Thursday, September 11, 2014

Etc.

Williamsburg, 2014

A few things on my radar lately...

I am loving this post, 'Adventure is where you are.'  This sentiment, especially:

'What if you just want an awesome life? How do you create adventure and fun everywhere you go? Well I have some theories. I think you have to commit to your fun like it’s a life project you’re going to complete. Some people train for marathons, other do yearly fasts. You are the person who decides: this year I am going to have the BEST TIME EVER. You track it. You watch it. You plan for it. You spend every weekend going somewhere new. It doesn’t have to cost anything. You’re an anthropologist. You’re a documentarian. You’re a journalist. Whatever mindset you have to adopt to feel the need to completely explore where you live, to do everything, to chronicle it all, if only in your mind, do that.'

I also love this post, 'Friday night meatballs', on the idea of starting simple traditions.

The author sets up a weekly dinner party, just simple spaghetti and meatballs, no pressure. A space in time to press pause, without feeling like you are trying to be Martha Stewart.

'There's something about the mix of candlelight and comfort food (okay, and wine) that encourages people to relax and share their stories. I've always found hosting parties to be stressful, but Friday Night Meatballs has become a relaxing escape at the end of the week. In his book The Sabbath, rabbi and civil rights activist Abraham Heschel observes that "there is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord." This, he says, is the point of taking a day off for rest and reflection and the company of loved ones: it's when we manage to stop worrying about making a living that we start actually living.'

And then there's this, 'If this isn't nice, what is?', which references this great Kurt Vonnegut quote:

'One of the things (uncle Alex) found objectionable about human beings was that they so rarely noticed it when they were happy. He himself did his best to acknowledge it when times were sweet. We could be drinking lemonade in the shade of the apple tree in the summertime, and uncle Alex would interrupt the conversation to say, "If this isn't nice, what is?" 

So I hope that you will do the same for the rest of your lives. When things are going sweetly and peacefully, please pause a moment, and then say out loud, "If this isn't nice, what is?"' 

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