Posts in the “personal” category

“If somebody is a problem for you, it’s not that they should change, it’s that you need to change. If they’re a problem for themselves that’s their karma; if they’re causing you trouble that’s your problem with yourself.”

and also this:

“If I’m not appreciated, that’s your problem that you don’t appreciate me. Unless I need your love, then it’s my problem. So my needs are what is giving you the power over me.”

~ from Ram Dass post, A Heavy Curriculum

In my own experience I can say that when you’re with your soul this is true; and when you’re with your ego you can’t understand this.

“He realized then that history is a wave that moves through time slightly faster than we do.”

~ from the book, Green Mars

“The best work that anybody ever writes is the work that is on the verge of embarrassing him, always.” Good advice on writing from Arthur Miller, via the Twitter account of Jon Winokur.

Two good quotes from the last few days:

“Humble pie is good for everyone.” ~ Broncos DE Derek Wolfe

“Be excellent to each other.” ~ someone at a Meetup, talking about social interactions

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”

~ Margaret Mead

Back in 1983 I bought a 1972 Ford Maverick with 125,000 miles on it. I bought it for $325, and with very little gap in its corroded spark plugs it ran cool and got 31 miles per gallon. It only had an AM radio in it, and as a result of that I learned about the song “Pancho & Lefty,” performed by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

It turns out that Townes Van Zandt is the writer of that song, and in this video he tells about how Billy Graham and the Maharaji helped Pancho & Lefty come into being:

Helplessly hoping
Her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word

Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit
He runs, wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of goodbye

From a favorite song of late,
Helplessly Hoping,
by Crosby, Stills, & Nash

Many times when I have dreams of flying — I’m flying, there is no airplane or anything like that — I encounter wires overhead that I feel like I shouldn’t approach. (In the dream I usually assume these are power lines.)

After doing some research this morning, it turns out this is a common phenomenon. One person writes:

“The typical dream goes like this: I am flying; I encounter wires; I try to fly underneath them. Sometimes the dreamer gets caught in the wires; sometimes the wires form an insurmountable barrier. Some dreamers climb the wires; others walk the wires like a tightrope.”

I usually treat them as an insurmountable barrier, though when I have a lot of energy I have tried to work my way through them.

Either way, it’s kinda neat to see that other people encounter the same thing.

~ Notes from March 22, 2013

These are the “Five Gatekeepers of Speech,” as found in this tweet by Joan Halifax, where she writes, “I feel to repost this now as a guard against lying becoming a norm in our society”:

1. Is it true?
2. Is it kind?
3. Is it beneficial?
4. Is it necessary?
5. Is it the right time?

I learned about these gatekeepers a long time ago, both through my study of Zen and from my yoga teacher.

I know, it’s a little corny, but instead of writing out a “To-Do List” — which implies hard labor and/or something I force myself to do — these days I write “WIN” on the top of my index cards. WIN stands for, “What’s Important Now”, and I find that this change in wording changes my attitude towards the things that need to be done. Rather than thinking, “Ugh, okay, what do I have to do next,” I now think of these tasks as important to me, my future, and my success.

“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.”

~ Buddha (as seen in this Spirit Rock link)

Talent is god given. Be humble.
Fame is man given. Be grateful.
Conceit is self given. Be careful.

~ John Wooden

As a note to self, I'm just recovering from a nasty case of food poisoning.

It all started with some gurgling in my stomach on August 12, 2012, so I tried to eat light that day, though I did exercise pretty hard.

On Monday morning I knew something was very wrong, and by that afternoon I was full blown sick. I quit eating that day, and didn't eat again until I had three saltine crackers on Thursday.

LeBron James is a basketball player who’s had a back problem and now does a lot of hard work just so he can play basketball. As a former business owner and consultant who has a rare blood disease and is working to get back to a regular 40-hour work week, I found this espn.com story about LBJ’s training regimen inspirational. Two good quotes:

• ...his thoughtful and ever-evolving approach toward training and recovery...
• “It’s every day. Around the clock every single day, working on my body.”

And this:

Work hard.
Train hard.
Play hard.

“I have no idea who that guy was, but I know that he just reset our karmic destiny.”

(A quote from the book, Love Everyone, that makes me wonder how many times our karmic destiny is reset and we don’t notice it.)

“And when Jung starts to deal with his archetypes, collective unconscious and so on, he is starting to deal with the fourth chakra ... he himself is afraid to go on, that’s quite clear. He goes just so far and then he stops, because he’s afraid that if he goes the next step, he will no longer be able to do what he does as Carl Jung.”

From http://www.ramdass.org/RD/chakras-in-the-body-2/

“What you seek is within you.” ~ Ram Dass (I think that quote comes from Ram Dass. I heard it today while listening to the audio version of his book, Polishing The Mirror.)

I’ve been reading the book Polishing the Mirror by Ram Dass lately, and at one point he says something in regards to being an observer and “standing on a bridge and watching time flow by.” I thought that was pretty cool because my own analogy has been to think of myself as being the needle on a record player and just staying in that one spot as time (or in this case, the album) streams by.

“What you meet in another being is the projection of your own level of evolution.”

~ Ram Dass

“You and I are the force for transformation in the world. We are the consciousness that will define the nature of the reality we are moving into.”

~ Ram Dass