Here’s the latest….

Writings mktdaf

Writings: (Don’t) be careful what you ask for….

Don't be so careful you can't get close enough to your dreams that you can't get close enough to touch them....
Don’t be so careful you can’t get close enough to your dreams that you can’t get close enough to touch them….

“Be careful what you ask for…..”

Whenever I hear someone say this (is it true for you?) they’re almost always noticing something that turned out…the way it was asked for.

“Hope I get a promotion.”

So you do. With no raise.

“I always catch 4–5 colds every winter.”

Ah-chooooo.

OK, so we never really know how things are going to turn out. Cool enough – we can come up with a zillion examples of the surprises life can throw our way, both stuff we expected & things that went the other way. But lately I’ve been noticing how people articulate pretty clearly what they really want, and then just as articulately list the reasons they’re not going to see it happen.

“I want another job!”

So, go after one.

“I can’t. I need the benefits at this one, and the family would have to move, and my parents don’t want me to do that, and I have to feed the dog (someone actually told me that, and let that keep her from finishing updating her resume), and I’m scared and my wife has friends where I work now and my husband doesn’t make enough money and….”

You get the idea.

It’s time to take the leap. Take the risk, take the jump. Sure, be careful enough to not whack yourself or hurt someone or neglect the chance to love someone, but not so careful you pass up the chance to feel how wonderful it feels to do what you truly were born to do.

I met a guy who was conducting a tour at The Future of Flight factory in Seattle (it’s a Boeing operation –  you see planes made), and since I saw him five times (I brough him tour groups), I told him it sure was fun to watch him give tours, because he seemed to be having such a good time, which in turn made it fun for the people.

He said, “My daddy told me, “If you do something you love, you never have to work a day in your life.'”

Wouldn’t that be great?

Be wise, be observant, use discretion…but don’t be so “careful” you can’t taste the thrill of doing what your heart sings for you.

Make it so, Number One.

– Brother Ian

Whale News mktdaf

Whales: Meet Ken & check in on the orcas, with Carl Safina

Female killer whale, draped in kelp.....photo by Carl Safina.
Female killer whale, draped in kelp…..photo by Carl Safina.

Carl Safina came to San Juan Island in Washington State to see what’s happening with the killer whales, and to hang out with the Center for Whale Research’s Ken Balcomb.

The state of the environment for the orcas: short on food, and decreasing numbers in the resident pods. It doesn’t help that the Navy does sonar testing in these waters, either.

Carl files this report. (click here)

In the Other News mktdaf

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

Thoughts mktdaf

Thoughts: Morning really has broken….

The sunrise yesterday morning over Chattanooga, Tennessee in the States....that's the gold of morning separating the blue sky above & the foggy, low clouds below, from an early hike on Lookout Mountain. Photo by Ian Byington.
The sunrise yesterday morning over Chattanooga, Tennessee in the States….that’s the gold of morning separating the blue sky above & the foggy, low clouds below, from an early hike on Lookout Mountain. Photo by Ian Byington.

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

Wordplay mktdaf

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.”

Whale News mktdaf

Whales: Watch a humpback in action (it’s like riding a whale….)

The humpback in the story is on the east coast of the USA; this one, above, is off Maui last winter...photo by Ian Byington.
The humpback in the story is on the east coast of the USA; this one, above, is off Maui last winter…photo by Ian Byington.

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.

Check it out, here.

Writings mktdaf

Writings: A reminder: We just put it all together….

Elliot with Siri, and it's all good.
Elliot with Siri, and it’s all good.

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:

Screen shot 2013-09-29 at 11.05.54 PM

Poetry of Music Writings mktdaf

Music: The story behind “The End of the Road (Mabel’s Song)”

Solo piano player Joe Bongiorno
Solo piano player Joe Bongiorno

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 new album...
The new album…

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).

Thought for the day…


"People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances without own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive..."
-- Joseph Campbell

About Brother Ian

brother ian in actionOver 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.

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