Thoughts: I read the the news today, oh boy
Have you ever tried to not watch the the news?
The people who tell me that if I don’t have a television I’m missing a lot. I think they are.
– Brother Ian
Intuitives: Father Keating & centering prayer
Tonight I’m going to a meeting of folks in Tennessee (wandering monks usually pass this way) who are discussing & sorting out the practice of centering prayer. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Interested in meditation? Check this. Interested in exploring faith with interior silence? Check it.
Here’s a touch of CP, in a nutshell with Father.
– Brother Ian
Wordplay: The effect of language on spending; or, how you view the future & how it shapes your world
There. Told you what this is about….here’s the deal: I promise you will look at the rest of the day & the things you say differently, after you digest this little rendering of a seemingly counter-intuitive thought.
Check it:
Thoughts: Morning really has broken….
The morning, most days, is so beautiful that it’s really a good thing that it fades into the clear day….otherwise we wouldn’t get anything done! The morning’s colours fade, easily & gently, into that special place in our hearts where the embers warm us, through the morning hours & the rest of the day.
Robert Frost says, “Nothing gold can stay,” but I think that’s true only on the morning’s horizon. The gold of remembered dreams, the golden fire of waking to the magic we can do in the world, and the blaze that accompanies our burning desire to share & to heal each day – these never go out.
Here’s a little morning song for you from the Incredible String Band (click here to hear, you hear?)
May the longtime sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure white light within you
Guide your way home.
– Brother Ian
Thoughts: Alan Watts: “The more you give away, the more that comes back….”
“If you know you don’t understand, you truly understand….”
Here’s a little dose of Alan Watts for your morning:
When a glacier calves….this is the biggest, yet.
Check this out – I’m pretty sure you’ll be amazed at the power of the planet when you see the ice fall away in Antarctica in this short, well put together piece – check it out!
Wordplay: Short & sweet
Someone told me once that poets who write haiku are lazy.
I don’t believe that. Hand me the pliers.
Thought: Let it bleed…
Ran into a friend who mentioned she admires Derrick Jensen, and that she has this on a stickie on her computer:
“Writing is really very easy. Tap a vein and bleed onto the page. Everything else is just editing.”
Derrick Jensen
Kinda reminds me of what Arlo Guthrie says:
“Song-writing’s just kinda like catching fish–you sit there and pull them out as they go by – though I think it helps to be upstream from Bob Dylan.”
Thoughts: Wise words from a wise monk…..
Whales: Watch a humpback in action (it’s like riding a whale….)
Here’s a story you’ll find fascinating: NOAA shares research showing how humpbacks manage their bottom-feeding, including eating sand lance (sand eels.) And you can watch, as they attach a “crittercam” to the whale to actually see it in action.
Funnier: Coming ’round….
Writings: A reminder: We just put it all together….
One of my favourite people in the world is Elliot Pemberton, who grew up in Friday Harbor, Washington in the USA, where I used to watch him play football & as we put out the school newspaper together. I’ve always thought St. Peter must have been like Elliot – whenever he speaks, people want to listen, which makes him a natural leader.
He’s living in Austin these days, and he tells this little story as he made breakfast for Kari & the kids:
This morning I proudly woke up and made Siri some French toast with homemade cinnamon bread (Kari made the bread earlier), fresh eggs from our backyard chickens and topped the french toast with local honey instead of syrup.
Siri loved it and I told her I was so glad she liked the French toast that I made. She then gave an all-knowing exasperated smile while shaking her head, put up her hands, took a deep breath and said, “Dad, you didn’t make it. Mom made the bread, our chickens made the eggs and bees made the honey… you just put it together.”
Elliot posted this, a little later on Facebook:
Whales: A friend, close at hand
Music: The story behind “The End of the Road (Mabel’s Song)”
When I first heard Joe Bongiorno‘s new release, The Flight of a Dream earlier this month, I knew that he had a winner on his hands. I’ve listened to it now maybe six million times…but that’s been a couple of weeks, so I had time. It’s great! (Click here to hear samples – you’ll get it!)
I discovered that he had put a song called The End of the Road (Mabel’s Song) on the album, and although I know Joe well, I didn’t know of anyone named Mabel in his life. His response touched me deeply:
Been asked ALOT about the story behind this song from the new album…. You might remember a post of mine about 9 months back.
This song was inspired by that experience. Here it is from Feb 3rd of this year:
The doorbell rang this morning. A sweet elderly lady standing there with a worried look. I greeted her and she asked for Mabel. Mabel was the lady who lived in our house previously (we had just moved in four months before), and I knew she had she had passed away.
I really didn’t want to bear this news to the kind lady. She then told me that she had driven two days from Texas to come to the house to see her. She had written Mabel a letter and it had been returned to sender.
I remember this letter coming before the holidays. She had no other way to attempt contact than to come in person. With a frog in my throat, I let her know that Mabel had passed away. She sighed, as if almost with relief that what she feared was true, and then her eyes welled up sadly.
She looked to her husband still sitting in the car and shook her head sadly. He understood the look & turned away as if to hide his emotion. I invited her in for a little visit but she said sweetly, “It’s time to go home”.
Perhaps this is a reminder to me to reach out more often to friends and family. It’s a reminder, too, that life can change at any moment, for any of us… for someone my age, I have lost very few people who were dear to me.
I am quite sure that I’ll get my fair dose of this in the days to come….
Here’s the song (click here to listen).
Thoughts: Stay in touch….
When was the last time you actually touched the person to whom you said, “Hey, stay in touch!”
I think it was Bob Hope who said, “People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy.”
Here’s a little two minute essay, telling the story:
Thoughts: The science of happiness, supported by an experiment in gratitude…
I love how Julian at the end says it’s all true because a guy in a lab coat told you so.
And I love how the people in the experiment say, “They MADE me do it!”
This video picked up 300K views, just since I first saw it yesterday. When you watch it, you’ll get an idea why.
And…thank you for being there, my friend.
About Brother Ian
Over the centuries, Brother Ian has been collecting stories & information & discourses for the purpose of elevating the human condition as needed, dissecting it when necessary, and building the case for hope.
In the spirit of noting that organized crime, organized baseball, organized labour, and organized religion tend to engender controversy & occasional discord, I promise to be neither organized or critical of those who are.