Games puzzles teasers Nature's  trompe l'oeil plays tricksy Illusions on us. Daily Stoic: If I do this right, I accept what happens. I accept and forebear and adapt and move on.  I don't pity myself. I don't complain. I move past the brambles and see what new path lay before me. Then I do the best I can. There's nothing more to it.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Music: 'Pur ti miro' - 'I gaze at you' from The Coronation of Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi Daily Shakespeare: Henry VIII , Act 3 Scene 2

Striking silver flash Logs of long-standing hiding,  GULP! Not hidden now. Daily Stoic: If I can help remedy an error or accident, I should. If I cannot, I should change myself. Let it go. Accept it.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Nocturne no. 8 in D flat major, op. 27 no. 2 by Frédéric Chopin Daily Shakespeare: Sonnet 116

Peace by exclusion. Peace by better mind focus. Peace by my judgment. Daily Stoic: There are so many, many things I shun from my life. Things I once spent too much time on which brought me anxiety, fear, annoyance, upset, anger, and even pleasure.  I cut them from my life because of their negative effects. They caused conflict, internal and external. They cost me sleep. They sapped my equanimity. They generally make things worse in so, so many ways.  What things am I talking about? News for one. I never watch or read it voluntarily. Their entire job is to try and work me into a frenzy about things which make zero difference to my life, much less the drastic difference they would have me believe such things should have.  Politics is another. I worked in politics. Big politics. Capital Hill politics. I cannot express the depth of disdain and condemnation I have for both the people and the system. Beyond those are myriad issues which I ignore in my day-to-day life: old phone

Bundled papoose. Quiet.  Wrapped like a snowfallen field. ¡Cough! It still hurts. Bleh.  Daily Stoic: So little difference between us. The range of possibilities is so small. None of it matters. Comparison is useless, counterproductive. I must be happy with who I am and what I have. Thankfully, for the most part, this is an area where I do well.  Today's  Way to be More Stoic : Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Music for Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich

Wakeful, draining time.  A lake's slowly depleting,  Streams steal its power.  Daily Stoic: As it would happen, I'm ill. As much as it sucks — two sleepless nights, soreness, coughing, congestion — Musonius is right: I'd choose this trial over a serious threat to my soul.  My sickness will get better with time. An injured spirit may not.  Today's  Way to be More Stoic : Today's Meditation: Today's Music: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber Daily Shakespeare: Henry IV, Part 2 , Act 2 Scene 4

Not thanks, gratitude.  Not self-congratulations But humility.  Daily Stoic: Thanksgiving. A day to remember my blessings. To account for my fortune. Rather, a day to set the stage for the rest of the year.  Thinking about how blessed I am should be a constant, not a momentary blip once or twice a year.  As Plutarch says below, no matter my ills or sorrows, someone out there, millions of someones maybe, would trade places with me in a heartbeat. I've had my share of problems, of heartbreaking loss and setbacks, daily stressors and unexpected issues. Even so, even if they'd necessarily suffer the bad with the good, my life would be a heaven to many.  How can I complain?  How can I grouse and whinge?  It's not over.  And if I were to die today, my fate is my own. Amor fati .  Today's  Way to be More Stoic : Today's Meditation: Plutarch, Consolatio ad Uxorem , to his wife on the death of their daughter. Today's Meditation II:

I felt the heat glow...  I thought you'd left. Thanks a lot... Refrain from talking... (Out of context quotes Movie lines invade this. Bad!  Sorry. Better next.) Daily Stoic: Life is short. Time is never enough. I should not waste it on things I cannot control.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Siete canciones populares españolas, 4. Jota , by Manuel de Falla (arr. Paul Kochanski) 

Snow falls in winter. No shock. Life goes on despite. Saw it coming. Natch.  Daily Stoic: It's cold in winter. It's hot in summer. Jobs come and go. People live. People die. Things break. Things grow.  All these are to be expected. How much easier to bear if I remember this.  Today's Way to be More Stoic : Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Hymn to St Cecilia by Benjamin Britten In a garden shady this holy lady  With reverent cadence and subtle psalm,  Like a black swan as death came on  Poured forth her song in perfect calm . . . . . .  Blessed Cecilia, appear in visions  To all musicians, appear and inspire:  Translated Daughter, come down and startle  Composing mortals with immortal fire.

Remember me! Ah! What a heartbreaking prayer. Listen to this one. Daily Stoic: If I am wise, deliberately so or stumbled upon, that fact will stay with me.  I was wise.  At least once. At least for a moment. At least a bit.  But it's not time to rest on our laurels....  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: 'When I am laid in earth' from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell When I am laid, am laid in earth,  May my wrongs create  No trouble, no trouble in thy breast;  Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate.  Remember me, but ah! forget my fate. Daily Shakespeare: Sonnet 33

Hopping 'bout in *PONK* Youda thought he'd see the bar. A priest, a rabbit....  Daily Stoic: Emerson: “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” Santayana: "Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it." I'm still not sure what this passage is telling me.  Today's Meditation: NB: Here, also, be dragons.  Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: White Light Chorale by Param Vir

A new year dawns. Rosy/fingers/splayed 'cross skies Ofscarletbeauty.  Daily Stoic: If I love my fate, go beyond mere acceptance to appreciation, what could hurt me? If I learn to desire what is happening, I will always be satisfied if not happy.  I don't know how to do that. 😐 Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Music: Ground after the Scotch Humour by Nicola Matteis Daily Shakespeare: Hamlet , Act 3 Scene 1

Hurly burlying  Through days 'til two years had past, Time to be better. Year-end Update: Today marks the last day of my second year writing  My Morning Studies .  Tomorrow will be the rosy-fingered dawn of  What I learned in my studies this morning 3 . * Two years ago, I began this project in an effort to better myself.  November 19, 2020's entry was a bare-bones summary of what I read.   Some of The Zen Teachings of Huang Po (Buddhist teacher).  Some of Eric Hoffer's True Believer (still one of the best books around).  And a bit from Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman's Lives of the Stoics  chapter on Cleanthes. By the next November, I had expanded my repertoire to include a daily haiku, a passage from The Daily Stoic  (also by Holiday and Hanselman) plus commentary, some additional quotes to think about (generally from three editions of Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom 1 , 2 , 3 ), and sometimes a quote from Shakespeare. This year I added a musical piece from Clem