What an old movie taught me

Remember those wonderful characters in The Wizard of Oz? There were the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion: Dorothy's compatriots on the journey to see the great wizard who would grant each of them their most desired wish.

The scarecrow wanted a brain, a mind with which to reason and know the truth of all things. The tin man hoped for a heart so that he would feel the presence of love which he longed. And then there is the cowardly lion who wanted courage to face his fears.

And we remember what happened: by the end of their journey, after everything they went through because of their love for Dorothy and each other, they discovered that they don't need the wizard and the wish at all - the very quality of character for which they had gone out to look for was already living within them!

We all have that within us. However, it cannot ever be gifted, granted, or given; it must be earned through our personal journey. Otherwise it will not be authentic and be truly ours. So take that journey, and find whatever that is you are looking for, from within yourself.

Be Like Water

Bruce Lee, not only was one of the greatest martial artists that ever lived, but also was quite a philosopher. He thought deeply about the essence of martial art, often breaking the boundaries set by traditional teachings. During the years he shared many of his findings, here is one example:

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.

Similarly, in Karate they often talk about having a "mind like water", which means keeping a mental readiness like a pond, dwell in stillness, quietly reflecting. When you throw a pebble into the pond, the pond does not overreact, nor under-react; it takes the pebble as is, accepting it, and then softly, calmly returns to its original stillness.

Be like water, my friend.

Il faut cultiver son jardin

Indeed, we all must work in our garden. To me, this has several meanings:

1. Life's reward comes with hard work, dedication, and persistence; there is no short cut to success. It might be nice or advantageous to be smart or good-looking, but they are poor substitutes for real, authentic labor.

2. It is "our" garden we need to work in, not others. What other people do or don't do with their gardens are not our primary concern; our garden is. Focus on that and everything else will take care themselves.

3. There are many people in this world who want to sell you "gardening tools" - how to speak well, how to network, how to be social, etc., etc.. Or better yet, Life Coaching. Although these techniques do have value, they pale in comparison to the work that we MUST do internally, if what we desire is true, long-lasting happiness.

It is we who must work on our garden.

What Is

It is not our duty to suffer over what will be or won't be - to live with painful regret or guilt over what was or wasn't. Our sole task is to be responsible for what is - and to allow this relationship with life to produce what it will. There may or may not be suffering in this order of responsibility, but, if there is, it will be transformational as opposed to self-tormenting - which is the negative effect of every act born of assuming some false responsibility.

Veggie Sausage Patties

I love sausages, but they are unhealthy - too much FAT. Recently, a friend of mine (thanks Kim!) cooked me some veggie patties from Morningstar, and oh my God, they are delicious! They taste just like real sausages, if not better. Above all, it is packed with meatless soy products, herbs, spices, and contains only 3 grams of FAT, where a regular sausage patty has 12.

Nutritional Facts:

Serving: 1 pattie, 1.34oz.
Calories: 80
Fat:5%, 3g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 11%, 260mg
Protein: 10g
Carbs: 1%, 3g
Fiber: 6%, 1g
Sugar: <1g

They are very easy to cook - you can heat it over a skillet, microwave it, toast it, or bake it.

At Walmart, a package with 6 patties costs a little under 3 dollars. (They also have other products, like veggie hamburger, chicken nuggets, etc. I have to try them.)

Morningstar, I love thee!

Strong and Weak

Sometimes we try to project an image of being strong to people around us. But at the same time, we often realize that we do it in vain - the more we demand or crave the respect of others, the less likely we are to receive it. If you've ever tried to raise children, you know this is true.

Here are some examples of how we may be unknowingly sabotaging ourselves while wrongly assuming we're strengthening our position with others.

• Fawning before people to win their favor
• Expressing contrived concern for someone's well-being
• Making small talk to cover up nervousness
• Hanging on to someone's every word
• Looking for someone's approval
• Asking if someone is angry with you
• Fishing for a kind word
• Trying to impress someone
• Gossiping
• Explaining yourself to others

Sufi Poem

The Unmoving Center

Religions are beautiful. I am not sure how religious I am but I often find the world's religions breathtakingly beautiful . Somehow, the relentless effort by human beings to reach for the heaven tends to lift us beyond what we think is possible, and beauty ensues. If we only take the time to appreciate all these beauty, we might find people of different faith are more alike than not, and religion could simply be the same God revealing his glorious image in different ways.

The great Sufi mystic, Jalaluddin Rumi, seeing children whirl, thought that there must be something that the children feel but they cannot express, and perhaps they are not fully aware of what it is. So he tried whirling himself, and he was amazed that if you go on whirling there comes a moment when the center of your being remains static and your whole body and mind, whirls.

