In David Whyte’s book Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words, he describes the word ‘close’ in part, “Close is what we almost always are: close to happiness, close to another, close to leaving, close to tears, close to God, close to losing faith, close to being done, close to saying something or close to success, and even, with the greatest sense of satisfaction, close to giving the whole thing up. Our human essence lies not in arrival, but in being almost there: we are creatures who are on the way, our journey a series of impending anticipated arrivals. We live by unconsciously measuring the inverse distances of our proximity: an intimacy calibrated by the vulnerability we feel in giving up our sense of separation.” Continue reading
Tag: Habits
I’m currently reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. He said, “Our character, basically, is a composite of our habits. ‘Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny,’ the maxim goes.” Continue reading
One year ago today I decided to stop drinking alcohol. I was a white wine drinker and it had become almost a daily habit. If I met someone for a meal I had a glass. If I got home late after an event I had a glass. If I went away for the weekend I had a few glasses. So many hidden, liquid calories.
So I just decided to stop. Cold turkey. For the first six months it didn’t make much difference. Then last January I decided to try Tim Ferriss’ slow carb lifestyle. And I lost 23 pounds. Continue reading
Habits. We have good ones and we have bad ones. We can add them and subtract them from our lives. Continue reading
Of course I’ve heard of Tony Robbins. But when I listened to him on Tim Ferriss’ podcast last night I was so inspired. He had a challenging childhood and was raised by four different dads. As a child, he remembers a stranger coming to his door and giving his family a meal when they were hungry. He never forgot that man. It showed him that strangers cared. He currently feeds tens of millions of people meals each year through his programs. Continue reading
Author and poet Annie Dillard, born 73 years ago today, became the youngest American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize at age 28. Annie once said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Continue reading
Yesterday someone mentioned the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot. It peaked my interest as Beckett was a Nobel Prize-winning Irish author who I have known since buying an Irish Writers poster years ago on a trip to Ireland. Continue reading