I was making eggs on the stove tonight.
My family’s dog, Tahoe, always sits near the stove when I start making eggs.
She watches my every move and waits for a hand out. I’m easy and always give her a small piece or two.
Tonight I looked at her and said, “You know, Tahoe, you know nothing about these eggs; only that they taste good.”
Realizing what I had just said, I silently asked myself, “What else is there to know?”
Tahoe, Syracuse, New York, 2009
“The problem with “everyone” is that in order to reach everyone or teach everyone or sell to everyone, you need to so water down what you’ve got you end up with almost nothing.
Everyone doesn’t go to the chiropractor, everyone doesn’t give to charity, everyone has never been to Starbucks. Everyone, in fact, lives a decade behind the times and needs hundreds of impressions and lots of direct experience before they realize something is going on.
You don’t want everyone. You want the right someone.
Someone who cares about what you do. Someone who will make a contribution that matters. Someone who will spread the word.
As soon as you start focusing on finding the right someone, things get better, fast. That’s because you can ignore everyone and settle in and focus on the people you actually want.”
(via Seth Godin)
Leonid Meteor, Syracuse, New York, 2009
This morning I watched and listened to an important TED Talk on compassion given by Robert Thurman. His talk centered on a seven-step meditation exercise to extend compassion beyond our inner circle.
1. Meditate that all beings are one; even animals.
2. See the motherly expression in all beings. Remember the kindness of mothers. Identify that all beings can express and feel motherly qualities.
3. Repay the kindness that all beings have shown you.
4. Think of how lovely beings are when they are internally feeling happiness.
5. Universal Compassion. Look at the reality of how unhappy most beings are. Feel real compassion for all of these people and for yourself.
6. Universal Responsibility; the common religion of humanity. Take responsibility for what is happening to others and do what you can — big or small — to create change.
7. New orientation in life to live equally for ourself and others. Realize that compassion makes us happy; not miserable. Sense these new qualities in yourself, embrace them, and practice and spread your compassion.
Sunrise, Acadia National Park, Maine, 2009
I saw love before,
the best love in the United States.
I can hear love
in the wind
like an airplane going across the sky.
Love is the best thing
that can happen to you.
-Willie Gilmore
Love, Portland, Oregon, 2008
I first became familiar with the work of Dan Winters upon seeing a photograph of his on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. Since then I have always admired the strength, beauty, and originality displayed in his photography. After hearing him speak I can say that I have an even greater appreciation for him now.
“People aren’t going to remember the things you do. They’re going to remember how you made people feel and I’ve always really tried to adhere to that. I try to be kind and gracious, and appreciative,” says Dan.
Profound, simple words to live by.
More info on Dan here.
“5. Look inside. Deal with that stuff in your life that you’re not dealing with, or point a spotlight on those things in you that you know not what they are. Personal sacrifices and insights are a huge key to individual creativity and often bring out the best in who we are. These experiences can be humbling and challenging. Haven’t talked with your brother in 2 years because of that fight you guys had? Reach out. Not sure why you have an aversion to hard work, success or failure? Explore that. And let yourself experience those emotions, those pains, or those moments of clarity you find on that journey. Those things can drive incredible work in your creative self. What pictures could you take that no one else in the world could take? Those can only be found by looking inside. You want a “signature” style? That’s where you’ll find it.”
Read more here.
Good things are always happening. Sometimes all we need to do is remind ourselves.
Ludwig Road, Hope, Maine, 2009
“If we spill a drop of red sauce on a white shirt, we easily will notice it. If the shirt were a busy plaid, we might not. Most of us are so disengaged from ourselves — stressed, depressed, overworked, and so on — that we look at ourselves and see plaid shirts. But that can change if we take note of what’s new and different about the world and ourselves. When we notice new things, we come mindful, and mindfulness begets more mindfulness. The more mindful we become, the more we see ourselves as white shirts and the easier it is to find the red spot and remove it.”
from Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility.
“All of us have experiences that could change our lives if we let them: love, offered suddenly, turning from the mantelpiece, as Demlore Schwartz put it. And that, oddly, was the way it was with me and the butterflies. Not love, exactly, offered suddenly, but a similar quickening of the heart and desire — in this case a desire to know, if knowledge was not only information and understanding but experience. I could feel those butterflies tugging on my imagination as if it were a loose sleeve.”
Excerpt from the book I am reading, Four Wings and a Prayer by Sue Halpern.
Image © Andrew Winning/Reuters
10. Think about thinking. Metacognition, as this is known, is a crucial skill. Many scientists argue that the best predictor of good judgment isn’t intelligence or experience; it’s the willingness to engage in introspection. The brain is like a Swiss Army Knife, full of different tools. When picking out a couch, we can trust our emotions, but we should rely on the rational brain when scrutinizing the fine print of a mortgage. Unless you think about which mental tool is best suited for the task at hand, you could end up flustered, even sweating, in the sofa aisle at Ikea.