Posts in the “personal” category

What to wear when you want to go for a walk, and the temperature outside is 52F, it’s sunny, but the wind is 50mph? That is my current dilemma.

I’m not sure of the exact date, but here’s wishing my long-lost half-brother a happy 35th birthday, wherever he is. Happy birthday, Robbie (or Robert, or whatever you go by these days). (I don’t know your exact birthday, but I always had in mind that it was November 19th.)

A couple of quotes I heard today that I like:

“The nod of understanding.” (one guy said that another guy does this)

“I give him praise.” (Jared Payton said this about someone on the radio just now. I like it when a guy (male) is able to look at another guy and say something like this. In the movie While You Were Sleeping, an older guy says about another guy, “Geez, he looks good.” It seems like people are often slow to praise other people.)

Other people in your life have to be who they are so you can be(come) who you are.

If you examine your relationships with your parents, siblings, friends, and co-workers, I think you’ll find that to be true.

“I am not this hair. I am not this skin. I am the soul that lives within.” ~ Rumi

“Breathing in, I calm my body and mind. Breathing out, I smile.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

A few times a year I’m reminded that a single individual can make a big difference. Last night I watched the William Shatner documentary that covered the first three years of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it’s clear from that documentary and other sources that Michael Piller made an enormous difference to STNG. We’ll never know if the show would have just died off without him, but everyone in the documentary credits him with the show’s success. He later helped develop the other Star Trek properties, and also created The Dead Zone tv series.

I never heard the first three parts, but this is Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song, Part 4,” which is pretty funny:

“The brave are simply those with the clearest vision of what is before them — glory and danger alike — and, notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” ~ Kate & Leopold

Small business idea: Kiosks in hospital emergency rooms to let visitors charge their phones.

In the words of Mark Twain, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

This is a song called Between The Bars, by Elliott Smith. I just heard it in the movie, Stuck In Love.

This morning I’m reminded of a favorite meditation tip: Some days when you try to meditate, it just doesn’t work. On those days just put in your time on the cushion, or try to make game of it, but don’t punish yourself for being a “bad meditator.” New wrinkles in the brain aren’t easily made.

But then on those days when it comes easily and naturally, turn off the timer/alarm, think, “Surf’s up, dude,” and ride that wave as long and as hard as you possibly can. Good rides like these make those struggles worthwhile.

Happy New Year & Namaste

My favorite song of the moment, Ordinary World, by Duran Duran:

Turning the calendar to a new year always makes me nostalgic about old music, but I never would have guessed 20+ years ago that this would be my favorite Duran Duran song in 2016.

“Whosoever clings to the objects perceived by the senses cannot gain liberation.”

The Buddha, as quoted in the book, Focused and Fearless: A Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity.

When I was younger, most people said The Beatles or The Rolling Stones were the greatest bands of all time, but my favorite band was Led Zeppelin. This is their song, “Thank You”:

“I was within a month of having my head shaved, taking my vows, and becoming a monk,” David Bowie has said about that period of his life. But, he was torn and so sought the counsel of a Buddhist teacher, usually assumed to be Trungpa — though that’s now been refuted. The teacher replied to the famous young seeker that he should remain a musician, for that was how he could be of the most benefit.

This is a quote from a Lion’s Roar article, That time David Bowie almost became a Buddhist monk.

On a personal note I have to say that there’s an enormous difference between being 98% sure that you want to be a monk, and 100% sure. I had a similar experience, and was similarly told, “If you aren’t 100% sure that you want to do this — no sex, no alcohol, eat whatever food we happen to serve, live by a predetermined schedule — don’t do it.” Seeing that I wanted to take the bald girl staying in the room next to me out for margaritas after the evening’s planned meditation session, I decided it was best that I leave, and save the full monty monastic experience for a future lifetime.

Some guys were talking on the radio yesterday and said that going into the NBA season, you know that the NBA champ is going to be Golden State, San Antonio, or Cleveland. There’s something like a 98% chance of that being the case. So then the point becomes, “Why bother playing the season?” Let’s just play a really short season, have a playoff with eight teams, and then crown one of these three teams.

There’s really only one way to solve this problem. Because the NBA game favors one guy with great talent — MJ, Kobe, LeBron, or Curry — and a solid supporting cast (or heavens forbid, two great guys on one team), you can’t make the league thinner by adding more teams; that only makes the problem worse, the dominant guy dominates even more.

What you have to do is dramatically contract the league — and I mean by 25% or more — and make it “thicker,” for lack of a better term. The worst 25% of the players would be gone and you’d have fewer teams, so every team could have at least two or three stars. You still have an issue where LeBron in his time is dominant, but then at least he’s playing against other great stars, such as playing against Kobe and Shaq in their primes.

Sadly this means that a lot of small markets would lose their teams, but it would be best for the game. Maybe you could take the 25% of the guys who aren’t in the league any more and create a decent minor league system, dunno. But to make the NBA interesting at all, this has to be done. Right now there are 27 teams with almost no chance of winning the NBA title, but they still have to play out the season.

FWIW, I write this as a fan of basketball, but not a fan of the current NBA.

This is a nice, non-political, three-minute video where President Obama shares stories about items he carries with him to remind him of people he has met:

I do similar things in my own way. I have my “Just Be” mindfulness app that I wrote for myself. (The free version is here in the Google Play Store.) Then at home I have a lot of cards laying around with particular phrases I want to be reminded of, in addition to favorite pictures of friends and family members. I also use about 1,000 photos of yoga poses as a screensaver to remind and inspire me to practice.

The first 2:50 of this song, “Where Are We Now,” by The Burned, is some of my favorite music. (After that it takes a strange turn.)