Out treating with kids, No tricking, just having fun. One with the candy. Today's Meditation(s): Traditions often address social issues. If you are going to do away with one, you'd best have discovered what social ill it ameliorated. Beyond that, you need to either deduce that the problem it addressed is no longer an issue or make sure your New Order doesn't see this old issue recur in an unexpected time and place. Slavish devotion to tradition is stagnating. Unreasoned rejection of the same is all too often regression. Think before you act.

The cat eats a bug. A bug * ****** **** ** ****. Because I'm a guy. Today's Meditation(s): Thinking first of others is a darn hard habit to form. After decades of thinking of others first incidentally or half-assedly, I'm finally being intentional about it. I've finally realized that I must do it on purpose because I want to help. And, when I've been successful, it has indeed help free me from the slavery of my dissolutions. It feels good.

Out of mouths of babes Damnation unexpected. Time to be better. Today's Meditation(s): "I don't know where I am, but the light is green." ~ overheard today Today I lost my temper. We ordered some food online to be ready ASAP (about 6-7 minutes according to the app). When we're got there 15 minutes later, our order wasn't ready. We waited another 20 minutes before they gave it to us. When they handed it over, I asked for some extra gravy. She said no, we've already got sauce. When I waived my hand holding the money which she apparently had not seen, letting her know I wanted to buy a small order, she told me to get get in the drive-thru line. I. E. "Get in that line of cars over there, wait 15 minutes to get to the window and then pay me the $ for a small order of gravy." I told her, in unkind terms at an unkind volume, what I thought of her proposed solution.  (I don't know if she heard me as she'd already closed the window

It is exactly These moments That define My life. Today's Meditation(s): I think my quotes for today are trying to tell me something. Preparing me for hardship to come.

Last night. Whew! Wowza. Life-changing. New day forward. Kokopelli fears! Today's Meditation(s): Today I am better than I was last night. A better father. A better husband. A better man. A better person. I'm fat. I'm unhealthy. I avoid unpleasant things. I can do better. Last night I saw myself, fat, Santa-bearded, out of shape. Pretending to be a good example. Today is better. Today I am making better choices.

Enchiridion . . . Handbook to a better life. Tough, but so worth it. Today's Meditation(s): Enchiridion 3, trans. by Robin Hard I've been thinking about this one a lot lately. My dad, mostly, but also my son. When I first read this passage, it struck me, as it does many people, as hard, ruthless, uncaring, and just awful.  Who the HELL wants to think about the fact that they are only 'renting' their loved ones for a short amount of time?  Why on Earth  would you dwell on this sort of thing? That's disgusting! And yet, time has proved me wrong yet again. Now I know why he said this. Now I have more experience and can accept this wisdom.  Now I focus on it, making it a central core of how I want to approach each day. If I know I have to give them back, and perhaps quite soon, then today I will love them extra.  I will forgive their mood.  I'll indulge them a bit more.  There are extra stories read and hugs always accepted.  There are fewer movies and shows watche

Conflicted feelings,  Over things I can't control, Feels so frustrating. Today's Meditation(s): What about when people use their freedom in ways I don't like?  If they aren't encroaching on others, I can oppose them with reason, but not force. So yeah, that's happening. A told B something I disagree with in every meaningful way. In my opinion, B is spiritually harmed by this. Perhaps psychologically, as well. I absolutely understand A's reason. I cannot promise that if I were in their position, I wouldn't do the same (though I certainly hope I would refrain if the time comes). What to do what to do what to do . . . .

Reification. Responsibility. Right. How's that again, bub? Today's Meditation(s): If he has only my troubles, he ought to be happy indeed.* My troubles are bearable. I bear them. I am sometimes down, but not usually a lot or for long. I owe at least some of that to modern pharmacology. I owe some of that to philosophy. These daily sessions help me think through many things, picking up thoughts along the way. Examining my reasons instead of always relying on other's opinions. Offering ways of thinking which help make those things bearable.  I owe some of that to family. I have a spouse who is kind, intelligent, and caring, who loves and supports me. My children love me. My mother and father, sister and brother, all love me. I have a strong safety net. I owe some of that to friends. People whom I trust implicitly and explicitly. People who know they can rely on me utterly. I owe some of that to luck. Right time, right place. Right person, right time. Family I was

"You should go," I think. Ontological reducts. You should go, I think. Today's Meditation(s): Focus on what lies within my power. Magnify those traits I can control. Those traits which serve Wisdom and others. Conscience . . . I hear it plainly, most often. Whether or not I follow it is not so plain, too often. I often wonder where's that moral sense comes from.  Is it just a product of a religious upbringing? Is it a product of my studies in philosophy and religion? Is it some innate moral instinct? All three? Something else or something more? Is it all illusion and we're determined to the last atom?