Once Jalaluddin realized that you can find the unmoving center of your being, he tried for third-six hours non-stop -- he was determined to whirl to his absolute capacity, not to hold back anything, so for third-six hours he whirled, and a great crowd watched.

After third-six hours he fell down, and Jalauddin was laughing loudly.

He said, "You think you have seen me falling, I have also seen myself falling. These third-six hours I have not moved a single inch. Now, I don't have to go to Mecca in search of God, I have found him. In the unmoving center of my own being, he is."




My dear readers, isn't this beautiful?

How to Give a Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

In 1962, Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his “realistic and imaginative writing, combining as it does sympathetic humor and keen social perception.” Privately, he felt he did not deserve the honor. In his acceptance speech, he said:

"the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature."

– Steinbeck Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

A Brief Guide to World Domination

Yup, you heard it right, World Domination!

Such is the goal of Chris Guillebeau, a man with interesting experiences and fascinating ideas. A Brief Guild to World Domination is his manifesto of a social experiment, and you can track his progress here.

The manifesto starts out with this:

If you want it badly enough, and are willing to make some changes in your life to cause it to happen, you too can take over the world... or do anything else you really want to do. Yes, you really can have it all. The only things you'll need to give up are assumptions, expectations, and the comfort zone that holds you back from greatness.

Life is short, fall in love maidens...

life is brief.
fall in love, maidens
before the crimson bloom
fades from your lips
before the tides of passion
cool within you,
for those of you
who know no tomorrow

life is brief
fall in love, maidens
before his hands
take up his boat
before the flush of his cheeks fades
for those of you
who will never return here

life is brief
fall in love, maidens
before the boat drifts away
on the waves
before the hand resting on your shoulder
becomes frail
for those who will never
be seen here again

life is brief
fall in love, maidens
before the raven tresses begin to fade
before the flame in your hearts
flicker and die
for those to whom today
will never return

Scent of a Woman

My friend Bob reminded me how good of a movie that "Scent of a Woman" is:

1. First, the Tango scene!



2. Then there is the court room like scene where Al defends Charlie:

Lt. Col. Frank Slade: [Lt. Col. Frank Slade is speaking in defense of Charlie Simms at meeting at the Baird School] Now I have come to the cross-roads in my life. I always knew what the right path was. Without exception, I knew, but I never took it. You know why? It was too damn hard. Now here's Charlie. He's come to the cross-roads. He has chosen a path. It's the right path. It's a path made of principle that leads to character. Let him continue on his journey.

Thanks Bob!

Evernote

It is necessary to organize your mind, especially when it is overcrowded in the Information Age we live in today. A good tool I recently discovered is Evernote, an online utility that can accept your thoughts from virtually anywhere - web, email, PDA, desktop, and more.

A couple of features I really like:

1) It has a tagging system that can be used to categorize and search your notes.

2) Its browser plugin can easily capture any web content you are interested in and turn it into a note. This is super convenient.

You can find Evernote here.

The Big Four

Tim Taylor, one of my personal heroes, fondly recalls what his NASA mentor told him once about life in his book "Launch Fever" -

...
I remember him saying, "You need to know who you are and what you enjoy doing so when one of the life changing opportunities comes your way, you will recognize it as one of the big four. You should then do everything you can to make it happen. Most people miss those four opportunities and live a life of quiet desperation. Your contentment in life will be determined by the choices you make regardless of all the negative events in your life. To enhance your life you will need to find a couple of those big four opportunities to create success in your life. No one is responsible for your success but you. Not your government. Not your mom and dad, and not your employer. You will determine your fate in life, and in the end you will have no one to blame other than your self. Those who continue to be the victim and blame others for their condition will never grow and be successful. You have to be your own bus driver."

If there is only one life lesson one can take, this is probably should be it.

Useful Money-saving Blogs

Gas price seems to be going up everyday, and of course, other expenses follow suit. It seems obvious that the economic downturn is not over and the worst is yet to come. Just about everyone is feeling the pinch. After all, it is hard to cut down driving and impossible to quit eating. So what can we do to make our dollars work harder? A few excellent Blogs might shed some clue.

Money Saving Mom
Lots of shopping advices, great deals, and coupons.
Offers very specific strategies on stores like Walgreens and CVS.
Updated daily.

Get Rich Slowly
An overall financial advice blog. Many tips on how to save your money, and how to make money as well.

Frequently list links to other great sites and articles.

Gas Buddy
Enter your zip code and it will find out where you can get the cheapest gas!

Deals to Buy
If you have to buy something, electronics, gifts, what have you, check here first. It almost always give you the best deal on the web.

Half.com
I practically ditched Amazon all together after I discovered half.com. Fantastic saving on books, music, movies, etc.

Know others? Write me!