nothing much

Hold fast to the great thought

and all the world will come to you,

harmless, peaceful, serene.

Walking around, we stop

for music, for food.

But if you taste the Way

it's flat, insipid.

It looks like nothing much,

it sounds like nothing much.

And yet you can't get enough of it.

~ Lao Tsu

he was me

Just in case you have a meeting to follow up on the meeting to re-think the way meetings are called...
instead, give a nod to your own dream today.

everybody is a reader

"I am a reader, a flashlight-under-the-covers, carries-a-book-everywhere-I-go, don't-look-at-my-Amazon-bill reader... I am as much a composite of all of the book characters I have loved as of the people I have met."...  reading these lines I knew that The Book Whisperer author, Donalyn Miller, and I are cut from the same cloth.

As a reader, you know what no literary expert could ever teach: Reading changes your life. Reading unlocks worlds unknown or forgotten, taking travelers around the world and through time. Reading helps you escape the confines of school and pursue your own education. Reading shows you how to be a better human being.

If you want to inspire a love of reading in your children, you need to read The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller

meditation

Sometimes the best meditation can happen in a moment, and everyone has a moment...



(ps- I love the visual of the "blue glow")

book trailers

Now that school has started, what are you reading?

If you are in elementary school, 

may I make a few suggestions...

Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberg

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Sidekicks by Dan Santat

Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco by Jarrett Krosoczka

Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi

and, of course, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Cabin Fever

let it be

The Buddha said we experience the peace of nirvana by letting things be as they are. Indeed, applying the Beatles' exhortation to "Let It Be" can bring a lot of serenity and equanimity.

And when the night is cloudy,

there is still a light that shines on me.

Shine until tomorrow,

let it be.

enoughness

‎"Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance."
 ~John Petit-Senn

Abundance is not a number or acquisition.
It is the simple recognition of enoughness.
~ Alan Cohen

turning 50

I think Colleen Wainwright is amazing! I've never met her but I am sure we would be fast friends based on her enthusiasm alone.
Colleen turns 50 in 50 days, and guess what she wants?
I'll let her explain in this video:

Check out WriteGirl and Colleen's website.

to infinity and beyond...

Improve Everywhere placed a lectern with a megaphone on it in NYC.

 Attached to the lectern was a sign that read " Say Something Nice".

This is what New Yorkers had to say...

Say something nice today

Stone of Hope

The Martin Luther King Memorial Opens to the public today with the official dedication on Sunday.

The MLK Memorial is the first on the National Mall that honors an African American and the first that honors a person who did not serve as president. The sculpture is named from a line in Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech:

          "With this faith we will be able to hew out of a mountain of despair

 a stone of new hope."

view the virtual tour:

compassion

"The compassion we feel normally is biased and mixed with attachment. 

Genuine compassion flows towards all living beings, 

particularly your enemies. 

If I try to develop compassion towards my enemy, 

it may not benefit him directly, 

he may not even be aware of it. 

But it will immediately benefit me by calming my mind. 

On the other hand, if I dwell on how awful everything is, 

I immediately lose my peace of mind." 

 -- Dalai Lama

Are you dwelling in how awful everything is or are you dwelling in compassion? 

Remember, your judgement of others defines you, not them.

turn uncertainty into fearless creativity

I just pre-ordered The Uncertainty Book by Jonathan Fields... can't wait.
Check out the book trailer:

"Let's face it-the leap of faith required to follow a dream is usually accompanied by gut-wrenching, knee-quaking, soul-shaking fear. Jonathan Fields knows this-but instead of offering an empty pep talk, he delivers daily practices that can help you transform fear and uncertainty into confidence and creativity."
-Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind 

cardboard box

The Adventures of a Cardboard Box from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

The story of a boy who meets and befriends a large cardboard box. This film was made for the Nokia Shorts 2011 competition.

meanwhile...

Have you ever read something and then had to laugh out loud because it was so... you?
Last night I was reading out loud to my kids and this paragraph from pseudonymous bosch made me laugh:


Meanwhile? Did I really just write Meanwhile? Meanwhile is to writing what Um is to speaking. A space-filler. A sign that someone doesn't know what to say or how to say it. Meanwhile belongs with phases like on the other hand - phrases that a good writer should never use. On the other hand, there's something about Meanwhile that I rather like - especially when it's followed by an ellipsis, like this: Meanwhile...  Can you hear that sense of menace? That sense of, Uh-Oh, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


If you haven't read The Secret Series by pseudonymous bosch, you're missing out. On the other hand, maybe you don't like reading for entertainment. Meanwhile, if you're reading this... it's too late!