M31 is out there, beyond understood boundaries

Finding the Andromeda galaxy, M31
The "Andromeda Galaxy M31" can just, but only just, be seen with the naked eye.

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Its light, 2.2 million years old.

This is the oldest light you can see with the unaided eye. The light you see no longer exists within M31. The Andromeda galaxy, M31, is the nearest neighbour large galaxy to our own Galaxy, the Milky Way. It is about 2.2 million light years away and about 100 000 light years across. Some directions on where the w is begin by first facing north. Somewhere up there by the North Star is the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. It will be to the right of the Pole Star. You may be able to see that Cassiopeia lies right in the path of the Milky Way as it crosses the sky. If you can, remind yourself that you are looking from the inside at our Galaxy and this is outside. Identify the larger and deeper of the two triangles which make up the W of Cassiopeia. It is the top one of the two. The triangle points to the right. Follow a line through the middle of the triangle, to look for M31. ( The third dot connected from left to right is the top of a W. It points to the small dot which is M31. Looking through binoculars in about the right place, you should pick up a hazy white glow. That’s the central bright region of the galaxy. Remind yourself how old the light is that you are seeing.

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What you see if you find this small white gloss is a galaxy that has more than a trillion stars. The light you will be looking at left that galaxy 2.2 million years ago. It is the oldest light that the human eye can see without the help of a telescope.

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When you look and think about this place in the sky and the light from the past it is hard to know what to think. How far can emotion or thought or experience or understanding go in understanding or does it stretch our soul to imagine and the depth and breadth of our feelings and sight? We all wonder this in different ways. Sometimes we express simple thoughts in ways that reflect what is unclear but felt, as did Elizabeth Barrett Browning in some simple thoughts. For here love is beyond the ends of being, with boundaries difficult to measure.......................................................

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I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need,

by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely,

as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely,

as they turn from Praise.

I love with a passion

put to use In my old grief’s,

and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints;

I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!

and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death

Working in or near Oz

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Some jobs are better than others but then it all might be in the eye of the job holder. Some mornings you might get busted for stealing the donut. Others you might just have to yell at the guy trying to sell you stock. Then again paper cuts do happen. All try stories in the land of oz.

I sign about music, risk, today and exploration

When? This could be a good question, having seen the sign, and having made note of the message? What if yesterday was not our best day and what if the days before weren't? Is best "all inclusive"? Is "it" the some total of the parts? Or does it instead reflect the experience you have had, and in a way make it impossible for your best to have every been yesterday? .................Doing ones best is by necessity something that can only happen today. ...............Interesting to think that if one was to embrace this directive that it may be at odds with the goal to "be perfect". Being ones best may, and probably always does, fall short a little of being perfect. If it draws from weaker yesterdays then the fact will be that tomorrow could then in fact be better drawing from today. Then again it is "today that we have seen the sign" on the side of the road. Today is always the only day we have to deal with.

T.S. Eliot quotes seem to be about "doing ones best"...............................

“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

You are the "music" while the music lasts

People to whom nothing has ever happened cannot understand the unimportance of events.

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

"Good for the leaves", rage on, rage rage

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Fall is "out there".

The leaves are heading "into the night".
They seem to "rage" against the light.
Good for the leaves, and good for...................Dylan Thomas.................................
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Do not go gentle into that good night.
Old age should burn and rave, at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their works had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you , my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears. I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

....................yes indeed Thursday's blog listed Dylan Thomas poetry as a potential accomplishment for that day. Finding a poem in my memory is no problem. Pulling it out word by word from that memory is not as easy.

Living in the Grey area, or being lunch for a bear

What if ones ambition was to live in a black and white world? What if one wanted to see in black and white? What is it about black and white that makes a movie in black and white so different? Then to what about that poor fish? All good questions and I don't have any good answers really. I do recall black and white TV. I remember missing something about it when it was no longer the norm. Not sure what. Maybe it was that it let you focus more on the items in the picture. Or at least I remember thing that. Grey is a useful color. The people behind the baskets are living a hard life. It indeed seems like a hard life and the reality of it seems real. If the baskets were nice and bright and the hill green the reality of what the reason for the photo may not be as real. Perhaps.

