Fate isn’t one straight road…

there are forks in it, 

many different routes to different ends. 

We have the free will to choose the path

 

Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. 

The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.

 

What you don’t know won’t hurt you. 

A dubious maxim: 

sometimes what you don’t know can hurt you very much.

 

Healthy introspection, without undermining oneself; 

it is a rare gift to venture into the unexplored depths of the self, without delusions or fictions, but with an uncorrupted gaze.

 A person whose desires and impulses are his own—are the expression of his own nature, as it has been developed and modified by his own culture—is said to have a character. 

One whose desires and impulses are not his own, has no character, no more than a steam-engine has character

 Research suggests that we start to recognize our mother's voice from the womb around 31 weeks. 

As soon as we're born, our language skills begin to develop. From birth to six months, we mostly coo, cry, and murmur as the vocal cords mature. Then we advance to babbling, until words start around 18 months. 

Eventually, words lead to sentences and soon, we forget the time when we couldn't speak at all.

 Children are less afraid to say what they're feeling than adults. It's only as we get older that we learn to censor ourselves. 

Maybe we do it because we're simply afraid to rock the boat. Or maybe we're terrified that by saying what we feel, or asking for what we need, we will cause more trouble than there is to begin with. 

So we choose over and over again to tamp down our voices, to stuff it so far down it can make us sick, until we can't anymore and we have to let it out. 

Even if it's the hardest thing in the world.

 The human brain contains roughly one hundred billion neurons. 

Alone, these neurons would only allow us to retain about as much information as a flash drive.

 Fortunately for us, our neurons connect and combine, creating a web that exponentially increases the brain storage capacity. In fact, this process creates so much space that we can store the equivalent of three million hours of video content. 

So why can't we remember everything we try to commit to memory? 

Our brains are constantly adapting to the present moment. Our brains can override information we no longer use with newer, more relevant ideas. Our brains make these decisions for us, whether we like it or not. 

They help us hold on to the things that matter and make space for whatever the future may hold.

 Genetics, diet, exercise. 

All of these factors have shown to be the key determinants of longevity. 

But researchers discovered another way to predict our live spans: our zip codes. 

In some cities, a few blocks could increase the likelihood of dying 30 years earlier. 

Where we live determines how we live. 

And how we live matters more than you might imagine. 

No matter where we live, we all wish for long, healthy lives for our family, for our loved ones, for our children. 

But even if the odds are in your favor, predictions are only part of the picture. 

We live in a world where everything can change in the blink of an eye. You could be on top of the world one minute but you never know when the rug might be pulled out from under you. 

When that happens, which it inevitably will, all you can do is hold on. 

And hope it won't end you.

 When an infection destroys a cell, the surrounding cells signal each other to wall it off. 

They isolate the infected cell to prevent it from spreading and harming other parts of your body.

 The isolation is temporary but important. It gives your body time to trigger your immune system and stop the infection from spreading. Until isolation is no longer needed. 

Much like the cells in our body, humans often isolate to avoid harm. 

The truth is, no single part of the body can thrive on its own. Your organs work together as a system. They'll compensate for each other when one gets weak. 

People can do the same for each other, stepping up when someone else is down.

 Isolating ourselves often makes us feel more alone.

 We're usually better together, 

even when we're struggling.

 Years ago, a New York physician discovered a gene mutation that causes congenital insensitivity to pain, or CIP. 

It's an extremely rare condition that blocks people from feeling pain. 

Sounds good in theory, but pain is important. It tells the body when it's in danger and helps keep it alive. 

Put your hand in fire, get burned and you learn not to do it again. 

Or, put another way, living hurts. As long as you're hurting, you're living. We know this. 

Pain is an excellent teacher. And life is full of sayings that remind us of its upsides: "Growing pains. Labor pains. Happy tears. So good it hurts." 

Pain warns us. It protects us. 

And most of all, pain makes us appreciate life's pleasures. 

Cherish good company, good health, savor the moments after the hurting, when you're all better, pain free. 

At least for a while.

 In 1963, Dr. Thomas Starzl performed the first five liver transplants. 

One patient bled to death on the operating table. 

The other four died within days. 

As a result, the operation was considered too dangerous to be performed on humans and liver transplantation was suspended worldwide for the next four years. 

It wasn't exactly an auspicious start for a surgery that has saved countless lives. 

Progress doesn't happen overnight and setbacks are all but inevitable. 

Sometimes, it can make you feel like Sisiphus, endlessly pushing the same boulder on the same hill. 

But where we would be if doctor Starzl hadn't persevered to perfect the liver transplant, if he had let the setbacks win? 

