Recycled Notes About the Quality of Life
Don't look back, Mr. Paige...
The following is an edited list of suggestions and observations I offered to my daughter on the occasion of her 21st birthday, two years ago, instead of the nifty laptop she wanted. I repost the same list today — again, sans laptop — for your consideration. Enjoy…
You are always and forever loved.
All healing begins with gratitude.
Treat all living things with kindness and compassion and respect. How they treat you is up to them.
The digital mantra to think globally and act locally is a sales pitch, pure and simple. Much better to think and act locally. The family dinner table and your local house of worship are the best places to start. If you still feel the need to think globally and act locally, walk with God first…
Try not to waste all your time on all your time-saving digital devices, because…
Time is your most precious inventory.
The quality of life is a reflection of how and where and with whom you invest your faith, your time, and your money.
Your current values are a reflection of how and where and with whom you currently invest your time and faith.
Take comfort in the fact that you are first and foremost a spiritual being with occasional social, emotional, and physical manifestations. But don’t rest too easy: Know also that addiction is first and foremost a spiritual problem with occasional social, emotional, and physical manifestations.
Begin each prayer with simple thanks. If you don’t pray, thank someone somewhere for something anyway.
Peace of mind is the reconciliation of what your mind tells you with what your heart confirms.
We go to sleep at night in Procrustean beds of our own design.
True freedom is the freedom not to participate. True freedom is the freedom to walk away.
Ignorance is a far better place to begin a journey than to end one.
Ignorance and wonderment are the wellsprings of innovation.
Boredom is a reflection on you, not the world around you.
Seek out deliberate ways to simplify your life.
We don’t find things like inspiration and innovation as much as they find us. Our job is to clear a welcome path for them in our hearts and between our ears.
We spend all of our time in relationships with other people and things. How and where and with whom we invest our time within these relationships is governed by the rituals we build to service them.
Ritual — meaningful and/or mindless — is the arbiter of time.
Never base your decisions on fear and envy. Doing so will only incur more fear and more envy.
Ignorance plus intent equals innovation.
Calm your soul and know that spirituality and peace of mind are in the exhale.
Creation is a function of rhythm. All artists — regardless of the medium — create by ear.
Look to the future with wonderment and open arms. It’s coming anyway.
We become our attention.
Freedom is a spiritual endowment. As such, it can neither be conferred nor revoked. It can only be preserved or surrendered.
Nothing is profane when everything is already rendered profane.
Never surrender your identity or individual sense of right and wrong to any institution or group. Be a good team player, but remember that you and you alone are accountable for the decisions you make in your life.
Love your country, but be skeptical of all technology, all media and all government authority. Skepticism is your first civil obligation in a free society.
Whenever possible, choose freedom and liberty over safety and security. Otherwise, you will wake up one day to discover that you have neither.
Slow down. Speed kills.
Laugh first and often at yourself. Humor is critical to humility and grace.
Bring gratitude, passion and patience to every encounter. You’ll need them.
Let the people you love know just how much you love them. Life is fragile and uncertain.
Seek wisdom of the ages over knowledge of the moment.
Seek moderation over excess in all regards. Excess anything will always steal your time and money and freedom.
Seek simplicity over complexity; look first at the obvious but be mindful and respectful of how quickly simple circumstance can degenerate into mindless chaos with unanticipated complexities and consequences.
Whenever financially prudent, choose time over money.
Know when to let go.
Happiness is a choice you make each and every day.
All of your choices have consequences.
You can’t change others. You can only change yourself.
The people you love want and need to see and hear it from you.
Again, you are always and forever loved.