Red ones

Things that I would like to do that I am not going to get to do today are worth making a list of since at least then I will know what I missed.

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Eat Raspberries (Fresh Ones)

Recite Dylan Thomas Poems from memory

Write something profound on my blog

Start my book

Finish A book

Take a morning walk with Kathy

Finish this blog ( I may add more to it however)

"being", today

Advertising is an important need in today's world. One never know what to expect but then advertising can help and a lot of wasted time can be eliminated. There may be some that might consider business and things like sales and advertising to be of less value than other things??? Finding a cure for getting old, or maybe staying old vs's the alternatives, perhaps may be more important but then who can tell? Saving some time in an "unnecessary search for donuts" can be pretty darn valuable. Now I don't often blog at 1:17PM in the afternoon so if you have read my blogs on occasion and have missed some of this type of wisdom the reason could be .............................."time on my hands". This is not a good thing. On the other hand today is the only day I have to deal with. (Wisdom imparted here) Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is what I am working on today when I get through with this message. So then I will need to avoid the unnecessary "donut detours" if I am to put this time to good use. Oscar Wilde seems to be good for a quote now and then and in looking at what he may have to say about this whole subject of making good use of today and so forth I note that he said:

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Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.

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This seems pretty darn logical. Don't try to be someone else and stay on track. No donut detours. I suppose I can do that. I resolve to be myself, Oscar. ......................

Faith replaces Fear with some humility

Good message in Regional Conference today. We went to the conference center and this thought was one the I remember most. Fear is something that is dark. It takes you away from the direction you want to go.
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We have now had a full time missionary in the MTC for 5 days. It seems longer
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Heading back home tomorrow.
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Wondering what the week will bring
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Snow on the Mountains
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no pictures on the blog.
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Blog seem more humble with no pictures

I should be telling this with a sigh of last night, and ages gone by

I have always liked trucks. I drove a semi truck when I was 18 from Pocatello to Salt Lake. On almost the first day of my first job when I had only had a drivers licence for a couple of weeks I was put in a truck that was full from floor to the roof with canned goods and sent to Lava, Soda Springs and Montpelier Idaho to deliver the schools one August day. I left at daybreak and got back at midnight but I figured out how to get it all delivered. I had to call some folks after hours to come and open doors. I knew a long haul trucker who had a 1945 Kennworth (K-Whopper) and had several million miles on it. He was to me a "old guy". He didn't seem to every change his cloths, of course I always saw him while he was delivering. Too me he was a cowboy and in many ways "the real spirit of the old west". He survived by his wits and he knew ever back road around a scale and he could bring in on a trailer where legally you only could haul 44,000lbs almost 75,000 lbs on occasion. I benefited by this approach myself when I started my own brokerage business and used this truckers to force open some new accounts with the opportunity to use this service. I figure that a lot of what I like about salesman is the same as what I like about truckers. They are free souls and given a little respect they will do anything for you. Over the years I have been a sales manager at times. My secret for success has been to just think of salesman a lot like I have thought of truckers and to let them know they have my respect.

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This truck is really a "Transformer". I watched the movie "Transformers" last night. One might suppose considering the first part of this that I am so obsessed with trucks that I went out and rented this movie. Well not true. I would have never seen it had not it been the perfect movie for the grandson and family. Well worth it by the way. Good trucks and bad trucks are what makes transformers. Some with compassion for the humans and some with none. The difference may have been just a little respect but really it was obvious that the better looking trucks turned into the nice transformers and the mean looking vehicles turned into the mean transformers. I suppose this is a change of sort over the years because the K-whopper I remember was a mean looking piece of equipment.

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Did I mention that Robert Frost was really a trucker? A lot of folks don't know this. In fact I hate to bring it up here since I have already mentioned that truckers really are like cowboys but then I need to mention that they are also really the "true poets" and have a great deal to say about how they spend their lives. For them it seems that words are trips and their profession is itself the destination. Then again for many the doing is the destination and the real difference is how the trip was made.

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The poet remembers and knows................

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The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
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Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
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And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
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I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I need to complain about this writer & book balony.

