Monday, November 05, 2012

The Fight | Dustin Curtis

It’s so easy to get stuck in the waiting place, putting things off until later, even when those things are vitally important to making your dreams come true. But the truth is that, in order to make progress, you need to physically and mentally fight against the momentum of ordinary events. The default state of any new idea is failure. It’s the execution–the fight against inertia–that matters. You have to remember to go against your instinct, to confront the ordinary, and to put up a fight.

This is, of course, mentally and physically taxing.

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Monday, January 02, 2012

Baz Luhrmann: Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Baz Luhrmann: Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 99.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. 


The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, 
whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. 

I will dispense this advice now. 

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. 
Oh, never mind. 
You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. 
But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. 

You are not as fat as you imagine. 

Don’t worry about the future. 
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. 
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts.
Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. 
Sometimes you’re ahead, 
sometimes you’re behind. 
The race is long and, in the end, 
it’s only with yourself. 

Remember compliments you receive. 
Forget the insults. 
If you succeed in doing this, 
tell me how. 

Keep your old love letters. 
Throw away your old bank statements. 

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. 
The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. 
Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t. 

Get plenty of calcium. 

Be kind to your knees. 
You’ll miss them when they’re gone. 

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. 
Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. 
Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. 
Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. 
Your choices are half chance. 
So are everybody else’s. 

Enjoy your body. 
Use it every way you can. 
Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. 
It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own. 

Dance. 
Even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room. 
Read the directions, 
even if you don’t follow them. 

Do not read beauty magazines. 
They will only make you feel ugly. 

Get to know your parents. 
You never know when they’ll be gone for good. 

Be nice to your siblings. 
They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. 

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. 
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young. 

Live in New York City once,
but leave before it makes you hard. 
Live in Northern California once, 
but leave before it makes you soft. 

Travel. 

Accept certain inalienable truths:
Prices will rise. 
Politicians will philander. 
You, too, will get old. 
And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. 

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. 
Maybe you have a trust fund. 
Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. 
But you never know when either one might run out. 

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. 
Advice is a form of nostalgia. 
Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. 

But trust me on the sunscreen…

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Disturb us, Lord - Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord,
when with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Sir Francis Drake

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Picturing Winter, a Solstice Celebration

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Great collection of 70+ winter images, including the above, East by Stephen T. Johnson. A lovely contrast to the expected 40°C day here.

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Monday, November 28, 2011

common book of prayer by Chris Clardy

common book of prayer
by Chris Clardy

all the ways which women pray
have yet to be forgotten—
the way you fold the shirt (between your hands)
        is a folding of your hands,
the way you bow your head over the head of the person
lying fever-small in your bed
        is a bowing of the head,
the way when that is done you listen with your eyes closed, wait for dawn,
        lift the latch, raise the shade, pour the tea,
        and, turning toward the mirror,
        see all things coming
because you
are willing to say all things can come and are coming
        is a willing of all things—
and all these ways
are pages in your book (your body is the book)
with no words or words inside it
is praying is your body is a book
written
every time you move—
all the ways which women pray with their bodies
have yet to be recalled—
        forget words—
this will happen (any way)
and your book of prayer will be praying,
praying in the way
women always
have prayed

~~~~~~~~~~~

Posted with permission of the poet.

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