Leisure Rules

I've made some rather "landmark" changes in lifestyle lately that have left me with plenty of time to think, relax and peruse the idea of the bigger picture in life.  I like it.  I have enjoyed this time a lot.  I found out I'm capable of using my energy for the day for a number of things.  You see, I used to travel for work about 80% of the time.  I was never home, I was always alone and my region of travel consisted of the entire US; ergo my internal clock was constantly off no matter what I tried.  I never was able to join any kind of volunteer group, intramural league and genuinely felt like the clock was ticking on my youth.  That's not the case anymore.

I go to work, I come home, I make dinner, I work out, I go to my softball/kickball league, I go out to eat and drink beers with my friends on a weekday and I get see my roommates on a normal basis.  I know this sounds outstandingly normal, but I've never had an experience like this before ever since college.  It's been a long time since I've been able to say this but life, right now, is peculiarly easy.  In other words, life is comfortable.  It's good, great, wonderful and I have no reason to gripe.  I really don't.  I guess the point I'm getting at can be summed up in one of my favorite Rolling Stone's Songs, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction."  I'm not satisfied.

I'm not saying this is a bad thing.  On the contrary, I think it's a good thing.  I don't ever want to have my life to be satisfactory.  My new lifestyle of the 9-5 is brimming upon 3 solid months.  Go to work, come home, rinse and repeat.   It's a very comfortable lifestyle and some people love it.  I actually love the fact that I get to sleep in my own bed tonight and if I wanted to I could volunteer somewhere or join an intramural team after work because, well, I have the option to do that.  Nonetheless, I guess what it boils down to for me is: if you're not satisfied with something, do something about it.  I'm not sure what happens next but I bet it will be cool.

The most important adjustment to be made is not in the thermostat but in our own view of what constitutes comfort. --Steven Cox

You'll get there, trust me

So, I went through a pretty hellish pursuit to find a new job.  It took a while, I wasn't happy with my initial results.  I learned a number of lessons from this trial of one's will and came up with a couple of conclusions...

1.  You're the only person who can change your situation.
2.  Nobody else is thinking about you as much as you are.
3.  Identify the necessities that make you happy.
4.  Attitude is something you have total control of.  Attitude single handedly commands the direction of your day/week/month.
5.  When you think you can't go on anymore, you actually don't have a choice.  If you want to meet your goal the phrase "hitting rock bottom" doesn't really exist.
6.  Never expect anything from anyone.
7.  Optimism (or hope) is the only thing that will keep you going.
8.  Time may not always be on your side but you'll get to where you need to be, trust me.


"How long should you try? Until." --Jim Rohn

Oops-a-daisies

"Freedom isn't worth having if it doesn't include the freedom to make mistakes." --Mahatma Gandhi

Todd says it best

I like to draw because it makes my mind flow. --Todd, age 10

environment.

Man shapes himself through decisions that shape his environment. --Rene Dubos 

One compliment

I can live for two months on a good compliment. --Mark Twain

Old People!

The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships. --Anthony Robbins

Today

"Today, you have 100% of your life left." - Tom Landry

From me to you.

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention. --Richard Moss 

Some great advice.

How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened. --Thomas Jefferson 

Perseverance

I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature. --John D. Rockefeller

What a delightful sound

Try to

I have a male crush on Xavier Rudd

So Fresh and So Clean

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world. --George Bernard Shaw 


I may be taking those quote out of context, perhaps I'm not.  Let me explain what I mean...


I made a conscious decision a while back to make sure that whatever I do, I'd be able to be stand behind it.  That's not to say I don't make terrible decisions because I certainly do.  What I guess I'm trying to say is that I don't want to have to cover my tracks.  I want my "tracks" to be completely visible and if anybody were to ask me why I did this or what I was thinking...I want to be able to give them an honest answer without being embarrassed or make up a lie about my actions.

Make sense?

Well, this kicks ass.

Sloths, yes!!!

Meet the sloths from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

Change

"Light always hurts before it helps" - Quote from a random e-mail

What's your plans?

We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept that one that is waiting for us. --Joseph Campbell

What's on your mind?

Facebook, believe it or not, asks you this question every single time you sign on and look at your profile or home page.  It is in the empty space of your status.  I looked at the question and haven't really thought much about it up until last night.  I thought to myself, "What is on your mind, Ryan?"  This is more rhetorical than anything, but the deeper inquiry lies in the question: "What's on your mind when you're not consciously thinking about something?"  In other words, what does your mind gravitate to naturally?  Once you figure that out, what does this say about your thought pattern?  Obviously Facebook isn't really wanting to know your deep most inner thoughts, but it made me think about the question in general.  Not really much to comment on from my personal artillery of thoughts, but it made me think about the focus of people's minds.  Do most people worry all the time?  Skip worry by overriding their mind with positive thoughts?  Are there thoughts in the back of your mind that you're aware of but just aren't dealing with?  Do you ever come to terms with those thoughts?  Ready, go.

Hip.

Simplify to Enhance

Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter, find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. --Albert Einstein 

Mountain Lightning

There's lightning in the air in Denver tonight.  I love storms.

