Daring

"Security is mostly a superstition...Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

Helen Keller

 Pretty typical "carpe diem" type of quote. But, really. Sometimes it is a good reminder. What is really holding you back? 

Usually what holds me back is wondering if my perspectives are skewed or lacking information or just plain wrong. 

So I guess once I figure that out, I gotta decide to bring on the adventure

:)

Radio

(This rambling is not referring to songs that are overplayed.)

Funny how I can listen to songs on my ipod/computer any time I want, but for some reason it is especially exciting to me when I hear them come over the radio. Unexpected delight.

(Somebody That I Used to Know, Edge of Glory, Domino, We Found Love, etc.)

:)

Ghazal

First off, I've had this song stuck in my head for the past week or so ha! (I shared this song with my old people and some of them recognized it and swayed along with me as I washed dishes! :) Twas great)

Also, I found this extremely random, yet a couple of the lines really intrigued me...

The Ghazal of What Hurt by Peter Cole
(PS a ghazal is an "oriental lyric...poetry written in recurring lines."
shrug ha. sounds like a type of bird to me!)

"Pain froze you, for years--and fear--leaving scars.
But now, as though miraculously, it seems, here you are

walking easily across the ground, and into town
as though you were floating on air, which in part you are,

or riding a wave of what feels like the world's good will--
though helped along by something foreign and older than you are,

not all that far beneath the skin, and even in
some bones. Making you wonder: Are you what you are--


with all that isn't actually you having flowed
through and settled in you, & made you what you are?

The pain was never replaced, nor was it quite erased.
It's a memory now--so you know just how lucky you are.


You didn't always. Were you then? And where's the fear?
Inside your words, like an engine? The car you are?!

Face it, friend, you most exist when you're driven
away, or on--by forms and forces greater than you are."

Makes me wonder ha.

:)

Hospital

Some thoughts stemming from working at the hospital:

In my orientation packet from Intermountain Healthcare, there was a little book which started with this story:

"It was the dawn of space flight, and the story is told of an early visit by John F. Kennedy to Cape Canaveral and the space center that would later be named for him. Among the people he met in the hallway that day was a custodian. President Kennedy asked him, 'What is your name, and what do you do?'

The man gave him his name, and then said: 'I'm helping to put a man on the moon.'

...Each of us as a role to play in healing. Whether we provide care directly or support those who do, we have the opportunity every day to create an experience that can help others heal. It isn't only about the jobs we do, it's about the way we do them.'"

Cool, eh? Yes, it might be a cheesy pump-up story..but I quite liked it. It applies well to life. 

I was also thinking, 

isn't it funny that sometimes we feel comfortable confiding things to strangers that we don't even tell people we are close to?

Like in a hospital, I get to know patients and they tell me some pretty intimate details about their lives sometimes. Or sometimes some not-so-intimate things, but things you might not throw out there for all of your neighbors to hear. 

Safety in secrecy? In the fact that you are probably never going to see them again. And they are never going to see anybody involved in any of the stories you tell, so you don't have to worry about the word getting out.

Obviously we share these kinds of details with people we are close to as well. So perhaps conversations like these are for intimate friends and for strangers? 

Again, no deep insight into human nature with this last thought. Just a thought.

:)

Psalm of Life

At work today, a dear friend of mine told me his favorite poem is Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He recited some of it to me. His hearing aids were broken, so I wrote him how much I liked the poem ha :) Gosh dang, have I mentioned how much I love old people?

"Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

:)

Por que

I know I juuust published a post..but that isn't really what is on my mind right now.

Today I'm musing about why people do what they do.

Gut instinct, logic, inspiration, emotion, 

selfishness, selflessness, fear, misunderstandings,

understanding, habit, ignorance, knowledge,

desire to fit in, desire to be different,

spontaneity, boredom, love, etc.

Then once we do something, what keeps us with that?

A continuation of one of the reasons above, or a remembrance of that initial motivation?

Hmmm.

:)

Searching

Help Yourself To Happiness

--Helen Steiner Rice--

Everybody, everywhere

seeks happiness, it's true,

But finding it and keeping it

seem difficult to do.

Difficult because we think

that happiness is found 

Only in the places where
wealth and fame abound.
And so we go on searching.

in palaces of pleasure

Seeking recognition

and monetary treasure,

Unaware that happiness 

is just a state of mind

Within the reach of everyone

who takes time to be kind.

For in making others happy

we will be happy too.

For the happiness you give away

returns to shine on you.

You've never heard something like this, have you? All of these words are quite novel ideas ;)

Funny how we can forget though. 

There is a way to do some small good for someone else, doesn't matter where you're at.

:)