As tempting as it can be to throw in the towel, sometimes you have to take the obstacles as they come

 and find a new path forward.

 At the height of the Great Depression, Harvard scientists started tracking students in hopes of discovering the key to a long and happy life. 

They looked at participants' mental and physical health over 75 years. It is the longest study of happiness to date. 

75 years and all they did was confirm what we've known since the beginning of time. 

The most powerful predictor of health and happiness is the quality if our relationships. Strong relationships protect us. 

Loneliness, on the other hand, can be deadly. 

Over the course of our lives, our relationships ebb and flow. We get together, break up, move away, or fall out of touch. 

It's prolonged periods of loneliness and toxicity that wreak havoc on our health, our brain function, and our longevity. 

Sometimes, being alone can be so terrifying that we trap ourselves in harmful relationships.

 But in order to really thrive, you've got to be ready to cut and run. 

Your life just might depend on it.

 Researchers say the average length of a dream is two to three minutes. 

But many people experience their dreams as hours, if they can remember them at all. 

The science of dreaming has been questioned for hundreds of years. Some hypothesize that dreams are our way of processing real events that occur when we're awake. They may also serve as an outlet for repressed hopes and desires. 

Neuroscientists introduce a new theory every few years. 

But honestly, no one knows why we dream or why we have nightmares. We just hope that after the dream, we wake up. 

Some people spend their lives trying to make a dream come true. They set a goal, then make a plan on how to achieve it. It works for some people. 

But for others, it's not so easy. As hard as you work towards the dream, it can feel like the whole world is plotting against you. As you get further away from it, you cling to any sign of hope. 

And the longer it takes and the more it costs you, you start to consider whether you should give up.

 Do you find a new dream? 

Or do you stick to the one that started you on this journey in the first place?

 Research suggests that up to 40% of our day is spent acting out existing habits rather than making new decisions. 

From sleep to personal hygiene to diet and exercise. 

Some of our habits serve us well. 

Others can be more complicating. 

If you want to change a habit, behavioural scientists suggests starting small. Make one minor adjustment over time, it creates a domino effect that helps us make bigger chances down the line. 

Make a radical change and you've set yourself up for failure. 

The principle of the domino effect is a double-edged sword. It can help us build healthy habits but it can lead to destructive tendencies as well. One small misstep becomes one bad habit. 

Of course, none of us is perfect and so much is out of our control. 

All you can do is make the best choices available to you and hope they don't come back to bite you.

 

A med school professor once said, the hardest decision in surgery is knowing when to abandon a repair and just remove the whole organ. 

If a spleen is shattered, we'll take it out to protect the rest of the body. Same with a section of colon or small bowel. 

The human body can survive a fair amount of loss. 

People live without an appendix, a kidney, tonsils, and more. 

The body finds ways to compensate for what it's missing but it will eventually reach a breaking point. The body can only give up so much before it no longer works at all. 

Much like with surgery, life is full of calculated risks. 

We often make sacrifices in hopes of better outcomes. Not every gamble pays off the way we hoped. 

So we ask ourselves, "What are we willing to give up? 

What can we leave behind? 

What do we need to live? 

What makes life worth living? 

What are we willing to put on the line when a life is at stake? 

How much are we ready to lose if things don't break our way?"

 If you want to make progress, put up with being perceived as ignorant or niaive in worldly matters, 

don't aspire to a reputation for sagacity. 

If you do impress others as somebody, don't altogether believe it. 

You have to realize, it isn't easy to keep your will in agreement with nature, as well as externals.

 Caring about the one inevitably means you are going to shortchange the other

 

You cannot lose 

what you do not have 

 Remember two things: 

i. that everything has always been the same,

 and keeps recurring,

 and it makes no difference whether you see the same things recur in a hundred years or two hundred, 

or in an infinite period;

 ii. that the longest-lived and those who will die soonest lose the same thing. 

The present is all that they can give up, 

since that is all you have, 

and what you do not have you cannot lose

 Get busy with life's purpose, 

toss aside empty hopes,

 get active in your own rescue

 The candle that burns twice as bright 

burns half as long 

 The candle that burns half as long 

burns twice as bright 

 Is it better to go with the flow 

or let the flow go?

 Hope burns eternal in the human heart.

 It is the man of science, 

eager to have his every opinion regenerated,

 his every idea rationalized,

 by drinking at the fountain of fact,

and devoting all the energies of his life to the cult of truth,

 not as he understands it, but as he does not yet understand it,

 that ought properly to be called a philosopher

 It is better to be hated for what you are 

than to be loved for what you are not.

 Life isn't about finding yourself. 

Life is about creating yourself.

 Seize the wind,

Don't become the kite that never flies

 There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, 

but in the end, they always fall

 Above all, don't lie to yourself. 

