How Good Am I, Says I..

Personal taste is just what it says it is. PERSONAL. Your personal taste may not be to everybody's taste, and it does not put everybody else's taste into second class. Some people have a better sense of color and co-ordination than others, so how do you rate yourself? if you were to enter into a competition with others, do you think that your house decor or fashion sense would stand out from the crowd for all of the right reasons? Do you think that everybody should have the same taste as you?

Dining out with a group of friends or associates is always difficult, especially if you are having to organize it. Personal food tastes for ALL of the dining party have to be accommodated, so it is important to find out if there is a finicky eater amongst you, or maybe a vegetarian or Vegan. Do you always take the time to find out what everybody likes, or do you just book in at your favorite eating hole, assuming that because you like it, everybody will have to like it or that's just too bad? Have you ever looked across at what one of the party has ordered, and then proclaimed publicly "Yuck, that looks awful. How could you eat that stuff"? Do you feel comfortable watching one of the party pick at something because their needs were dismissed under the 'well you can't please everybody' maxim?

Do you see friends as equals, or do you covertly patronize them? How good a friend are you? Do you willingly give up your time for others? Having done so, do you then moan to others about having done it? When you help somebody, do you ask how they want you to help, or do you just do what you think is right regardless of the thoughts or feelings of the person you are helping? Do you get upset if they tell you that you are not doing it the way they want it done, and then just stalk off?

Looking beyond the instinctive reaction to go into denial, how much effort do you truly put into being a friend? If you don't honestly put much effort in, or you moan to others about it, then why do you expect anybody to be a good friend to you? If you want others to think good of you, give them a good reason so to do. It is not enough that you think that you are the 'cat's whiskers'. Remember that what you see of yourself is only personal perception.

Nobody wants to know a person who is always negative, always denigrating everything that anybody else is or has? Nobody wants a friend who always appears to be talking behind the backs of others, and you can understand this too because there is a very good chance that the friend talks behind your back.

They say that what goes around comes around. So what is coming at you? And where do you think that it started? By the time that the cock crows, will you have denied yourself thrice?

Treat others the way you would like to be treated and do it regardless of race, color, creed or income.. yours or theirs.. 

Sand and Stone..

Two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument; and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

'Today my best friend slapped me in the face.'

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.
The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

'Today my best friend saved my life.'

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "after I hurt you,
you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied "when someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your benefits in stone.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

The Hunt Is On..

"Better to be poor and have health, than be rich and have none"

Have you ever come across a more loaded statement than the one above? How many times have you heard somebody say something similar? Nobody wants to be poor in any sense of the word. It is a get-out statement used by those who are not exactly desperately poor, but are not in a position to ever get rich.

There were two things that always immortalized poor for me. Poor Brits invariably had three 'porcelain' Mallard ducks, in loose flight formation, hanging on one wall of their houses, and a picture known as the 'Blue Lady' hanging on another. The 'Blue Lady' had Oriental features, and wore a yellow outfit of the type seen in Japan. Her face was blue, hence the name, and she had quite the most un-Oriental hairdo. The picture was produced by the thousand, and had zero value, material or aesthetic. Rich people prefer the classic oil painting, and in place of the flying ducks, a fine 'real porcelain' or alabaster column atop which sits the 'bust' of Genghis Khan perhaps.

It matters not that all of them were probably produced by some poor, overbearing drunken old faggot, who by virtue of his/her countenance was probably out of work more than he/she were ever in. And on the subject of poor and art, poor old Michelangelo was threatened with death unless he did a darned good job on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The same applied to the great composers of 'classical' music, all of them having to come up with something better for the birthday party of some drunken old Duke who wanted to upstage his rivals.

Somebody once said that the real difference between rich and poor was that being rich enabled one to eat better. How true!! Everybody appreciates a good hearty meal, except for the nitpicking, finicky mob who are invariably the same people who see more merit in the smile of the 'Mona Lisa' than that of the 'Blue Lady'.

We all search for our personal 'Holy Grail'. The question is this. What does it look like? Is it a beautifully handcrafted, jewel encrusted chalice, or is it just a simple wooden drinking vessel? Does it really matter? Surely the promise that it can bring eternal joy, happiness, or whatever is enough. Can a simple wooden drinking vessel ever be worth as much as the beautifully handcrafted, jewel encrusted chalice? Not if owned by you or me perhaps, but were it the one in which some famous movie star kept his/her teeth, then it may be.

