Overcome”? Today we can remember those naive English colonists on the East Coast of America who said “No taxation without representation.” The pattern is always the same: “kings” (power) versus “prophets” (truth).

Richard Rohr

Adapted from
A Lever and a Place to Stand, pp. 97-98

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

clouds come and go



The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

Mahatma Gandhi

So does the sun. I thought about mowing today. Perhaps tomorrow I will put some legs on that thought.

In the meantime, doing those tasks that I can do from my chair seems like a really good idea.

Have a safe and joyous 4th of July!

Monday, July 02, 2012

alone together



Language...has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone
And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone.

Paul Tillich

We're managing. All four of us. The sweet little girl had a big presence.

She no longer greets me, the first one up, and follows me around until I feed her. She no longer arrives just as I finish my shower and waits for attention--preferably with the brush. She no longer tolerates my cutting her toenails or giving her baths because she just can't keep it up herself.

She showed me herself, tail held high in the full plumage she used to sport, running and playing. She is happy. In her last days, she couldn't lift her tail. She wanted attention and wanted to be fed but could only eat a teaspoon at a time.

Now she is her beautiful self again. And she is happy.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

farewell, misi

(honeyboy keeping misi company)

I don't care if you're dead
Jesus is here, and he wants
To resurrect somebody.


Rumi

Misi failed quickly and it became clear that she was in pain and suffering. We made the very hard decision to help her leave.

While we waited for the doctor to come to the house, I told HoneyBoy that it was time to say goodbye to Misi. We sat on the porch and I let HoneyBoy in the house. When we came in, this is what we saw.

So long, Misi. We miss you.