From Within.

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. --Albert Camus 

Home.

This is a picture of my backyard.  Going home (for me) is like a dosage of sanity-medicine administered about 4 times a year.

Who are you serving?

Experiment with this mental model: It is my duty and privilege to be of service. I will do whatever I can to make life easier for all people who cross my path. --Srikumar Rao

Birds!

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

This is cool.

Tomorrow.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Mt. 6:34)

Space out! Why daydreaming is so important

I came across this article earlier today and thought it had important relevance to my life.  My 2nd grade teacher thought I used to have mini-seizures in my brain because I never paid attention in class.  As it turns out I was just incredibly bored and took to daydreaming the entire time--I wish I could do that more often.

Undaunted

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong - Joseph Chilton Pierce

Perception as a Cornerstone.

I came across this video from an e-mail I get every week.  There's some corny parts in it but GREAT message.

Strive To Be

I just started the book "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac and I'm really impressed so far.  Here's a quote that has been used plenty of times, but for whatever reason is resonating with me right now at this juncture in my life.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"

Sunday Night

I couldn't tell you exactly why, but this sums up my Sunday night.

This song is ruling my life

I was listening to this song as I was driving from Washington, DC to Frederick, MD last night and it was blowing my mind. Thanks to Alex Leaming, the human oasis of music.

Being Judicious, not Judgmental

One of the most difficult but necessary skills we need to develop as meditators is learning how to be judicious without being judgmental. An as a preliminary step to developing that skill, it's good to reflect on the difference beween the two.

Being judgmental is basically an effort to get rid of something we don't understand and probably don't want to understand. We see something we don't like and we try to dismiss it, to stamp it out without taking the time to understand it. we're impatient. Whatever we're being judgmental about, we just want to get rid of it quickly.

Being judicious, however, requires patience together with undestanding. A judicious choice is one you've made after understanding all the options, all the sides of a question. That way your choice is based on knowledge, not on greed, aversion, or delusion. [...]

The problem with being judgmental is that it's not effective. We try to stamp out things here and they go springing up someplace else. [...] Being judicious, though, is more effective. It's more precise. We see what's really skillful, what's really unskillful in the mind, and we learn how to disentangle the two. Often our skillful and unskillful habits get entangled. The things we don't like within ourselves actually do have some good in them, but we don't notice it. We focus instead on what we don't like, or what we're afraid of, and we end up trying to stamp it all out, the good along with the bad.

So this is why we meditate: to step back a bit, to watch things patiently so that we can see them for what they are and deal with them effectively. Our concentration practice gives us a comfortable center in our awareness where we can rest, where we feel less threatened by things. When we feel less threatened and less oppressed, we have the resilience to be more patient, to look into what's going on in the mind, and to develop the proper attitude toward what is skillful and what isn't. [...]

One of the main problems in modern life is that people have so little time. When they meditate, they want to cram as much of their meditation as possible into their little bits and pieces of spare time. Of course that aggravates the whole problem of bing judgmental. So keep reminding yourself that meditation is a long-term project. When you have a sense of that long arc of time, it's a lot easier to sit back and work very carefully at the basic steps. It's like learning any skill.

- By Thanissaro Bhikku, from "Meditations"

I am this wolf-dog.

Comfortingly Powerful.

I came across this video while looking for a new song to play.  The song is called By Your Side by Sade and I remember it being really popular a couple of years ago.  It became so popular that I looked past the message of the song.  Pay special attention to the lyrics in addition to this woman's incredible voice.  Here are the lyrics in their entirety.

Purposeful Proximity.

Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you. --Augustine of Hippo

Moments.

So much swirling around in my head about this video.  Examining each moment of a potential day...makes life big.

The Good News About Being Lonely

I was reading a book the other day that enlightened my understanding of loneliness.  Here's an excerpt...

”I wonder if loneliness is God’s way of getting our attention.  Here’s what I mean.  Suppose you borrow a friend’s car.  His radio doesn’t work, but his CD player does.  You rummage through his collection, looking for your style of music—let’s say, country-western.  But you find nothing.  He has nothing but his style of music—let’s say, classical.  It’s a long trip.  And you can talk to yourself for only so long.  So eventually you reach for a CD.  You’d prefer some steel guitar, but you’re stuck with soaring tenors.  Initially it’s tolerable.  At least it fills the air.  But eventually it’s enjoyable.  Your heart picks up the pattern of the kettledrums, your head rolls with the cellos, and you even catch yourself attempting a little Italian aria.  “Hey this isn’t so bad.”  Now, let me ask you.  Would you have made this discovery on your own?  No.  What led to it?  What caused you to hear music you’d never heard before?  Simple.  You had no other choice, no other option.  You had nowhere else to go.  Finally, when the silence was too loud, you took a chance on a song you’d never heard.”  --Traveling Light by Max Lucado

I liked this, thought I'd share.

Live.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live. --Samuel Johnson 

Quote of the day

Do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. You have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively, unless you can choose a challenge instead of a competence. --Eleanor Roosevelt

This is my favorite scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off