My New Year's resolution had been to be more mindful of the words I use, especially in thought. It may sound odd, but I do think they have the capacity to alter moods and your viewpoint on the world around you. It's so easy to think, "dammit, I hate when x does y" or "I need this asshole to get out of the fast lane", etc., when in fact you don't ( Read more... )

I thought this article was kind of awesome and inspiring. While I don't think I'd ever be able to walk away, live in their austere existence, I respect them for what their doing ( Read more... )

I also started making use of the Stoic technique known as negative visualization: I would periodically contemplate the loss of the things and people that mean the most to me. Thus, when parting from a friend, I might make a mental note that this could conceivably be the last time I would see the friend in question. Friendships do end, after all, ( Read more... )

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle ( Read more... )

When I woke up this morning the sky was gray and spitting rain, not enough for an umbrella, but just enough to notice. Mid afternoon, things had cleared, the sun emerged, and a light wind rustled the last of the summer leaves. The sun was deceitful, a false caress, half remembered if not dreamed. Soon, tornado sirens blared in the distance. A ( Read more... )

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This is beautiful.

Right speech is the first principle of ethical conduct in the eightfold path. Ethical conduct is viewed as a guideline to moral discipline, which supports the other principles of the path. This aspect is not self-sufficient, however, essential, because mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. The ( Read more... )

Had a long post written up about the weekend and whats been going on etc., Then J and I decided to go for an evening walk, swung by R's and coerced him out of the house ( Read more... )

First, since J never posts to his LJ anymore, I figured I should make some mention here about Agora 7. On the downside he's only displaying once piece in the show, on the plus, I think its actually one of his best pieces, in both design and execution. So if you're in town this weekend, and have wanted to see some his glass work (that's not drinking ( Read more... )

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.--Anatole France