In the background....................

..............................American Flyer album

 

Life its ownself.....................

 

      I started staying after practice just to work on rebounding.  In many ways, this approach to finding a unique path wasn't just about basketball; it was about life.  It was about understanding that true success doesn't come from following the crowd, but from daring to be different, to see opportunities where others see obstacles.  It was a lesson that would serve me well beyond the court.

-George Raveling, What You're Made For: Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports

on unlocking human doors...............

 

     It is a secret which every intellectual man quickly learns, that, beyond the energy of his possessed and conscious intellect, he is capable of a new energy (as of an intellect doubled on itself), by abandonment to the nature of things; that, beside his privacy of power as an individual man, there is a great public power, on which he can draw, by unlocking, at all risks, his human doors, and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him: then he is caught up into the life of the Universe, his speech is thunder, his thought is law, and his words are universally intelligible as the plants and animals.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay The Poet

On opinions....................

 

I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me.

-Ben Franklin, as culled from here

discipline........................

 

Discipline turns intentions into action.
Discipline means no procrastination.
Discipline means now.
Choose the pain of discipline, not the pain of regret.

An undisciplined moment seems harmless, but they add up to disaster.

Without discipline, the tiny things will be your downfall.

Self-control is always rewarding.

-Derek Sivers, How To Live: 27 conflicting answers and one weird conclusion

choose............................

 

What use are these people's wits, who let themselves be led by speechmakers, in crowds, without considering how many fools and thieves they are among, and how few choose the good?  The best choose progress towards one thing, a name forever honored by the gods, while others eat their way toward sleep like nameless oxen.

-Heraclitus

Which self........................?

 

...............Become the self you’d be proud to be.

On hurry-up thinking..........

 

................Go slow when all around go crazy.

self.......................

 

Man conquers the world by conquering himself.

-attributed to Zeno of Citium

Accounting.............................

 

     Natural selection, in short, does not anticipate future needs.  But this principle, while explaining so much so well, presents a difficulty.  If the principle is universally true, how did natural selection prepare the mind for civilization before civilization existed?  That is the great mystery of human evolution: how to account for calculus and Mozart.

-Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge

Brain power.......................

               two hours of Mozart ....................

 

Productivity-debt..................

 

      A done list isn't solely a way to feel better about yourself, though.  When you start to view each day not as a matter of paying off a debt, but as an opportunity to move a small-but-meaningful number of items over to your done list, you'll find yourself making better choices about what to focus on; and you'll make more progress on them, too, since you'll be wasting less energy stressing about all the other tasks you're (inevitably) neglecting.

-Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

not there yet........................

 

If all your beliefs line up into neat little bundles, you should be highly suspicious.

-Eric Jorgenson, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

In the background......................

           This Is The Moody Blues double album

 

good questions.......................

What conventional wisdom are you relying on in your situation?  What would happen if you forgot the obvious answers that spring to mind and searched for new ones?  What can you overlook or ignore?

-Roger Von Oech, Expect the Unexpected (Or You Won't Find It)

Underneath.........................

 

Underneath the lessons of things, spirits, Nature, governments, ownerships, I swear I perceive other lessons, Underneath all to me is myself, to you yourself.

-Walt Whitman, By Blue Ontario's Shore

great is the responsibility.................

 

The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate.

-Andrew Jackson, from his second inaugural address, March 4, 1833

incentives........................

 

Show me the incentives, and I’ll tell you the outcome.

-Charlie Munger

Reminder................................

 The point of delayed gratification is eventual gratification in the future.

-Ben Carlson

Verse........................

 

3.  Darkness is lack of light as sin is lack of love.  It has no unique properties of its own.  It is an example of the "scarcity" belief, from which only error can proceed.  Truth is always abundant.  Those who perceive and acknowledge that they have everything have no needs of any kind.  The purpose of the Atonement is to restore everything to you; or rather, to restore it to your awareness.  You were given everything when you were created, just as everyone was.

-The Course in Miracles, Chapter 1, Section IV

Verse......................

 

The softest of all things
overrides the hardest of all things.
That without substance enters where there is no space.
Hence I know the value of nonaction.

Teaching without words,
performing without actions—
few in the world can grasp it—
that is the master's way.
Rare indeed are those
who obtain the bounty of this world.

-Tao Te Ching, as channeled by Wayne Dyer

Verse...........................

 

     By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to yogic principles—even without seeking them.  Such an inquisitive transcendentalist, striving for yoga, stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures.

-Bhagavad-gita, Chapter 6, Text 44

Verse...........................

 

4.  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

5.  Let your forbearing spirit be known to all men.  The Lord is near.

6.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8.  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

-The Holy Bible, Philippians 4, The Open Bible version