The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others

. And having no respect he ceases to love.

 What is worse?

A lie that draws a smile?

Or a truth that draws a tear?

 You see but your shadow when you turn your back to the sun.

 you can never wash anything completely away, not from this dark glass of a world,

  

 there's another force as well, one every bit as real as the God ..., 

and that it works consciously to bring all our decent impulses to ruin. ..., 

but a kind of demon of discord, a prankish and stupid thing

 that laughs with glee when an old man sets himself on fire trying to light his pipe

 or when a much-loved baby puts its first Christmas toy in its mouth and chokes to death on it.

 It’s what you do in the present that will redeem the past and thereby change the future

 

The true experience of freedom: 

having the most important thing in the world without owning it

  

If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new Hello.

 In the Church they don't think.

A bishop keeps on saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy of eighteen.

 When the sea bears away a single grain of sand, the whole of the continent grows smaller.

We don't notice of course. It's just a grain of sand.

But at that moment the continent is diminished.

 When you Cross Over you will understand the many ways you were a fool in this world.

Everyone over there understands everyone over here better than we understand ourselves 

- and they forgive us our foolishness.

  

they too stand in the sunlight, but with their backs to the sun?

They see only their shadows, and their shadows are their laws.

 

 

For in truth it is life that gives unto life-

while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness

 

 life ushered us and we came down the years throbbing with memories of yesterday and with longing for tomorrow, 

for yesterday was death conquered and tomorrow was birth pursued

 The world that humanity has made is different from the world it was given.

The given world dazzles with wonder, poetry, and purpose.

The man made world is a perverse realm of ego and envy. 

Power mad cynics make false idols of themselves, and the meek have no inheritance because they have surrendered it to their idols in return, not for lasting glory, but for an occassional parade. 

Not for bread, but for the promise of bread.

 The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. 

The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect.

 God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of his wisdom.

 

The only thing scarier than space aliens is the idea that there aren't any space aliens.

We can't be the best that creation has to offer.

 with age, people come to realize that death is inevitable. 

And we  learn to face it with serenity, wisdom and resignation. 

Death often frees us from a lot of senseless sufferings

 Death is our constant companion, 

and it is death that gives each person's life its true meaning

 No one lights a lamp in order to hide it behind the door: 

the purpose of light is to create more light, to open people's eyes, to reveal the marvels around

 

There is a skull in every man, 

and there is a skull in the lives of all men. 

They saw it that day, those men. 

They saw what sometimes grins behind the smile.

 Everyone— black as well as white— thinks it's going to be better over the next jump of land.

 your possessions are things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow

 

If we were all to sit in a circle and confess our sins, we would laugh at each other for lack of originality. 

 In the wild you don’t see old animals

because as soon as they age,
animals die.

If they get sick or slow down,
something stronger kills them.

Animals aren’t meant to get old.


Our culture has made death something wrong.

Old animals should be an unnatural exception.

 

Forgiveness is almost a selfish act

because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.

 

It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution

  

What you have done is out there.

And what you have done remembers.

 

our biggest regrets are not for the things we did, but for the things we didn't do.

Things we didn't say that could've save someone that we care about

 

The rest of your life is a long time.

And the rest of your life starts right now.

 If you could go back and change one thing about your life, would you?

And if you did, would that change make your life better?
Or would that change ultimately break your heart?
Or break the heart of another?

Or would you choose an entirely different path?
Or would you change just one thing, just one moment?

One moment, that you've always wanted back.

 Have you ever wondered what marks our timing?

If one life can really make an impact on the world?
Or if the choices we make matter?

I believe they do.

And I believe that one person can change many lives.

For better, or worse.

 

There is a common emotion we all recognize and have not yet named

 - the happy anticipation of being able to feel contempt.

 when you find yourself lost in the darkness and despair, remember it’s only in the black of night you see the stars. 

 Paulo Coelho's blog 

 somebody asked him

"Best piece of advice you have ever been given?".

Paulo's reply was simple:

"Don’t follow advices. Try it yourself."

I myself made this reply:

"So the best piece of advice you’ve ever given is not to follow advice 

 I’m certainly going to follow that advice! "

 All psychopaths are narcissists

They love to read about themselves

 

maybe we were all circus mice, 

running around with only the dimmest awareness that God and all His heavenly host were watching us in our  houses through our ivy-glass windows

 

I dreamed of you. 

I dreamed you were wandering in the dark, and so was I. 

We found each other.

 

They found this guy in Maine who had been living completely alone in the woods for 30 years.

 They called him the last true hermit. 

30 years without the warmth of human touch, without conversation. 