Seems odd that my "book" is blank? I seem to have it, the subject of my book, come up a lot? (notice that I am using a ? rather than a ! or a . after this last sentence) "My Book"........................... In some ways the events over the years seem to "shout out: Write it down". Today I read the first few pages of a book "about writing a book", not that I haven't done that a few times,read some book about this stuff, but this lady was well on her way to telling me the secret to getting my book done. She started out telling about her "tough day, that day", the day she wrote those pages. She said that she had taken the kids here and there and and bought groceries, stopped off to do her radio interview of authors show, (that last one was really true and probably could have more to do with her book that the simple formula by the way) and of course she had throughout the day made phone calls. The hubby was on the way home and they were off to some wonderful place for dinner and she just decided to write this all down so that the "revelation" could be made clear that indeed since she wrote down all that had happened that indeed the secret is clear as can be on how to find time to write. Apparently the secret is that you have to have a day so full of stuff to do that it would be a miracle to find 30 minutes and then when you do just force yourself to take 30 minutes and write even if it about the day then.............. Bingo, your a writer. I can clearly see where I have failed. I have had too much time on my hands...............................She did mention something about picking a subject. On the other hand her subject was "picking a subject" and so again she lost a little credibility with me. On the other hand I was reading about her subject in a bound book so looks like this lady wins round two, assuming I was keeping track. I on the other hand have not written a book about the thought patterns that go through my head about picking a subject because the "subject" that I would pick would probably lead to long term unemployment instead of "just the time being", hopefully. The "time being", is indeed an unknown to all right now but then I have not published anything that says in black and white that "working for the man" is a dead end and we ought to all be assigned jobs based on our brains and then we ought to just wear hats that have the words, "let it be", also known in some circles as "Amen" on our hats. This would simply the real issues. Folks would know that they are where they are because they were to stupid to do any better. Folks would not have to work hard and do their best or get lucky with who their relatives were because they would take a test and "bingo" they would be assigned to pounding widgets eternally.

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Some would design the widgets and others would sell them for a markup and others would demand payment based on the the morally right position found in being paid for the widget pounder's work, not theirs necessarily, but in the final analysis widget pounding would have no bearing on getting one into heaven.

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I think the "heaven pass" would be based on complaints. Someone up there would keep track of the complaints and both the smart and not so smart would have a pretty good chance of making it to that.................... Non Widget place in the sky.

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So I can't write the book, yet. The subject would be considered a Complaint.

Stuff to ponder, thoughts to think, boxes to open

Plenty to think about these last few days. We were able to send off our missionary and that was a good thing. It is interesting to consider the "Rite of Passage" that Zach is going through. One day he was a boy and the next he is a man. The change seemed to be visible. We saw this formalized at the MTC but we have experienced it for a few months really. When something one does is labeled as a "Rite of Passage" it usually has a beginning, and a middle, and an end. An example might be when one withdraws from his original group, then lingers in a place that is different learning and changing, and then returns.

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On a different note I wondered if all that we are...................... is really indeed the sum total of all we have thought? I hope not, actually, since all thoughts are not good or even productive. On the other hand all that we are does represent those thoughts that did impact us by causing something to happen. So the question becomes are we what we are on purpose and were all of those thoughts that caused this, choices? Do we do things on impulse really, or do we do things because we have thought about doing them? If we are the result of our thoughts then we did them on purpose.

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We were listening to a CD about the differences between the way men and women think the other day. I recall the conclusion that "men departmentalize things". (did you notice I needed to put quotes around this? ) Having heard that insight in to men I decided to just hold the thought and consider it again because at the moment I was more interested in hearing the rest of what the CD had to say than digging into whether or not it was true that men more so than women really compartmentalized things. I would have given this some thought before now, since it has been a few days now, but I had a lot to think about especially yesterday.

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Having Zach just get up and walk out of our room for two years was just a lot to consider. I am pretty sure that I have not yet finished considering it and I am not sure whether I want to completly open that compartment today, besides I have a large number of compartments and if I want to go around opening stuff up, there is other stuff waiting.

Find then feed the good wolf

It is easy to feel lost and alone. Sometimes it is a surprise to find these feelings on days that should be full. I was reading a blog that mentioned thoughts about wanting to make a difference and have a voice and speak out and remembering times when that was done and frustration over not being heard and perhaps being somewhat lost to any chance of being heard. At first I thought of the story of the two wolves.

