BACK at it.

If all the empty space were removed from all the atoms in the universe, the resulting matter would only be about the size of a grapefruit.

Is this true? the implications boggle my mind.
And I love it.

I decided to start up again, since I had quit here and wrote on opensalon.com for a while. Dad's passing made me stop writing all together. it's been 6 months. I think I've processed it enough and it's time to begin writing about it.

And I began a hat project.

I made a hat for Cari, Kirsten and Katy. Pictures will follow.

Alturistic why?

 

God’s work must truly be our own- John F. Kennedy

God has no other hands but ours to use. It’s up to us to ease the suffering and chaos that we see in the world. A Sufi teaching story goes, a spiritual seeker prayed outdoors daily. As he prayed, he noticed a constant stream of beggars, crippled people in mind body and spirit pass him constantly. He looked at the mass of human suffering and lifted his voice to God and cried, “Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and do nothing about it?” After a long silence, the voice of God said, “I did do something, I made you.”

We often feel we don’t have the time nor energy to give more after a long day at the office, waiting tables or loading trucks. Whatever one does to put food on the table, it is taxing on us physically and mentally. How can anyone do even just one more thing in the day to add to an already busy schedule? Seems daunting and impossible, yet we all know people who do that very thing on a weekly, monthly and even on a daily basis. It seems that they have something extra that the rest of us lack. We have the good intention perhaps, of doing a little extra civic duty for the community. We all know how helping others helps ourselves, giving during one’s time of need often gives much more in return when we need it most. That is the key when we feel directed to do such things, God takes our hand and shows us the way, just when we need it the most.

Who are these special people in our society, the givers of the world? Doesn’t it seem we see the same names over and over on different rosters around the community, they belong to the Rotary, the Kiwanis and then you see their names on the United Way fundraiser event or the Band Boosters fundraising event. How is it just a few people do so much for t he community? They do as much in a month than the non-volunteers amongst the rest of us do in a year, or even in a lifetime.

Do they have a special extra dose of the altruistic gene? They seem so far apart from us that we feel we can’t even begin to believe we can be like them. So far removed from our lives of every day existence that we can’t imagine serving soup to the homeless at Thanksgiving It is easier to understand why people help people who can’t help themselves, maybe children in a hospital or someone with a profound illness. So then there’s the puzzle of how and why some people volunteer at a women’s shelter or a halfway house, even in the face of the reality of humanity brutalizing one another at such places.

These are very special people who hold our society together, they keep the t he bursting seams of a chaotic system intact when it appears all else is useless. These selfless souls are there to make sure all is well and life continues for those who lost everything during a hurricane, flood or fire. So many disasters have occurred lately that we’ve taken it for granted that the Red Cross volunteers will be there, or the United Way folks will have what we need. Some folks do have a career in helping professions; others do this in addition to their paying jobs. There really is no difference between paid and unpaid altruism, it’s the same process that draws a person to helping others. This is the direct hand of God when one is touched by the services of an Altruistic person.   

Labeling

Not the kind that pop out of the handy label maker to put on files and cabinets. I’m talking about the kind that we use on people to pigeon-hole each other and ourselves.
One interesting thing I read recently about relationships with people in general is to "drop your story" and how it will free you from how you see yourself and how you want others to see you. Just be who you are by showing the world who are and not by not explaining it. It will also allow a person to grow beyond that particular story. I have a friend who tells his story every time we have serious discussion about any subject really. He was a nerd, got beat up by the jocks daily walking to school. He had a growth spurt and then he beat up the jocks and was totally misunderstood. I can recite his story for him if he ever forgot it. I have stopped myself a few times from saying, "I've heard this a few times already, I do pay attention sometimes." I decided to let him tell me his story when he needs to.
He's told me that he has no introspective part of himself. If he thought too hard about things then he might get depressed, so he doesn’t think too much about things. But, that's the point of dropping your story. It allows you move beyond your chosen role and identity. If you don’t think about anything again and use the same story for years, then you don’t have to go forward. I think personality is fluid and dynamic and you aren't the same person you were at age 6, 16, 26 or 36. I look at my 20 year old self and don't recognize that person. Both ways you can stop thinking about one’s self though. The lack of a “story” keeps us moving ahead, though.