What strange values we place on objects, and were it that it was only limited to objects. So very often, it also applies also to our fellow man/woman.

At Peace..

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.

John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)

Smiling is contagious; you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.
I went around the corner where someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized, I’d passed it on to him.
I thought about my smile, then realized its worth.
A single smile like mine, could travel ‘round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start and epidemic and get the world infected……

I've learned that ..

• the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
• when you're in love, it shows.
• just one person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
• having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.
• being kind is more important than being right.
• you should never say no to a gift from a child.
• I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.
• no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.
• sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
• simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.
• life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.
• we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
• money doesn't buy class.
• it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
• under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
• the Lord didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?
• to ignore the facts does not change the facts.
• when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.
• love, not time, heals all wounds.
• the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.
• everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.
• there's nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath on your cheeks.
• no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.
• life is tough, but I'm tougher.
• opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
• when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
• I wish I could have told my Dad that I love him one more time before he passed away.
• one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.
• a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
• I can't choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.
• when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.
• everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
• it is best to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when it is a life threatening situation.
• the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Words written by Andy Rooney, a man who has the gift of saying so much with so few words..

Home Sweet Home..

Now I lay me down to sleep,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

And in the morning when I wake,

help me Lord, the path of love to take.

Good Will and Peace..

May the approaching new year bring with it hope and strength for all people who, for whatever reason, can't be with those whom they love; the hope that it will be sooner and the strength if it isn't..

Limitations

I have oft looked skyward and wished that I could fly like a bird, to have full freedom to the three dimensional world without the encumberance of some contraption around me. Now, I am no professional bird watcher, but I have made the following observations.

I have noticed how the majority of birds fly in straight lines, using branches or whatever is available to briefly stop before changing direction. There are notable exceptions in the Swallow, Swift and House Martin. They can turn in flight, but the turning ability is restricted by the speed of flight. They appear to be more manoeuvrable than they are. Eagles and hawks can turn in flight, but the arc is wide. Even during a hover, if they want to change position, they fly a wide arc to get there. When attacking, they are fast and can ‘roll’ to make in flight adjustments in direction, but they are limited changes, and they rely almost totally on speed, accurate distance assessment, and surprise to catch their prey.

Enter the gulls. The wing has very low drag characteristics, with good lift qualities. They can hover in almost zero wind without flapping constantly, they can rotate in a hover, make very tight turns in flight, roll into a dive very quickly, and pull up from a dive that for most birds would be their last. All of this is done effortlessly, with very little adjustment of the wing structure or feathers required.

Having caught a fish in the water, very often almost the same size as themselves, they fly at relatively low level towards the base of the cliff, then 'rotate' very sharply using the up draught of air on the surface of the cliff face to give them a push to their nesting sites. Gulls, and seabirds are among the most skilled fliers, if not the most skilled, it seems to me.

However, for all of their abilities, there is one thing that they can’t do, other than perch in trees. Their wing structure almost makes them the ‘helicopter’ of the bird world, and if there is one thing that a helicopter can’t do, it is to fly really fast. Read the book that is listed in my profile. I can't say as much as I want here because of space limitations, but I would like to draw your attention to a book that could very well change your outlook on life as you have lived it.

You see, a man/woman must know his/her limitations if the ultimate goal is to be reached. The $64000 dollar question is this. Where is the line really drawn? The only way to find out is to approach it. OK, still feeling safe? You should be because you are still within your self-imposed safety zone. If you think you are on the line, stop for a second. Now take another step. If you are still with me, you have a problem in that the $64000 question still exists. Where is the line really drawn?

Look back just one time ...............

This is the view backwards, and isn't pretty. The bridge you just crossed is burned out. There is no return presently, but look on the bright side. Actions and decisions that ended in the bridge looking the way it is right now are all on the other side. They can't follow. That is not to say that you can't recreate previous scenarios on this side, but why would you want to do that?

The 'Marseille' Tarot image of the Hanged Man (the picture in my profile) is not as dumb as it might first appear. Essentially, he is giving himself some time to consider the world around him, and the act of hanging by his feet gives him a different perspective from the world as it looked when crossing the bridge and subsequently setting it alight.