There is a story about a Navajo Grandfather who once told his grandson, "Two wolves live inside me. One is the bad wolf, full of greed and laziness, full of anger and jealousy and regret. The other is the good wolf, full of joy and compassion and willingness and a great love for the world. All the time these two wolves are fighting inside me. But Grandfather," the boy said, "Which wolf will win?" The grandfather answered, "The one I feed."

Maybe the wolves are, in part, about wanting to be "found". One may want to be found and the other may "know where he is". The question is how to feed the one that knows where he is? John Newton wrote a song that perhaps offers a solution.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me....

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear...the hour I first believed.

"Believing", feeds the good wolf

It matters, Amen.

This week I ran a "Marathon". In fact the last 5 days I ran that Marathon. That is a 4,5,7,6, and 4, each day, and that equals a 26 and the fact is I have not run 26 miles in one week in a couple of years. I have by the way ran 13 Marathons officially all done correctly in one day, most 4 hr's plus. This week Zach was with me on a couple of these, marathon segments, and over the last couple of weeks he was also on several of these. Today may be the last time we will run together in Albuquerque.? On the other hand we might be here when he gets back in two years still trying to sell our house. Hopefully I will have a job. Then of course I may be in a lot better shape since I have been able to get out and run 5 days a week, again. Thankful to be able to go out with him today. Thankful to be here this week and last. Thankful to be here is pretty good in general by the way when one wonders about what to be thankful for. Being here. Amen to that. Did I mention that "Amen" means "let it be" or "so be it". Amen.

Yep

Yep,

Looked in the mirror and what did I see........

I was looking in the mirror wondering who that guy was looking back at me recently.Of course you know life is a quest of sort. We can see the quest looking back and even looking close at the days events.

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On a different note, perhaps, I was thinking about the movie 'Apocalypse Now'. Then one should not consider the movie without the source for the movie's inspiration. Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". Both present quests to find. The quest took in one case Captain Willard to Colonial Kurtz's compound and in the other Marlow to Kurtz's compound. The question becomes what was the "darkness". Was it the trip through the darkness of Africa or up the dark river? Some say it was a quest to find truth and knowledge of the soul or the meaning of life. In the end both Kurtz's die and in both cases their last words are "the horror, the horror". In both cases the Kurtz's, possible cannibals and indeed ruthless men, are implied as morally superior to other men. In both cases it may just be that the person pursuing the "Kurtz" understands that they to have the potential to become as savage as Kurtz. Both thought that it less disgusting to be something evil than to be nothing at all.

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'Apocalypse Now' was not a war movie but but was instead a personal study of man. The Heart of Darkness was likewise the same. Both are left to the viewer or reader to interpret. One could ask which part they play. The part of the one who finds symphony in the flawed morality of he who he pursues. Or the one challenged and changed by his "horror". Then too perhaps all one can find in this question is to answer that he sees himself as the audience.

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Troubles can take you into the heart of darkness and you can lose sight of the value of the trip but then it is a moral struggle..............................

Somewhere in Time one finds sand

Looking in my Journal, it was September 16th 2000. I had sent a note to Mike. My note was short. It had no subject. In fact I just offered up a definition of the word "neighborhood" since mostly I had just passed on the information "that it was then 8:50AM in the neighborhood". So we did in fact connect that day. Email found the intended. Mike replied back that day 7 plus years ago. His message that morning was to tell me "that like sands through the hourglass these are the days of our lives". That day, our day's event was just saying hello in email. I saw recently an email my brother had sent my Aunt VJ in 1999. He was telling her about his web site for bad jokes. He expounded some on computer language. I suppose that was a day in his life and in some ways we can go back if we remember these things. So the lesson of these events may be to find in the day that which makes it of value. Today things of value were being with Kathy and Zach. A 5 mile run. Moving the boxes in the Garage from one side to the other and making new room so that we could again put two cars in the garage. It did indeed seem like worthwhile work. I may want to remember the satisfaction of getting this done. Getting a call updating me on the day from Mike was something of value, toady, mid day.