Then who are you after you've dropped your story? Does that mean you have a new story to drop? No, I think ideally I wouldn't have a story to drop at all.
The interesting thing I am seeing about having a new teen is that she is starting with her story. She likes to describe herself, as do many kids her age. They are going through the labeling of themselves and people. I am a Goth, I am a prep I am a jock. I am starting to talk to her about labels and how useless they are for people. I hope I can get that point across. So many adults still use those labels they put on themselves and others like they did back when they were 13. I’d like to see if that is a factor in a person’s development of their personality; not labeling others and one’s self. I’m pretty sure it has to do one’s happiness quotient over all. The question though is can we ever stop the compulsion?

Positive Project

I come to work everyday, sit down turn on my computer. I've been doing that now for years. What I’m seeing is that millions of Americans, probably millions of people from other nations as well are doing the same thing. We settle into our days with the same routines. We have our cuppa of our hotness of choice, perhaps something to eat and we check our email, maybe our RSS feeds, read our favorite blogs, maybe some news then start the day. I know many don't have time for that. Many spend their whole days doing that.

The reason I decided to make more of an effort on my website/blog site is to mirrors what I’m thinking we all are losing when we are immersed in the negative of your local news, or the daily grind of the national news media. The only criterion will be to try to post positive items. It can be anything under the sun. the best way to prepare a pot of tea, the best place to take your sweetie on a get away weekend, the positive news in the world, it would be a collection of links, pictures and posts. I already have that set up for myself really. My yahoo mail does it all for me with my RSS feeds. But really I'd like to share it with people to put a more positive spin on our outlook. There’s a book already out there called the Happiness Project.

But I’m thinking of something along the lines of that feeling the Happiness Project gives. It’s a mission to get over this recession filled era of war, gloom and doom, and end of the world feeling that people are having. I’ve seen many places where it comes up over and over, how 2012 is the year the Mayans predicted the end of the world and many people believe it. Why are we having the end of the world syndrome again, as people do every so often? Is it still millennium madness like for Y2K? I figure it doesn't matter either way; if it happens there’s not much we can do about it. All we can do is make what we have here better.

Randy makes the best Salsa!

Hi Anita, This is how I make salsa:6 tomatoes1 sweet onion (Vidalia, Walla Walla, or whatever they have in the expensive onion bin.) 6-12 jalapenos, 4-6 cloves garlic, fresh cilantro (I use about a third of the bunch, let the rest rot in the fridge, and then throw it away.) Garlic salt, Juice from about half of a lime, Beer.
Open a beer first and taste it but don't put any in the salsa. With a freshly sharpened knife, cut the rest of the ingredients into the tiniest pieces that your patience will allow. Sometimes I add a teensy bit of V8 juice or pureed canned tomato, but I like it just as well without. That's all.
Have fun, Randy

How To become an expert.

I had a teacher who taught me this. and I forgot all about it. You can't do something effortlessly (or appear to be effortless) until you've spent hours even years becoming familiar with the ins and outs of every aspect of music. It was really hard work, and even if music came easy to a person, hard work was still involved because of the dedication to becoming better or more knowledgeable. People who have a knack for something tend to give up when it gets hard, and it does get hard at some point. People go through life thinking that other people are more talented and more gifted than they are and they shouldn't do something because it isn't easy for them like other people. When really hard work was what everyone put in, even if they didn't think it was hard work, practicing a lot is time spent. I remember practicing for hours and the hours didn't seem to be all that long because I didn't notice the practice as being hard. It was fun for me. Others may think it was effortless, but it was hard work in retrospect thinking of all the injury to my shoulders and neck. :-)


Sharon Sarmiento wrote about it on her blog esoup. The article is:
How To become an expert at something you know nothing about.

Give up goals!

I read something about Goals, don't have goals (yay, I hate goals), just pursue 3 things you can do within a defined time frame, those things can be goals too, but they don't have to be I'm going to be a wealthy person type goal. Just something you can get done within a focused time frame. i.e. do what it takes to be with the person you love who lives in another state.
I like this idea.