Saturday, September 12, 2009

Malibu


There are times in my life when I am awestruck at how my world unfolds. I am in Malibu for a few days.....staying in a beautiful big house on Carbon Canyon Beach-home to many wealthy and famous....so much of my life has been around them and yet, I am not wealthy or famous. I am fortunate. I have spent so much time in some of the most beautiful homes in the world. I have spent countless hours in private jets flying to exotic and some very exciting places. At times it feels like all that unfolds around me is pure luck. Other times it feels like fate. Whatever it is, I am very fortunate. I really savor each day, event and place. So, as the surf pounds away with the sun setting to the west, what could be better? Maybe someone to share all of this.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Love and Fear

Love has no expectations. Fear is full of expectations. With fear we do things because we expect that we have to, and we expect that others are going to do the same. That is why fear hurts and love doesn’t hurt. We expect something and if it doesn’t happen, we feel hurt-it isn’t fair. We blame others for not fulfilling our expectations. When we love, we don’t have expectations; we do because we want to, and if other people do it or not, it’s because they want to or not and it’s nothing personal. When we don’t expect something to happen, if noting happens, it’s not important. We don’t feel hurt because whatever happens is okay. That is why something hardly hurts us when we are in love; we aren’t expectating that our lover will do something; and, we have no obligations. Does this all sound too impersonal? It is not-it is personal.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Silence is Golden-Mike Papantonio

Wonderful piece by Mike-

In recent weeks, Democrats have made progress with their leadership management skills. Here is what they have figured out: When your opposition is burning down, don't get involved. Sit back and allow it to happen.. for example, when the GOP floats the story that Obama is building concentration camps to house conservative critics, just hush, sit quietly and let them tell that story. When Glen Beck goes on the air to tell us about those new Obama concentration camps, don't interrupt him even when it's clear that those buildings he's afraid of are probably mental health facilities.Or when their party leader, Sarah Palin suggests that Obama's health care reform plan includes a death panel that will condemn elderly Americans to die if they require too much medical care, remember;sit quietly and let the lunatics loose on themselves. In fact, be jubilant when other GOP party leadership stands besides Palin and endorses her while she rambles incoherently about this imaginary goulish new death panel.
The Democrats have recently figured out that the art of sitting silently when the opposition is so vulnerable requires incredible discipline. When gun-toting healthcare teabagers are shwoing up at town hall meetings to shout, scream, and appear unbalanced
, Democrats should make sure to schedule as many town hall meetings as possible. Alllot it to unfold on the nightly news with regularity.

.....

Public approval ratings of the new GOP are falling to levels that compete with those of Dick Cheney and Ann Coulter.

I am happy to read these artilces every now and then. It reminds me that I am not alone and that there is intelligence somewhere here in America.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Everything we know is going somewhere....

If everyone understood how interconnected everything we know is, there would be no more war, hatred, lies, deception, poverty, hunger, or greed. We would know that what we put out there, returns. Every thought manifests. Every deed finds a home somewhere. From micro to macro it is the same. Perspective is everything.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Simple but true-

"I have always believed that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value."
Hermann Hesse

Creating Narcissists

This appeared in an EnlightenNext email I recieved the other day. This is part of the issue. What do you think has also created the environment for the epidemic onslaught of narcissism?

The Narcissism Epidemic Starting in the sixties, teachers and parents began to believe that building self-esteem in children was the best way to develop confident happy adults. But psychology researcher Jean Twenge says that the truth is not so simple. In her latest book, The Narcissism Epidemic, she unveils some startling evidence that this cultural trend towards individual empowerment may have created a generation of young people too self-infatuated for their own good.

There was a survey done last year asking college students about their academic experiences. To the question “If you explain to your professor that you’re trying hard, should he or she increase your grade?” two-thirds of college students said yes. I’m a professor and I study narcissism, and I was still shocked by that number! The “everybody gets a trophy” mentality basically says that you’re going to get rewarded just for showing up. First of all, that’s not how the real world works. Second, that won’t build true self-esteem; instead, it builds this empty sense of “I’m just fantastic, not because I did anything but just because I’m here.”


Thursday, September 3, 2009

A Mouthful of flesh

"But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time she had been born into the world to enjoy." - Plutarch

This is an old question that we have pondered so many, many times. There are those times that we have thought that being a vegetarian would best. Then, we might see someone who proclaims to be one and they do not look well. Have we become to used to seeing the culture who uses animals to provide sustenance that we do not know what being healthy should look like? My friend, Joseph, in Montreal, has a very good body- a muscled body that most men would aspire to...well, he is a vegetarian and has been one for decades. I aspire to be fine lokking as he. Then, there are celebrities like Pam Anderson and others who defy the old stereotypes of vegetarians.

What are your thoughts?