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I liked the movie "Somewhere in Time". The hero puts on cloths from a time long ago to help focus and concentration and to go back in time and to find someone he had seen in a picture from that time. He indeed does go back. He meets her. Loves her. Loses her. What if within our own life we could pick a day and a time and go back. What day would it be. What would the purpose be. Then on the other hand when you look at a day and find the things that were interesting, or of value, or show that good will come from the decision that you made, or you just see something positive then......................... you have stepped back in time. It is so much easier to go back in time to a positive place than a negative one. The reason is because it is easier to return to the present when you have gone back to a positive place. Today is a day that I could go back to. Good Goal for all days.

Used to like Chrome Wheels

Today.......................Zach and I began with a walk. This is Balloon Festival time. Sometimes as many as 700++ balloons take off at once. From our route we can see off towards where they rise up and it is a great sight. So with camera in hand I figured I would see what look photo worthy. Then of course I couldn't resist my favorite horse statues. Another favorite up that street is a chrome cactus. That variety of cactus is not native to New Mexico, the live green kind, and one is often amused to find those cactus on pictures indicating a tie with New Mexico but then they just don't grow here. They are Arizona cactus. Then on the other hand this chrome version is interesting. I like the look of it in this front yard. So that is the walk.

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Things to be thankful for. Family, time, outdoors, a home, times together, goodness in those you care about, learning, remembering, relationships.

Truly caring needs no announcement

A nice place

A nice thought

The least of all motives for doing good is probably to have done it for "earthly reward". It would seem like one would be quickly paid if that were the driving motive. All would see and all would know of the good that was done. On the other hand a person who I have profound respect for told me today that what Christ would most want or expect would be for you to truly care for your fellow man. If one truly cares...........an announcement that God is on ones side is not going to be needed.

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Within a half hour time period today I saw greatness and greed. One announcing that good was on his side and the other suggesting that caring was the most important thing. Yesterday I watched conference. Henry Eyring suggested making note of how God revealed his hand in your life each day. I saw his hand in one of two letters today and the comparison was amazing.

One choice leads to another.

The question might be what in all the universe is the greater good? What is it that is of the most worth? Which choice is right? What should one put everything one can into accomplishing?

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One good answer might just be "Whatever it is that you do, do well" but then if you did it would seem that your choices would be defined by your prior choices. This motive would create a direction.

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This is conference weekend. It has been good to have both Saturday and Sunday to hear from church leaders that have offered some guidance on living ones life, “better” and on seeing what is of the most value. I was impressed with the comments of Henry Eyring who was called as the new second councilor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He attended a news conference with reporters mid day between the morning and afternoon session. One asked him to comment on the fact that he and two other general authorities recently called being from Harvard. His answer evolved into some comments about methods used to make decisions. He commented on the fact that within the church, at his level in particular, as they made decisions that all were heard from. He mentioned that what started at first as very different points of view evolved into a consensus but that even then if it was sensed that even one had not been heard from that no decision was made until all had expressed their thoughts and they had a consensus.

I guess he presented this approach in part as a contrast to what a traditional well-known business school might produce in terms of decision makers. Then too he may have suggested by telling this that conflict and dominance in "owning a decision" was not as important as whether the decision was correct or right or of the most worth.

Then today I watched a special on J. Ruben Clark mid day on the BYU channel. This man of course is a man I have had tremendous respect for. He was a brilliant man who became a very successful lawyer and played a significant role in the government in the first half of the last century. I remember his influence and his talks. He had never been a church leader until he was 61 years old when he was called into the First Presidency. When you look at his life you see that he often made his choices based on what he felt had the most worth rather than what was immediately the most worth to him.
Much to learn from men like these.

Red Jacket, a walk, balloons, and a 6th grade teacher who left an impression

"Today", my theme from yesterday, by the way, I went out for walk with Zach. We went for 4 miles but it was just a little late to see the balloon festival. We stopped to talk with a neighbor friend who we always find out early on Saturday. They had gone early to the Balloon Festival and I asked if he had taken his camera. He told me that they do each year but then how many pictures of balloons can you really need? Amen I said. Then again yesterday I was ready that Amen means "let it be" so do I mean "yes" just let it be the case that we will have a bunch of balloon pictures? Perhaps I should mean "yes " having an endless number of balloon pictures is indeed a something to ponder as to its worth. Either way I will "let it be".

