Like A Diamond In The Sky

-
Image
  “Under the stars,” she repeated. “I never noticed the stars before. I always thought of them as great big diamonds that belonged to someone. Now they frighten me. They make me feel that it was all a dream, all my youth.”  “It was a dream,” said John quietly.  “Everybody’s youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.”  “How pleasant then to be insane!” —“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” A Short Story By F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)

Focus

-
"Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people--unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You'll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing and why, and what they're saying and what they're thinking, and what they're up to and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.4)

Popular posts from this blog

Rock Me, Epictetus!

-
Image
“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?” EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6 b –8 
Read more

The Smooth-flowing Life

-
Image
Legend has it that the astronomer Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) suggested that falling stars were caused by the gods moving in the heavens, thus knocking stars out of their places. Somehow people reasoned that that if the gods were moving, they must be getting close to earth so they would lift their "prayers" or "wishes" (literally, "desires") whenever they saw the stars falling in hopes the gods would notice and grant a favorable answer. But how does one wish on falling star? Once you see it, it's gone before the wish or prayer can be made! The answer is simple: meteor shower. That's how to get your wish. Mrs. Ann Hodges had a wish fall right into her lap. Sort of. In 1954 Mrs. Hodges was sleeping on the couch when a 8 1/2 pound meteorite fell through her house and into her living room where it bounced off the radio and struck her left hip leaving her with a bruise. Not sure what she was wishing, but that's not how to do it. Epictetus hel...
Read more