And now, for something completely different…

I'm re-reading I Wait for the Moon:  100 Haiku of Momoko Kuroda, ©2014 by Abigail Friedman.  It does a wonderful job of placing the haiku in context and providing supporting details not generally known in the West.  The commentary really makes the haiku come alive, making it much more rich and colorful.

These two little passages were in reference to several haiku about cherry blossoms:

Each year as the cherry blossom season nears, the Japanese media provide daily updates on the evolving state of the cherry tree buds, reporting on the estimated time and date for the full bloom to occur in each prefecture and region of Japan.

•

As part of her effort to recommit to haiku, Momoku began a pilgrimage to Japan's one hundred most famous cherry trees.

I am envious.  I would love to live in a place that covered the blossoms blooming as a news story, and kept track of the 100 most wonderful cherry trees.

Wouldn't you rather hear about flowers blooming than about Donald Trump's latest tweet?

Angels

I haven't been able to track down the name of the artist.  I'm still looking.

An Unfortunate Homonym

From The Huffington Post:

Americans have an uncomfortable relationship with taking it easy: We’re overworked and burned out. We’re loath to take our vacation days. We have abysmal work-life boundaries and valorize being busy.

That’s exactly why we need a little niksen in our lives. Niksen is the Dutch term for carving out time to do absolutely nothing every so often. When you niks, you allow yourself to just be: no interrogating your thoughts, no worries about deadlines or bottom lines.

Read the rest HERE.

On the other hand…

"On the other hand, you could just relax and realize that, behind all the worry, complaint and disapproval that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky, and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth. There’s enormous richness. You could envelop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your joyfulness. You could start right now."  ~Pema Chodron, excerpted from The Wisdom of No Escape ©2017

Rather than

"If we were to become aware of our habitual thoughts, perceptions, and sensations, rather than being carried away by them, their power over us would begin to fade."  ~Mingyur Rinpoche

Let 'em in

Donald Trump thinks millions of Americans are just pretending to be poor so they can get free food (source).

I don't know.  That seems unlikely to me.  But even if it's true, I don't mind.

Let them have a sandwich.

doo--doo--doo--doo--doo--doo

[embed]https://youtu.be/XqZsoesa55w[/embed]

Last time I checked, this had over 3.1 billion-- that's with a "b"-- views.

From Time to Time

"We should be quite gentle in judging ourselves and remember that the habits we are fighting against come from beginningless time and are very strong. So from time to time there will be some backsliding-- though in the long run there is progress and improvement. Furthermore, remember that even having entered the gate of the Dharma, having the intention to reduce our disturbing emotions, or being concerned about disturbing emotions is amazing because most people involved in samsara never even think about this."  ~Thrangu Rinpoche

Leaf

Leaf by Yayoi Kusama

 

Temples

"Better than material gifts offered in stone-made temples, churches and mosques, God loves the gifts of love, peace, and devotion offered in the temple of one’s own heart or through the temples of the hearts of others."  ~Paramahansa Yogananda

In Me

[embed]https://youtu.be/aWhXUMbmHCA[/embed]

Just beautiful!

Via LaughingSquid

Stuck In A Moment

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A few times a week my wife Mona texts out a "question of the day" to all her friends.  The most recent one was, "What is your superpower?"

Most people demurred or responded with a joke.  My answer was, "I can do things even when I don't want to."  I've lived with depression my whole life, so that was an important skill to master.

Mona told me, though, that I actually have a different superpower:  I can recognize when people's minds are stuck in a loop, and I can pull them out of it.

I hadn't realized that about myself, but that is something I'm pretty good at.  Sometimes a slightly different perspective is all that's needed; focus on something different, then come back refreshed.

"The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Do you understand?"  ~Cpt. Jack Sparrow

I wish I could do it for myself.

Ted Hawkins

[embed]https://youtu.be/d7PdZrwq3Ms[/embed]

Songs for a Rainy Day

Songs about rain:

• I can't stand the rain by Ann Peebles (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Have you ever seen the rain? by Credence Clearwater Revival (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Raindrops keep falling on my head by B.J. Thomas (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• I wish it would rain by The Temptations (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Raining in my heart by Buddy Holly (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Rainy night in Georgia by Conway Twitty and Sam Cooke (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Rainy days and Mondays by The Carpenters (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Kentucky rain by Elvis Presley (YouTube Link)(lyrics)


• I love a rainy night by Eddie Rabbitt (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Into each life some rain must fall by The Ink Spots (YouTube link)(lyrics)


• Summer Rains by The Ditty Bops (YouTube link)


• I can stand a little rain by Joe Cocker (YouTube link)(lyrics)

I didn't include the song by Prince because I don't like that one, or the one by The Who because I realized it was actually a homonym.

Sunflowers

We feed the birds, and in exchange they plant us sunflowers:

•

Johnny Winter

Gradually Losing Interest

In this article on burnout by Emily Guendelsberger, she discusses how research scientists induce depression in rats:

It turns out you don’t need to traumatize them. The most reliable protocol is “chronic mild stress.” There are many methods of making the lives of experimental animals mildly but chronically miserable-- a cage floor that administers random electric shocks; a deep swimming pool with no way to rest or climb out; a stronger “intruder” introduced into the same cage. One neuroscientist actually nicknamed his apparatus the Pit of Despair.

