The calendar says that today is the end of 2008. And for a lot of people, I suppose they are glad to see it go. Last year, I said that actually the Tuesday after Labor Day (in the U.S.) is New Year’s Day, and I still hold to that. And, last New Year’s Eve (in December), I was at a party and watching the revelers. And while I was sitting there, I thought, I wonder if they get it. I wonder if they understand that while the calendar rolls on, the continuum of time doesn’t change. All the hopes, fears, dreams, nightmares you had on Dec. 31 are still there Jan. 1. The moments of change won’t come at the flip of a calendar page. They’ll come quietly, like the flakes of a quiet snow. It won’t be like a lightning strike.

Happy New Year.

Confucius – “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.”

I often have music going off in my head–I often have my headphones in, and I’m a fan of SomaFM’s Groovesalad.

So that sort of explains why Bruce Hornsby’s “Gonna Be Some Changes Made” keeps playing in my head when I’ve woken up all this week. The mind works in ways that can’t always be fathomed. So why is my mind pushing play on this one? I’m not sure–yet. The lyrics may explain why.

Do I (or anyone) need to make wholesale changes in what I eat, think or do? Or do I have to make adjustments here and there?

Both, sometimes.

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches but to reveal to him his own.

- Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman

Finally, after cooling my jets at the airport yesterday, I made it home last night. It’s good to be home, where mom makes a continuous stream of food. I know I’ll gain weight, but that’s ok.

For a few days, I’m home.

Happy holidays.

No I haven’t written much–I am back at work and heading home shortly. Thoughts on Christmas coming later…

No I haven’t written much–I am back at work and heading home shortly. Thoughts on Christmas coming later…

Tonight is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. This is also the season of light–Christmas, Hanukkah. We use light to fend off the darkness of the cold, long night ahead. The amount of darkness that descends upon us can weigh heavily, as we count the days to spring and warmth.We may wonder where we can turn to for light and warmth as winter’s winds howl. What about turning to others? Seeking out their warm hearts and souls to help bring light in the dark season. And what about ourselves? We have an abundance of warmth and light already inside us. We need to strip away the layers to reach it.

Over most of Thursday and Friday, I sort of repeated something I did last year. I fasted from listening to the radio, watching TV, or even listening to music. I wanted to hear me, and I couldn’t do that listening to ESPN Radio.

What did I hear? Geese. Ice pellets falling. Church bells pealing. Planes flying overhead.

And some of the answers to the questions I asked. Now, I didn’t go actively in search of them.

I just let the silence draw them out.

I wasn’t going looking for answers to my questions this week, I just wanted to get them out of me. In doing so, I started to re-see the places I want to go and the person I want to be. This is not a new discovery, but a re-dedication, I guess. Sometimes you have to renew yourself, and this week has been a chance for me to do so.

Ages ago, I used to work at a McDonald’s, and the first day on the job, my mom picks me up from the restaurant. I climb into the car, and she shrieks, “Eww, you smell like a cheeseburger!”

Now, you can get that smell without working there. Burger King is introducing a cologne that smells like ” the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.” Flame, it’s called. Now you can eat a Whopper, and smell like one, too.

(Deep sigh. Really deep sigh.)

You have to check out the website–it’s a riot.

Me personally, I prefer this…

This week, I’m surf through the Pocket Rumi Reader, a handy little book of the master’s poetry. I love how simple and powerful his words and imagery are. Molly from Destination the Journey posted a poem that shows this in spades. And, for a friend, a beautiful message to behold.

A two-fer from Pierre Trudeau, discovered while I was looking up a quote from earlier today…

“Reason before passion.” personal motto

and…

“Let us cast down the totems, break down the taboos. Or better, let us consider them void. Dispassionately, let us be intelligent.” (hat tip for this one)

The snow here has ended, as the roads in the area are slick with ice. I’m glad I got the chance to walk out in it, listen to the silence, footsteps in crunching the flakes, geese flying overheard (and planes, too–thus is the fate of living under a flight path). Some photos from my sojourn…

Pierre Trudeau was Canadian Prime Minister in the 1970s and 1980s, and after a “lomg walk in the snow,” he decided to step down. My walk in the snow today wasn’t as momentous, but still..My list of questions grows, and so does the hope for innovation.

Maybe some photos from this storm later…

Journeys are journeys. The twists and turns make it an adventure.

