Looking For Something You Already Have?

A boat docked in a tiny Greek fishing village. A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted: "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can
then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can
then leave this little village and move to Athens, Paris, Rom, or even Copenhagen! From
there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting, " answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Greeks.

It Really Is This Simple.

Great Things, Part 5 (I Think)

I'm sick. Been sick a while. Thought I was getting better, but it escalated in the wee hours of this morning. I'm hoping that means it's on its way out, but meanwhile I'm kinda down about missing some stuff I had planned (have a great first t-ball practice, lil J!). So I am listing some more great things to lift my mood.

www.mylifeisaverage.com

Birds singing in the sunshine outside

Bloo monsters

Old TV shows I used to love, that are now on DVD (even if now some of them are pretty cheesy!)

Bonus points if you can name these shows!

Haha, this TV shows one was really fun.

Who Needs Bones?

Bones as in the body part, not as in the TV show. Although I did decide to stop watching the TV show a few days ago. I just don't need icky dead bodies on my screen, no matter how amusing the Booth/Brennan relationship or squintiness of the squints is. But anyway....

I had a really interesting dream the other night.

It seemed to start kind of in the middle of the story. I was standing... somewhere. With... someone. Or maybe a few someones. I know it was people I am very close to, so probably my brother, his wife, and a particular friend who now lives in Atlanta. That's my guess, anyway. So I'm standing there and its kind of foggy. I can really only see the other person(s) from the waist down. In my hand is a plain white, rimmed dinner plate. and on the plate are perfectly clean bits of bone, varying from 2 to 4 or so inches. I told the person(s), "I know this is really weird, but I think these bones are mine." I went on to demonstrate how one of the bones looked very much like a spine, and that I was "squishy" at the top of my back/bottom of my neck. It felt like my spine there was missing. I was still fully functional, though. I didn't seem to be impaired in any way from the loss of these bits of bone. In fact, I wasn't even worried in the dream. I was puzzled, and a bit confused, but not anxious or scared at all. The people I was talking to didn't seem very concerned either. So as we're standing around looking at my plate-o-bones, another bone suddenly appears on it. This bone is a bit longer than the rest, a good 6 or maybe 7 inches. For whatever reason, it is immediately clear that it is a bone from a lower arm. I poke at my left forearm and sure enough, I am "squishy" there now. The squishiness feels kind of relaxing... loose like right after a massage or something. There was no pain when the bone left my arm and appeared on the plate. In fact, I didn't feel or notice a thing. I had to check my arm to be sure it was even my bone that had appeared.

That's as much as I remember of the dream. Note: I very rarely remember my dreams, so when I do, I believe its a dream I am especially meant to take something from.
My interpretation of the dream so far is that it's about letting go of things. Taking these hard/rigid things out of me that seem so darn important, even a part of my basic structure (like bones). They seem necessary but, in reality, once they are gone, I am fine. Maybe even better than before!

What do you think? Any ideas about this dream, did it bring up any thoughts or interpretations for you?

How Do We Overlook This?

O SON OF MAN! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

O SON OF UTTERANCE! Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayest abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find Me near unto thee.

O SON OF BEING! With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light.

Do you not see that everyone has Light in them? Do you not see that you are a part of everyone?

We all have faults. You do, I do. But my God, we all have astonishing glories! Why do we insist on seeing the tiny gray specks of the faults against the massively shining Light?

Oh, I Dunno

Haven't really been in a bloggy mood lately.
Ayyam-i-ha has been awesome. I had a family brunch party, a community dinner party, and another small family dinner party. Its been really nice going to some parties (there were two others I was invited to) and declining some invitations to maintain my personal time balance. I think I hit a pretty good mix.
I'm looking forward to the Fast. I have some ideas in mind for things I want to do and think about during this time, but the thing I'm actually giving up for the Fast (since medically, I cannot fast) is a chat I am in for several hours a day. I realize that for some people this sounds silly, but for me it is sacrificial to give up and takes a lot of time from my day.
I dunno. Like I said, not really in a bloggy mood.

What I Do All Day

(This was written 19 February 2010, but I was internet-less at the time.)

People ask me what I do all day.
For a while I just kinda smiled and shrugged. Then I got annoyed with the questions (and myself) and started saying things like "I eat bon-bons and watch TV" (note: I don't even own a TV).
Here is what I really do:
I work on climbing out of the dark hole I lived in for most of my conscious life. An yeah, it's been a long comb. In fact, today marks exactly 9 years of climbing. It was a deep hole: almost exactly six feet under, to be honest. I'm climbing in a safe way, and sometimes that's slow. I make sure my handhold is secure before I search out my next toe-hold. I take breaks when I need to. I resist the occasional urge to make a mad scramble.
So that's what I do all day. I'm figuring out how to live in the best way I can, because when a lot of people were figuring that out, I was doing my best to avoid life. And yeah, nine years is a long time. Actually, though, I predict the process will last, in some form, the rest of my life.
I'm not hurting anyone. In fact, I'm bettering at least one person. So please. Ask what I do out of curiosity, not out of judgement. Or, just don't ask at all.