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I asked Zach to give me his favorite teachers name and it was a 6th grade teacher so I had to push him a little to get to a high school teacher's name.
For High School it was a biology teacher and or maybe a Russian Teacher who by the way he did not take Russian from. So it may be that favorite teachers have more impact than the subjects they taught. I recall a favorite subject. Wrestling. Perhaps it is or was because in some ways it is out of character or then again maybe it is exactly in "character", who knows. Zach takes a lot of time to get a favorite anything to settle in enough for him and then to declare it. 4 miles is enough time to get some stuff declared. The walk was pretty basic. One dead snake. A small one. Some balloons off in the distances going North above the Rio Grande. A visit with a neighbor. All good stuff.

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By the way this picture is of a library in Pocatello Idaho as I remember it in the 1950's. I went to church across the street at the 1st ward. It was on Author and Center Ave. I often went there. Trudy may see this and since she is on a early Pocatello recollection trip lately she may want to see this.

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The good stuff in the Library was missed back then I guess. One book that came to mind today is "The World's Great Speeches"****. I am not sure why I thought of this. I was very impressed with the new councilor, Henry B. Eyring, in the first Presidency that was presented today in Conference. He was also on a 12:30 news conference where he answered questions. His approach is interesting. I suspect he will be one that the world will hear at lot from. I am reminded of a speech in the "Worlds Greet Speeches". A speech by Red Jacket was delivered in 1805 at a council of chiefs of the Six Nations after a white missionary had addressed them. I don't know why I am reminded of this really because in every way I think if it had been Elder Eyring that had approached the Chiefs that they would have also seen those who followed the words that were in tune with his message.

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The speech started out with Red Jacket talking. "Friend and Brother, it was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. ...............you say you are sent to instruct us how to worship..........that if we do not take hold of it that we will be unhappy."

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It was the answer that he concluded with that set this speech apart as one worthy to be in a book of Greet Speeches. Lincoln, Kennedy, Jefferson, Churchill, Red Jacket and many others make up what this book presents as the greatest speeches

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The speech concludes, "Brother we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them . We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again of what you have said"

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Great speech. Great thought. As for me conference today, as always, makes me want to be a better person. It makes me want to be good. It helps me. I am indeed thankful for conference. Red Jacket would approve.

*The World's Great Speeches can be found on my Amazon Reviews, see the right side Amazon and click for reveiws.

Grateful for Today

Got up and was ready to go for a walk but then my walking companion had already left on his bike? Nevertheless the day was a good one for a walk/run and I figured I just needed to go. As I began I remembered that this time of year is St George Marathon time. I completed 13 marathon's over a a lot of years and all but one was in St George. I am thankful to have been able to have done that. Today, of course, was not to be a marathon but it was 4 miles and a time to think and ponder and even a time to for a few minutes think about nothing. The air here is not cold but fall is coming. It rained last night and the wet fresh air was different. Air is something to be thankful for by the way. Being out early in the day is always something to be thankful for. Some folks, I think, find gratitude a positive or negative expression and that sort of seems odd to me. I prefer to think of gratitude as positive. Air can be exciting and refreshing and like a drink of a new day or it can be the last hope of just living through the day. I recall Buddha said about "gratitude"

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn

a lot today, at least we learned a little,

and if we didn't learn a little,

at least we didn't get sick,

and if we got sick,

at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.

Buddha's gratitude looks back. It searches for a given or specific thing to ge grateful of and overlooks as its prime focus the events of the day (Today). If this approach is positive then it is so probably because in the final analysis it still holds to gratitude as the value sought for. Compare Buddha expression to John F. Kennedy's statement

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As we express our gratitude,

we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words,

but to live by them.

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If one is to "live" by ones words then the expression of those words would look forward in action and expression. Gratitude is more than a feeling about what has happened in the past. Feeling grateful, appreciative, or thankful is an emotion and pleasant feeling but it its incomplete when it is just expressed and not acted upon. It would seem to me that gratitude would follow a blessing that can not be fully repaid. When all you do is still not enough to really pay for what was received all that is left is “gratitude”. The air, sky, our body, our life, those that we share it with, are all gifts that can not be repaid. With all that we have to be grateful for words would never be enough. Gratitude is best expressed by how we live.

A little walk out the door, a weed, a root, all tossed in the street.