And again. And again.

And I dare Samuel L. Jackson to stop me.

(This is from “Pulp Fiction.” If violence and language aren’t your thing, pass on this one.)

I’m taking a few days to ask myself what. I’m compiling a list of what–things I need to do and need to be.  I may publish the list, but even if I don’t, I hope the results show up here. And beyond.

The one thing about Jerry Jones–He’ll see the rainbow on the other side of the tornado.

Al Michaels, host of “Sunday Night Football”

“We fail to realize that mastery is not about perfection. It’s about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.” ~ George Leonard from Mastery

hat tip

Or, Bingo.

Today’s commute home was gloomy, dark and sloppy. Drivers on the Turnpike picked their way along the road carefully in the rain, fog and spray. I found myself in the same place I have been for the past few days–talking to myself and trying to figure something out. And while hustling home in the rain, I hit upon it. And when I got home, it became even clearer. An answer, possibly, to something I’ve been struggling with for more than a year. It took me awhile to figure it out, and I’m kicking myself a little for that. But no matter. I have a better understanding of why things happen. Even in the rain and the fog, everything became clear.

(You can have more than one TFTD)

What is the benefit of exerting mental effort the wrong way?

-Guon

hat tip

My best friend in high school used to live down the street from me. We knew each other for six or seven years, riding bikes through the neighborhood and playing ball in the streets. He moved away the year before I graduated, and the last time I talked to him was about eight years ago.

So why is it that I dreamed about him two nights in a row? First, it was dinner with his family, and the next night it was finding the car of an ex-coworker in his yard in the old neighborhood. In the second dream, a bunch of other former coworkers made appearances, too.

Strange.

A two-fer this evening…

DJ Shadow, “What Does Your Soul Look Like” I like the title and the music is great…

And Solar Quest, “Songtree” I love how amazingly lush and luxuriant this sound is…

Music courtesy SomaFM’s Groovesalad.

Who knew such personal development wisdom could come from the Secretary of Defense? Yes, he is talking about the best ways to fight terrorism, but pay attention to the first part of the last sentence…

Direct military force will continue to play a role in the long-term effort against terrorists and other extremists. But over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory. Where possible, what the military calls kinetic operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development, and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented, from whom the terrorists recruit. It will take the patient accumulation of quiet successes over a long time to discredit and defeat extremist movements and their ideologies.

hat tip

There are mysteries in this life I may never be able to figure out. But I’ll keep trying.

For the first time this season, it snowed here in my part of New Jersey last night. Snow always puts in me in a peaceful mood. I love how it silently changes the landscape, making it (somewhat) whole again. At some point in the night I decided to turn off the TV and the radio and just be here in silence. For a good long while. That stillness always feels good.

Now, it’s cold, sunny and windy.

Cataloging…why was I in a hotel with my family the night before my mom was getting married? And why was I dreaming about work and talking to my boss?

Determination. Patience. Will. Grace. Fortitude. Courage. Compassion.

All good craftsmen have a toolbox from where they pull out the tools they need a particular time. These are mine–I know I have more (my fatigue is making me draw a blank.)

The commercial asks, “What’s in your wallet?” What’s in your toolbox

Let’s say you’re a coach at a major college football power. You’ve been there 10 years, and you’ve built a good record and a good program. You play in a tough conference and you’re competitive. You play the in-state rival, whom you’ve beaten six of the last seven years, and this time, you get shellacked, shut out. A few days later you “step down” (meaning your contract was bought out, avoiding an outright firing).

So what happens to all that equity (as the reporter for this story called it) you built for 10 years? The coach will find another school to go to–he’s too good. He can use that equity for his next team.

What are you using your equity for?

From this comment on this post, I’ve had some thinking to do. I totally see where Molly is coming from with what she is saying. Why do we struggle when in reality we don’t have to? In the end, I agree with Orwell, on the level that what we deal with daily we tend to allow to cloud our vision of what is truly important, and we constantly have to part the clouds.

So how do we shift perspective?

Let’s play a little.

Let’s say a movie mogul wants to make a movie of your life, what songs would you pick? For this experiment, I care more about the songs than the narrative. So here’s one I just heard–it’s the Boston Wrangler, from The Thomas Crown Affair (click here, scroll down to audio samples, then fast forward to track 13.)

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” –George Orwell