The hermit felt more lonely when he was out in the world, than he ever felt in the woods by himself. Surrounded by people, but drowning in solitude. 

That kind of loneliness can swallow you whole. 

The last true hermit was found and dragged out of hiding and into the world. Most might find his existence sad, but the hermit knew something we didn't. He knew that when it comes down to it, even when you're with someone, or in the noisy rush of people, it's just you. 

The one you can count on, and lean on, and depend on. It has to be you. 

And once you figure that out, that's when being alone becomes a choice.

 

When exposed to trauma, the body deploys its own defense system. 

From the first second the brain receives the signal that a catastrophe has happened, the blood rushes to the organs that need help the most. Blood floods into the muscles, the lungs, the heart, the brain. 

The brain makes a decision for the rest of the body. Either face the danger or run away. It's a mechanism designed to protect the body from harm. 

From knowing that what has happened might be irreparable, we call it 'shock'.

 When shock wears off, when the body can accept that a trauma has happened, when it can let down its defences, it's a scary moment. It's vulnerable. 

The shock response had protected us, and it just might have saved us.

still alive

 

Being alive, it's everything. 

Time to celebrate.

 And yes, time for pain. 

Time to change. To grow. To love. 

And time to give.

 

Sometimes, the things we fight hardest to achieve end up costing us the most. 

But it doesn't mean the effort was a waste. 

Every experience can teach us something if we choose to receive the lesson. 

But what we learn may completely surprise us.

 

There will be no shortage of times when you feel like giving up, but you can't let that fear or desperation stop you. 

Even when you feel trapped. Even when it feels like there is no end in sight. Even when things are moving faster than you can comprehend. 

Even when every part of you is certain that all is lost.

 

Researchers have theorized that nightmares are the brain's way of processing unsettling events of the past. 

Others believe nightmares are how our subconscious mind prepares us to do deal with our real-life fears. 

Either way, they agree that nightmares are most commonly brought on by one thing: stress.

 Sometimes, your worst nightmare comes true but you find it's really nothing to worry about.

 Occasionally, you discover that what you most dread is really a blessing and your life is better because you persevered despite your fears. 

But sometimes your worst nightmare is truly scary and it feels like it's never going to end. 

That's when support from friends and family is vital. 

You wanna surround yourself with people who will wake you up from your nightmare and help you live your wildest dreams.

 

for some reason, someone decided a long time ago that naming pain is impolite, that hiding it and hiding from it makes more sense. 

It doesn't. It's a lie. 

A lie that both comforts and destroys us.

 A survey showed the typical adult says "I'm fine" 14 times a week. But less than one in five of them means it. 

Our default is to put on a brave face.

 But sometimes it's braver to admit something's wrong.

Because pretending everything's fine eventually catches up to you.

 And when it does, you better hope you can repair the damage that's already done.

 

It's a natural progression in any profession for the student to become the teacher, the mentee to become the mentor. 

It's not that much different from parenting.

 We learn from our ancestors how to make the perfect soup, how to soothe an aching head or heart. We measure milestones in percentiles and first steps to try and gain insight into the person they'll grow into. 

As if knowing a bunch of numbers on charts is any true measure of what we might make of ourselves

. No one said it was easy, becoming the person you're meant to be

 It takes bravery to step into the power you found and earned and deserve. 

The trick is, to take the people who were there for you, with you, to remind you you're not alone.

 You have an entire legacy behind you as you create your own.

 

It's been said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. 

But conflict on the road to progress is inevitable. And at least some division is always a certainty. 

Because we all want what we think is best for everyone. And when we can trust at least that much to be true, it's simply not realistic for any house to avoid some division.

 But how much division can any house withstand before it finally falls?

 

nothing is more opaque

than absolute transparency

 

The music smells like foxes,
crisp as heated metal
searing the nostrils

or humid as August,

 hazy and languorous
as a looted city the day after,
when all the rape's been done already, 

and the killing,
and the survivors wander around
looking for garbage
to eat, 

and there's only a bleak exhaustion.

Monday August 19: Sturgeon Moon - Supermoon

 

• Sunday July 21: Deer Moon
• Monday August 19: Sturgeon Moon - Supermoon 
• Tuesday September 17: Harvest Moon
• Wednesday, September 18, 2024 - Supermoon 
• Thursday October 17: Hunter's Moon - Supermoon 
• Friday November 15: Beaver Moon  - Supermoon 
• Sunday December 15: Cold Moon

Full moon happens when the moon is on the opposite side of Earth from the sun.

Perigee –  is the moon’s closest point to Earth in a month 

So  full moon closely coincides with perigee several times each year. 

When that happens, we have a supermoon