Went for a walk with Zach today. Course a walk is a time for a talk about whatever fits the day. Plenty that could apply to today. Then on the other hand I am not implying that the subject I will make reference to is a one that really is a great subject or even one worth using to relate to the walk today. Good news ..............better subjects came up. Now with that said as I go out the door I turn to the left and then left again. I walk along the edge of the property. I often pick out a few weeds from the rock covered section between the sidewalk and the street and I pull up those weeds. This is of course my effort to keep the weeds down and even though it is just a few weeds on the way somewhere it actually makes a difference. Now if the subject of the day is "symbolism" or perhaps "what it all means" then maybe the message ought to be on just doing a little weed pulling and how important that is to our lifes little walk, but better than that might be just wondering about "weeds" some. I notice for example that some seem to have little thorns and sticky stuff and are just a pain to pull. Then I found one today that looked kinda green, speaking about the portion above the ground that is. Little leaves. It was like a short little tree. I pulled it up and it had a big long root system. One big long one and then another one almost as long. The roots were way bigger than the green stuff above the surface. Why you ask? Well put another way, "Why I speculate about" for a couple of blocks. Yes indeed this is not a subject worth miles but blocks maybe. I noticed that the thorny weeds didn't have much of a root system. Maybe if your just hard to touch it isn't necessary that you have a lot of deep anchors. It must all mean something about life. Maybe about work, or selling ones home, or career moves? "A whole bunch of roots sort of help one if it might be likely that one could be pulled up or perhaps eaten or have ones top bitten off. This little walk was of course a voyage of discovery. One where we didn't see new lands but saw with new eyes

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This must have a deeper meaning?????????

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Long long roots can be a surprise. Long long roots seem to be on the "nicer weeds" at least based on my half dozen recollected samples and recent experiences. Roots may be good things one might conclude. Then again roots come up and get tossed in the street and Zach and I find other things to talk about.

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Good Quotes to ponder

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Lord, grant that I might always aspire to more than I can accomplish – Michelangelo

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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The real voyage of discovery consists
not in seeking new lands but in seeing with new eyes. -Proust

your all good folks out there, mostly.

Today Zach and I went for a walk. We have done this for several Saturdays but I think I will be able to do it a lot with him this week and hopefully next since I am going to be working out of my home office for a while. The time with Zach is good. Short walks of course don't fill the day but it is fun. I often ask him on these walks what he has read and I ask him to tell me something about it. Today I mentioned to him a book I had read for the first time when I was about 18 or so. It was one of many many positive thinking books I read 'back then". I was just obsessed by self improvement books until I was in my early 30's. I sort of lost interest in the books. I didn't lose the belief in the message but just felt that I had a lot of other areas that I wanted to focus on. Why English literature and books of the 1800's found a place of strong interest I can't really say except for the desire to just understand more and find out more about "thought" itself.

Carnegie in his book "How to win friends and influence people" presented a subject that seemed to be a worthwhile. Looking back over the years when I have been out running with someone, any subject that could cover a few miles was a worth while subject. I have spent a while on some odd subjects on these runs I will admit but then today we talked about Carnegie and remembering and using others names, understanding their interests, and some overall approaches. Seems to me that "salesmanship" is a good thing. Guess I am just labeling it all under this general heading, salesmanship. At it's core it is just service. Just finding out what is important to the other person and then understanding why it is important.

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In the introduction of Louis Lamour's book, Education of a Wandering Man, is some interesting insight. I figure this author would have been a unlikely one to have been one I would quote years later after the time of "positive thinking focus", after many books on literature and thought, but in spite of the fact that I don't really like to read westerns I liked this book. His autobiography really. A self made man. A fighter. A educated man. In the summary of this book it tells us that rather than claim that we are what we eat that we ought to claim in today's world that we are what we read. Then that how each of us digests what we read is really a mystery and sometimes as puzzling as figuring out what they really think.

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Well I think Dale C. had some good ideas back then and still now.

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People:
"Don't criticize, condemn or complain."
"Give people a feeling of importance; praise the good parts of them."
"Get the other person to do what you want them to by arousing their desires."

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Six Ways to Make People Like You:
"Become genuinely interested in other people."
"Smile."
"Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language."
"Be a good listener.

Encourage others to talk about themselves."
"Talk in the terms of the other man's interest."
"Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely."