Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Blessed relief
Ella passed away last night at about 7 o-clock.She was a pioneer in many ways.
...a gym teacher.
...a lady missionary.
...a Red Cross worker in Alaska.
...a piano player in a dance band.
...a hunter.
...a camper.
...a fisher.
Although she has been suffering for years, she did a great job "covering" her illness. She used humor and general statements mostly.
We will miss you, Ella; a high mucky-muck indeed.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Peeps are back
The Chicago Tribune is doing its annual Peeps diorama contest.
chicagotribune.com
Peeps rules
Tribune staff
March 16, 2010
The rules for the Peeps diorama contest are simple.
Keep the diorama the size of a microwave or large breadbox. Give your diorama a clever title, if you like, and include a brief explanation if it needs one. Take a photo and submit it at chicagotribune.com/peeps. While you're there, check out some past entries in our photo galleries.
We'll pick finalists on Monday, March 29, and announce the winner April 2.
The important thing is to have fun and make us laugh. Now go Peeps!
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
chicagotribune.com
Peeps rules
Tribune staff
March 16, 2010
The rules for the Peeps diorama contest are simple.
Keep the diorama the size of a microwave or large breadbox. Give your diorama a clever title, if you like, and include a brief explanation if it needs one. Take a photo and submit it at chicagotribune.com/peeps. While you're there, check out some past entries in our photo galleries.
We'll pick finalists on Monday, March 29, and announce the winner April 2.
The important thing is to have fun and make us laugh. Now go Peeps!
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Another look at anger
The Two Faces of Anger: Guilt and Resentment
Guilt is anger directed at ourselves--at what we did or did not do. Resentment is anger directed at others--at what they did or did not do.
The process of guilt and resentment is the same:
1- We have an image that either we or others should live up to. (An image of all the should's, must's, have-to's, and demands we learned or created about our own and/or others' behavior.)
2- We emotionally demand that we or others live up to this image.
3- We or they fail to live up to our image.
4- We judge the "contrary action" as wrong, bad, evil, wicked, etc.
5- We become emotionally upset--bitter, alienated, hurt, hostile, belligerent, combative, contentious, quarrelsome, vicious, touchy, cranky, cross, grouchy, testy, enraged, aggravated, annoyed, furious, teed-off, etc., etc. We'll put them all under the general umbrella of "angry."
6- We assign blame for the emotional upset--either we did it or they did it. (The judge pronounces sentence.)
7- The swift execution of justice. If we are to blame, we direct the anger toward ourselves, feeling regret, remorse, shame, repentance, culpability, fault--we'll call all that guilt. If the transgressor of our expectations was someone or something other than ourselves, we call our anger spite, jealousy, suspicion, malice, begrudging, covetousness, envy, indignation--all of which we'll call resentment. The sad fact is that, whether we blame us or them, we feel the hurt. But that is not considered, at least for long.
8- All of this continues for the prescribed length of time and intensity. No reprieves, no appeals--possible time off for very good behavior.
If these are the two faces of anger, what's the good in that? Frankly, not much.
~from Life 101
Every great mistake has
a halfway moment,
a split second when it
can be recalled and
perhaps remedied.
PEARL S. BUCK
Status report
Jabba is just about history. He was a good snowman. He weathered the warm air and the sunshine...but the rain was too much for him.
For a glimpse of him in his glory days, look here:
http://frozenpizzasundays.blogspot.com/2010/01/name-snowman.html
Sunday, March 7, 2010
To act...or be acted upon
From Life 101:
Accountability
To the degree the events of the world happen to us, we are powerless pawns in a game of chance. The most we can do is hope, have lots of insurance, and buy emergency food supplies.
To the degree we know that we have something to do with what happens to us, we gain authority, influence, and control over our lives. We see that by changing our attitudes and actions, we can change what happens to us.
In a word, we become accountable.
When something happens to you, you can explore it and probably see that you had something to do with its taking place. You either created it, promoted it, or--at the very least--allowed it. (To remember the words create, promote, and allow, just remember C.P.A. = accountant = accountability.)
When looking for areas of accountability, please don't start with the biggest disaster of your life. Start with the daily slings and arrows that flesh is heir to. Looking for accountability is like exercise--don't try to run a marathon if, like me, you've been sedentary for twenty years (and supine the twenty years before that).
Pick a simple "it happened to me" event--misplacing your keys, the plumber not showing up, running out of gas--and see how you might have had something to do with creating, promoting, or allowing it to happen. Helpful hints:
1. Go back in time. We love to begin our "victim stories" at the point "it" starts happening to us--when the you-know-what hits the fan, and the fan is running. If you start at an earlier point, however, you see that you promised yourself to always put your keys in the same place but didn't, the plumber was not known for his reliability, and the low-gas indicator light on your car had been on for so long you thought your car was solar-powered.
2. What was I pretending not to know? What intuitive flashes did you ignore? "I'd better get some spare keys made," as you passed the hardware store a month ago? "This guy's not going to show," when you first spoke to the plumber? "I'd better get some gas," as you passed the thirty-fifth station since the gas-indicator light came on? We all pretend to know less than we really know.
Into all this comes a perfectly good word that has been given a bad rap--responsibility. Responsibility simply means the ability to respond. Most people, however, use it to mean blame: "Who's responsible for this!"
In any situation, we have the ability to respond, and our response will make the situation either better or worse. Whichever way it goes, we have the ability to respond again. And again. And again. By exercising our ability to respond, and watching the results closely, we can, if we choose, lift almost any situation.
One ability to respond we always have is how we react inside to what's going on outside. The world can be falling apart around us; that doesn't mean we have to fall apart ourselves. It's okay to feel good when things go bad.
True accountability has three parts. First, acknowledge that you have something to do with what's happened. Even if you're not sure what that might be, ask yourself, "How might I have created, promoted, or allowed this?" The answer may surprise you.
Second, explore your response options. In other words, become response-able.
Third, take a corrective action. The more accountability you found at the first step, the more corrective action you may want to take. On the other hand, your corrective action might be getting out of the way and letting those who are more accountable than you take care of things--if you spilt the glass of milk, clean up the milk; if a milk truck spills milk all over the highway, get off the highway.
And remember: you create, promote, or allow all the good things that happen to you, too.
Authors: John-Roger and Peter McWilliams
Accountability
To the degree the events of the world happen to us, we are powerless pawns in a game of chance. The most we can do is hope, have lots of insurance, and buy emergency food supplies.
To the degree we know that we have something to do with what happens to us, we gain authority, influence, and control over our lives. We see that by changing our attitudes and actions, we can change what happens to us.
In a word, we become accountable.
When something happens to you, you can explore it and probably see that you had something to do with its taking place. You either created it, promoted it, or--at the very least--allowed it. (To remember the words create, promote, and allow, just remember C.P.A. = accountant = accountability.)
When looking for areas of accountability, please don't start with the biggest disaster of your life. Start with the daily slings and arrows that flesh is heir to. Looking for accountability is like exercise--don't try to run a marathon if, like me, you've been sedentary for twenty years (and supine the twenty years before that).
Pick a simple "it happened to me" event--misplacing your keys, the plumber not showing up, running out of gas--and see how you might have had something to do with creating, promoting, or allowing it to happen. Helpful hints:
1. Go back in time. We love to begin our "victim stories" at the point "it" starts happening to us--when the you-know-what hits the fan, and the fan is running. If you start at an earlier point, however, you see that you promised yourself to always put your keys in the same place but didn't, the plumber was not known for his reliability, and the low-gas indicator light on your car had been on for so long you thought your car was solar-powered.
2. What was I pretending not to know? What intuitive flashes did you ignore? "I'd better get some spare keys made," as you passed the hardware store a month ago? "This guy's not going to show," when you first spoke to the plumber? "I'd better get some gas," as you passed the thirty-fifth station since the gas-indicator light came on? We all pretend to know less than we really know.
Into all this comes a perfectly good word that has been given a bad rap--responsibility. Responsibility simply means the ability to respond. Most people, however, use it to mean blame: "Who's responsible for this!"
In any situation, we have the ability to respond, and our response will make the situation either better or worse. Whichever way it goes, we have the ability to respond again. And again. And again. By exercising our ability to respond, and watching the results closely, we can, if we choose, lift almost any situation.
One ability to respond we always have is how we react inside to what's going on outside. The world can be falling apart around us; that doesn't mean we have to fall apart ourselves. It's okay to feel good when things go bad.
True accountability has three parts. First, acknowledge that you have something to do with what's happened. Even if you're not sure what that might be, ask yourself, "How might I have created, promoted, or allowed this?" The answer may surprise you.
Second, explore your response options. In other words, become response-able.
Third, take a corrective action. The more accountability you found at the first step, the more corrective action you may want to take. On the other hand, your corrective action might be getting out of the way and letting those who are more accountable than you take care of things--if you spilt the glass of milk, clean up the milk; if a milk truck spills milk all over the highway, get off the highway.
And remember: you create, promote, or allow all the good things that happen to you, too.
Authors: John-Roger and Peter McWilliams
Saturday, March 6, 2010
What's that, Holmes?
There are
one-story intellects,
two-story intellects, and three-story
intellects with skylights. All fact-collectors, who
have no aim beyond their facts, are one-story men. Two-story men
compare, reason, generalize, using the labors of the fact collectors as
well as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine,
predict-their best illumination comes from
above, through the skylight.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes
one-story intellects,
two-story intellects, and three-story
intellects with skylights. All fact-collectors, who
have no aim beyond their facts, are one-story men. Two-story men
compare, reason, generalize, using the labors of the fact collectors as
well as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine,
predict-their best illumination comes from
above, through the skylight.
~Oliver Wendell Holmes
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