Not Your Job

One of My Favorite Poems

The Warmonger and the Sparrow

Ahimsa is an ancient Indian principle meaning "non-violence" or "non-injury" to all living beings. Derived from Sanskrit, it means not causing harm through physical actions, words, or even thoughts. It is a foundational ethical concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and forms the first ethical guideline of yoga. — Ai summary

No Regret, No Anxiety

"People don't realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind."

— Eckhart Tolle

Things Big and Little

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."

— Thomas Szasz

Calm Your Space

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.

— Saint Francis de Sales

Whom to Please

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

—e. e. cummings

Clear the Mind

 

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.’

— Thomas Jefferson

On a Street Corner, Alive

“It will be quite a good Christmas, the merchants predict. Everyone can afford to spend at least something, except, maybe, some of the young hustlers (recognizable at once to experienced eyes like George’s) who stand scowling on the street corners or staring into shops with the maximum of peripheral vision.

“George is very far, right now, from sneering at any of these fellow creatures. They may be crude and mercenary and dull and low, but he is proud, is glad, is almost indecently gleeful to be able to stand up and be counted in their ranks — the ranks of that marvelous minority, The Living. They don’t know their luck, these people on the sidewalk, but George knows his — for a little while at least — because he is freshly returned from the icy presence of The Majority, which Doris is about to join. 

“I am alive, he says to himself, I am alive! And life-energy surges hotly through him, and delight, and appetite. How good to be in a body — even this old beat-up carcass — that still has warm blood and live semen and rich marrow and wholesome flesh! The scowling youths on the corners see him as a dodderer, no doubt, or at best as a potential score. Yet he still claims a distant kinship with the strength of their young arms and shoulders and loins. For a few bucks he could get any one of them to climb into the car, ride back with him to his house, strip off butch leather jacket, shirt and cowboy boots and take part — a naked, sullen young athlete — in the wrestling bout of his pleasure. But George doesn’t want the bought unwilling bodies of these boys. He wants to rejoice in his own body — the tough triumphant body of a survivor. The body that has outlived Jim and is going to outlive Doris.”

— Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man, 1964

Where and When Are We?

In the 21st century, luxury is the ability to think clearly, sleep deeply, move slowly and live quietly in a world designed to prevent all four of those things.

Now that I’m in my 70s, it occurs to me that my actual job, for the rest of my life, is to have some peace of mind and enjoy myself. 

I mean to work at that with some determination, whatever the vicissitudes that come my way.

When I Am Among the Trees

Just How Stupid is Trump, Anyway?

Trump is now so stupid he can't even spew his own scripted propaganda any more.

Impermanence is Your Power

Untrue Confessions

The first person “relationship” stories I see on YouTube now are exactly the same as the old True Confessions magazine stuff — all fiction, of course, but purportedly real. 

My mother used to write some of those magazine articles — “I Lived in My Car,” “I Married to Get a Green Card,” that kind of thing, and she enjoyed doing it.

For the reader, this kind of thing can generate personal interest along the lines of the old Ann Landers or Dear Abby newspaper columns.

What You're Worth

 

Love of Life

--

My friend Jim Hampton remarked, "I love Mondrian. It's such a great quote and an important practice. It makes life into being like a good meal. You don't eat the entire plate's contents in one gulp. You savor each little bite and make it last."

The Example by W.H. Davies

The Ugly Mirror of Reality TV

My friend Dan said, "I couldn't agree more, Dan-o. I feel a sense of how pathetic our culture is just from seeing them advertised. I instantly think to myself of how repulsive it is that they give people a voice who nothing to offer but vacuous vanity wrapped in gratuitous accoutrement."

I feel exactly the same way. Long ago, Survivor got busy teaching young people that cheating, backstabbing and phony, devious "affection" was the way to get ahead.

Song of the Thrush

What We Enjoy

 

happiness is not:

perfection, control or determined

by external events and people.

happiness is:

a product of your perception and

inner balance. When you define your

own energy, you bring your harmony

with you wherever you go.

 — yung pueblo

Reverie Alone Will Do

Your Ai Mindfulness Coach

Ai summary: Cures for low-level anxiety focus on natural lifestyle adjustments, stress management techniques and behavioral shifts, such as deep breathing, exercise, meditation and limiting caffeine. Effective, immediate techniques include grounding exercises (like the 5-4-3-2-1 technique), journaling and engaging in calming hobbies to reduce stress hormone levels. 

