When all is quiet and harmonious, and one anticipates good things are to come.
PROMPT: Favorite Time
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Category Archives: Life
“Changed” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [w/ Audio]
From the outskirts of the town
Where of old the mile-stone stood,
Now a stranger, looking down
I behold the shadowy crown
Of the dark and haunted wood.
Is it changed, or am I changed?
Ah! the oaks are fresh and green,
But the friends with whom I ranged
Through their thickets are estranged
By the years that intervene.
Bright as ever flows the sea,
Bright as ever shines the sun,
But alas! they seem to me
Not the sun that used to be,
Not the tides that used to run.
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PROMPT: Live
It continues to offer daily learning opportunities. Plus, the people are friendly and the climate is quite good.
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PROMPT: Plan
Haphazardly with a side of slapdashery.
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PROMPT: Sell
Experiences and lessons.
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PROMPT: Change
Daily writing prompt
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?
If I can spark the occasional smile of amusement or trigger a line of thought once in a while, that’s enough. In the long run, it’s all dust. (That latter commentary was more on the thought-provoking than the amusing side of the equation.)
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PROMPT: Alternate Universe
There are flying cars here. I fear my death will be by chucked beer bottle.
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PROMPT: News
Daily writing prompt
Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.
A bus strike starts today. My chance of dying on the grill of a crosstown bus is substantially reduced for some indefinite period.
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PROMPT: 30 Things
1.) love; 2.) a glorious turn of phrase; 3.) discovery; 4.) walking; 5.) swimming; 6.) stumbling upon an interesting and / or novel idea; 7.) movement; 8.) travel; 9.) street food; 10.) quiet; 11.) health; 12.) recognition that when things are at their very worst, they must get better — because everything is impermanent; 13.) an intense stretch; 14.) Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass;” 15.) undiscovered country; 16.) the hanging moment; 17.) a mystery-laden world; 18.) a moment of flow; 19.) a mountain path; 20.) a clear stream; 21.) the way of non-adversariality; 22.) a thing stripped to its simplest form; 23.) the moment breath turns the tide; 24.) animals being animals; 25.) a brief instant of free fall; 26.) the recognition that something that used to cause me angst or fear no longer does; 27.) when body, movement, and the world fall into alignment; 28.) first contact with someplace / something new; 29.) connection; 30.) the first sign that the struggle is paying off.
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BOOKS: “A Journey to Inner Peace and Joy” by Zhang Jianfeng [Trans. by Tony Blishen]
A Journey to Inner Peace and Joy: Tracing Contemporary Chinese Hermits by Zhang Jianfeng by Unknown AuthorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site
In 1993, Bill Porter (a.k.a. Red Pine) came out with a book called “Road to Heaven” that documented his experiences meeting with hermits in rural China. For many, both in and certainly out of China, the continued existence of this lifestyle might have come as a surprise. This book follows up over twenty years later, showing that Buddhists and Daoist hermits are still alive and well in the mountains of interior China.
The book not only offers beautiful descriptions of the lands where these men and women live, but also insight into their mindsets and how they live such minimalist lives. It’s a light and compelling look at individuals like those one might read of in “Outlaws of the Marsh,” only living in the present day (though living lives not unlike their historical counterparts did more than a thousand years ago.)
The book offers many color photos of the hermits and the landscapes in which they live.
I’d highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the way of reclusive existence.
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 