But they’re all variations on the same theme: remove all predictability and control from the animal’s life. Then take notes as they gradually lose interest in being alive.

You can read the full article HERE.

Hermits

This is an unexpectedly fascinating article about hermits:  LINK

2

"As I see it, there isn’t so much to do. Just be ordinary:  put on your robes, eat your food, and pass the time doing nothing."  ~Linji Yixuan

•

"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different."  ~Kurt Vonnegut

This, That, and

The "otherkin" are a unique group. They're defined as "a subculture who socially and spiritually identify as not entirely human."

I kind of like that idea.

I was reading an article about elephants, and how their brains are wired almost exactly like humans, and it suddenly struck me how species-centric that view is-- you could just as easily say it is we who are wired like them.

So maybe we're elephants in a human body, at least some of us.

Maybe the "otherkin" are on to something.

Things Are

“If you understand, things are just as they are. If you do not understand, things are just as they are.”  ~Anonymous

(This was originally credited to "Zen Proverb," but I'm leery of such general attribution.  If this were really part of the Zen canon, I would expect a more specific source.  But whoever said it, in whatever context, I like it.)

The Sunshine and the Shadows

[embed]https://youtu.be/zVyxHcU34TY[/embed]

Full lyrics HERE.

Wobbly Cup

I do like this cup.  It's by artist Takeshi Yasuda, and you can get it for $125 at GoldMarkArt.com.

Coffee not included.

Hello, darkness

Sleeplessness has become a problem for me. I fall asleep easily, then I'm awake in the middle of the night consumed with worry, then I fall back asleep. If this happens on one of the two mornings the alarm isn't set, then I sleep in and do fine; if it's not, then I'm in for a long, weary day.

There are a lot of things in my life to worry about. My wife's health, my father's health, my own health; the next-door neighbors who take drugs and bicker all day; whether I have the time and skills to do all things that need doing around the house.

I used to think that if I solved these problems then I'd sleep at night, but I don't think that anymore. I think of worries as sort of a dark amorphous cloud that descends first, then finds something to focus on- and there will always be something.

That's life.

We're brought up in sort of Freudian universe, where every effect has a cause and every problem has a solution, but I'm starting to believe that world view is false.

Sometimes things just are. That's just the way it is.

Hey windowpane, do you remember?

[embed]https://youtu.be/eG4qQW7HbVg[/embed]

Full lyrics HERE.

That opening is just amazing.  It almost seems like the vocals are fighting against the percussion, and losing, but then the other instruments join in…

Zinn

Two hopeful quotes by historian Howard Zinn:

To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.

•

Whenever I become discouraged… I lift my spirits by remembering: The artists are on our side! I mean those poets and painters, singers and musicians, novelists and playwrights who speak to the world in a way that is impervious to assault because they wage the battle for justice in a sphere which is unreachable by the dullness of ordinary political discourse.

If happiness had a sound track…

[embed]https://youtu.be/pxN_jWbXpj0[/embed]

 

Desire

"Boredom: the desire for desires.”  ~Leo Tolstoy

Ourselves

"The happiest people I know are always evaluating and improving themselves. The unhappy people are usually evaluating and judging others." ~Qasim Rafique

Within You Without You

"The biggest development of the immediate future will take place, not on the Moon or Mars, but on Earth, and it is inner space, not outer, that needs to be explored." ~J.G. Ballard, in 1962

Just For Today

[embed]https://youtu.be/GckXmRkPQqw[/embed]

George's widow Olivia Harrison said that this song is her favorite of his.

Someone on YouTube pointed out that it has two separate guitar solos, which I suppose is the sort of thing that happens when the lead guitarist writes the song.  What I always enjoyed about it is that it seems like something from a 12-Step Program for people struggling with Life.

I was reminded of it recently when I read this poem by blogger Ria.

Full lyrics HERE.

This Be

This Be The Verse
By Philip Larkin

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
  They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
  And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
  By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
  And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
  It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
  And don't have any kids yourself.

 

It's a deliciously awful little poem-- even more so when you find it, as I did, among a collection of Mother's Day poems.

But it's not entirely accurate.  It's important to remember that man also passes on joys and delights to man, and that you get to decide for yourself which joys and miseries to keep, and which ones to discard.

I was a stranger, and

Matthew 25: 34-46:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

 

I wonder what Jesus would think of America's border policy?

I guess there's no way to know.

The King James Bible is in the public domain, and may be downloaded freely from Project Gutenberg, HERE.

Life

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose.  That is not a weakness.  That is life."  ~Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard

 

I Hear It

The Lake Isle of Innisfree
by William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

Nutshell & Mosquito's Wing

“Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails." ~Henry David Thoreau

Describe

"So much of this world appears according to the words we use to describe it."  ~Nicole Addison

Gentle People with Flowers In Their Hair

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Most of the lyrics are HERE, but he adds a few additional verses.

You Are Part of Everything

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"Dear Prudence" is one of my favorite Beatles' songs, and it turns out to have been a favorite of Jerry Garcia, too.

Full lyrics HERE.

An Endless Chain

“Most people, I’m convinced, don’t think about life at all. They grab what they think they want and the subsequent consequences keep them busy in an endless chain till they’re carried out feet first.“  ~Philip Larkin