Monday, January 22, 2007

Not a Good Day . . .

Last night was not a good night.

Today has been less than wonderful.

So I'm using others' thoughts to shake up my own. I'm trying to remember to be the woman I want to be and not the one circumstances make of me. So I'm relishing others' words today:

“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” -- Jack London


And from a May issue of Newsweek on living a high velocity life (which is what I plan on doing):
"Every day you are confronted with new smells and tastes. Did you know what it tastes like to drink hot green tea in milk in February in Nara? Had you smelled the Namibian desert after a rainstorm? The high-velocity life not only rewards optimism, it demands it. If you get on each new flight thinking wherever you are going is worse than where you're coming from, then this life will empty you. And this is where a secret emerges: that the essential demand for a high-speed life is a kind of portable stillness. It's like that Taipei 101 skyscraper, which balances out too-frequent Asian earthquakes not by means of a deep foundation but through an internal damper that transmutes big shocks into small tremors. Stability comes from the inside."

3 comments:

Finding the Happy said...

Ahem...pardon a few questions:

Did you wake up this morning?

Did you take a deep breath?

Were you able to walk around your home of your own volition?

Was there food in your refrigerator?

Did you have a choice when you put on your clothes?

How was that drive in your new car to the job you said yes to?

How many text messages or emails did you get today from people who love you?

Tell you what...on the way home...stop at Omega House, ask any of the men or women in any of the 8 beds how their day was.

I think your day was just fine.

...and by the way, I love you for the woman you are.

Be in the moment, be the best you possible, in this moment, because it's the only moment you can be sure of.

Anonymous said...

Very nice. I love the Jack London quote. Very nice.

juli said...

you know, i heard on the radio yesterday that some guy did some statistical analysis proving 1-22-07 to be the most depressing day of the year. hmmm. regardless, i love these quotes. they stir my spine...

and yes, yesterday sucked for me. stupid guy with his stupid statistics.