Key Natural Coping Strategies:

Grounding & Relaxation: Practice deep breathing exercises, the 5-4-3-2-1 sensory technique (five things you see, four feel, three hear, two smell, one taste), or use a weighted blanket to trigger the body’s relaxation response.

Lifestyle Adjustments: Prioritize 7-9 hours of sleep, maintain a balanced diet to avoid blood sugar drops and limit caffeine and alcohol consumption.

Physical Activity: Regular, moderate exercise or yoga helps metabolize excess stress chemicals and boosts endorphins.

Mindfulness & Routine: Meditate, journal thoughts or use a set daily routine to reduce feelings of being overwhelmed.

“What-If” Analysis: Actively challenge anxious thoughts by asking, “What is the worst-case scenario?” to stop repetitive, worrying thought cycles. 

Being Alive

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist and author who was called the "father of mindfulness." He popularized Engaged Buddhism, which applies Buddhist insights to social, political and environmental issues (Ai summary).

Mr. Peace Prize Starts His War

It's Trump, and with Trump the outcome is always complete chaos. And that's because Trump is an ignoramus and a moron who cares about nothing but himself. So strap in or bail out.

Someone's Angel Today

"The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers." – James Baldwin

A Room or an Hour

"You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning — a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be."

— Joseph Campbell

William James on Mindfulness

Harvard professor William James (1842–1910) was an American psychologist and philosopher who is regarded as the “father of American psychology.” He developed of the philosophical school known as pragmatism. 

Count Calories and Encounters

NPR, i.e. 'No Point in Reporting'

In a snotty and condescending tone, the NPR journalists said that journalists should not address their audience in a snotty and condescending tone, and should report what their audience wants to hear.

So far, sounds just like Fox News.

In an era when journalists are being arrested by a totalitarian GOP government merely for reporting the facts, I don’t think the problem is that the reporters are insufficiently “folksy.”

“The customer is always right” is a rule of thumb that may work for grocers, but it decidedly does not work for professionals like physicians, lawyers and journalists. The journalist’s mission to provide accurate, important and relevant information to the public, particularly information that the public does not know it needs to know.

How We Got Here

A country where citizens must prove their citizenship to masked strangers who don’t have to prove they’re law enforcement and can kidnap and/or kill them on the spot may be many things. But not one of them is “free.”

Ask Not for Whom the Sirens Sound

Obviously, Trump’s real goal is to start a civil war and use it to seize totalitarian power. If his goal was deporting undocumented aliens, he would have sent his masked secret police from ICE agents to Florida and Texas, not Minnesota.

And think of all the things the nervous corporate news media now refuses to report on, starting with Trump's obvious cognitive collapse. They've gone Pravda on us.

Code name: Manchurian Cantaloupe

Funny that Trump says he has to take Greenland to keep it out of the hands of the Russians, but Russian state propaganda applauds the idea of Trump's seizing Greenland.

Add that one up and see what you get.

The Dust of Snow

Robert Frost (1874-1963) was a celebrated American poet known for his realistic portrayals of rural life, especially in New England, and his masterful use of everyday American speech to explore philosophical themes about nature, humanity and choices, making him one of the 20th century's most beloved and widely read poets, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and the unofficial U.S. poet laureate. (Ai summary)

We Told You So

I am amused by people who think there is something called “the law” the Trump will obey. This dictator will obey nothing.

By granting Trump total immunity, the Supreme Cult has rendered itself irrelevant, and the law impotent. It has wrecked the country.

Those of us who have seen this disaster headed straight at us for many years have felt like the mythological Cassandra, able to predict the future but cursed so that no one would ever believe us.

As Austen Leigh said, the hardest part of descending into fascism is bearing the weight of those who don’t see it.

Never Own a Disease

At age 71, it occurs to me that my actual job, for the rest of my life, is to have peace of mind and enjoy myself. I mean to work at that with some determination, whatever the vicissitudes that come my way.

Arts Education Eminently Practical

Yes, a university liberal arts education is so useless, I'm sure the rich will stop sending their children to get them at expensive private schools. Or is it only the working class and the middle class who are supposed to remain ignorant of the finer things in life?

How to Let Go

David R. Hawkins: “The first step is to allow yourself to have the feeling without resisting it, venting it, fearing it, condemning it, or moralizing about it. It means to drop judgment and to see that it is just a feeling. The technique is to be with the feeling and surrender all efforts to modify it in any way. Let go of wanting to resist the feeling. It is resistance that keeps the feeling going.

"When you give up resisting or trying to modify the feeling, it will shift to the next feeling and be accompanied by a lighter sensation. A feeling that is not resisted will disappear as the energy behind it dissipates."