Good words, future gifts. Ripples through deep channels. See how the boat turns? Today's Meditation(s): Never miss a good chance to shut up. I've used that epigram enough my keyboard's predictive text finished the sentence for me as soon as I'd typed "Never miss...." But there's another side to this coin: kind words, good words, last forever as well. My nephew and a wonderful young woman exchanged their vows this weekend. Now that the ceremony and the celebration are done, they move on to their honeymoon. A solid, kind, good young man, his father died when he was very young. He's grown up the way he has because of his mom: she raised him and his sister by herself.  My dad, my brother, and I have all done what we could to help him become the man he is, in loco patris , but it was she who did the heavy lifting. One of my privileges this weekend is that my sister asked my brother and I to write letters to the newlyweds, offering wor

The remit of touch, Prompting a positive change To improve my soul. Today's Meditation(s): Good friends are indeed precious. You're the best, dude. Thank you for being there to help. We all truly appreciate it.

' I just want to help.' ' Said with a curious grin. All candy and sweet. Today's Meditation(s): Helping others, being a global citizen, is integral to Stoicism. I try to be helpful and, if I can't be helpful, l can at least be kind. 

Problems left and right, Multitudes flying at me. The don't stop coming . Today's Meditation(s): This, at least, I've become pretty good at. Wish I'd been this way a few decades ago.... As I've aged, my give-a-damn well has run dry.  It may be more accurate to say that it's empty save for some mud at the bottom. I no longer care if someone thinks I'm dumb because I asked a question. Now I know the answer and will be able to work it into my decisions. It's smarter than staying silent because I fear seeming less intelligent. Fuck 'em. I don't care. Not exactly, but sorta. . 

Hearing music Meditating harmonies Melodies. Wisdom. Today's Meditation(s): The problem is I think I have time. Even though I've nearly died more than once. Even though my son died. Even though my father is dying. Stop delaying. Get to it already. This isn't a punishment. I like spending time with my family and friends. I like being a dad and a husband. I like my parents and my siblings and my in-laws. And all of the crap I do instead — the television and Facebook and games and shit! — is never worth it. Ever. It never provides the happiness it promises. It can never equal the joy my loved ones give me. So why do I still do it? Damned dopamine drip.

Things, they are changing. It goes downhill, then goes up, Then goes down again. Today's Meditation(s): The commandments were developed to control the population. They are rules for beneficial social cohesiveness, telling us how to limit our external behavior so we can minimize interpersonal friction. They are a minimum we should do to live in (relative) harmony with our fellow humans. They are not instructions for being a good person, for living a good life. To go there, as Tolstoy suggests, I must go further, beyond the minimum, beyond the baseline into the realm of positive action taken to deepen my understanding of those truths I can find. Love others. Forgive. Be kind. Focus on what I can control. Be indifferent to things not within my power. Actively work to help others. Other's opinions are not within my power.

Words yet unpublished Half-formed ideas all night, But they weren't ready. Today's Meditation(s): If you think you know better than others how to run their life, and feel like you need to control them and make them live your preferred way, you have much to learn.  To learn about consent. To learn about coercion. To learn about morality. It's that universal kinship that I still cannot grasp.

The cobwebbed cupboard. A register of ancient, Misbegotten toys. Today's Meditation(s): Yin and yang. Plus and minus. Productive and destructive.  Good and bad are added after by my judgment.  Positive and negative are not in the events themselves, but in my reaction to them. If someone, anyone has come through this same situation unscathed, ever, then I know it's possible. If it's possible, and if I follow Nature to any appreciable degree, I could do it. I don't know that I will pull it off in the pressure of the moment, but at least I know it is pull off-able.

Light pollution It messes with my mind, right? Turns me all around. Today's Meditation(s): Never miss a good chance to shut up. 

Routines, daily done, Firm pillars of foundations Quakes cannot touch. Today's Meditation(s): My views on what should happen to the state are better left unpublished in this forum.  Suffice it to say that I agree with Tolstoy here and would go farther than he does. I would rather talk about what I do stand for: I stand for a voluntary society, where interactions are based on mutual agreement. I stand for non-aggression through refusal to use force or fraud to coerce agreement. I stand for creating any rules we want, in whatever social institutions we want (churches, clubs, associations, workplaces, etc.) , so long as participation is voluntary and consent can be withdrawn. * I stand for people ruling themselves, not others. I stand for creative solutions to societal problems. F ree people and communities can be creative and experiment with different ways of solving problems.  As better solutions are discovered, these ideas will spread and be adopted by others, helping make society

'Go hockey players!' He encouraged from the clouds. I miss you, sweet boy. Today's Meditation(s): One of the last things we did together before my son died was attend a hockey game. We had a video of him yelling 'Go hockey players!' from that game. I lost that video at some point several years ago. I realize it's just a thing. I still have my memory of that game. I still have my other memories of him.  Losing this is normal. It's usual. I cannot but expect things like this to happen somerimes. I wish I still had it. 'Those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it.' What a delicious turn of phrase.  And what a common refrain in life. I've more work to do on this score. Many more destructive or time wasting behaviors — behaviors begun for no better reason than because someone else was doing it — to extinguish. However, I must keep in mind Emerson's warning: ' Let me never fall into the vulgar mis

That's two days in three Marking nils on the scoresheet. Welp. Gotta catch up.... Today's Meditation(s): Writing in 1902, using notes compiled between the mid-1880s to the early 1900s, Tolstoy created his Calendar of Wisdom (aka  A Wise Thought for Every Day and Thoughts of Wise Men ).  All based on a diary entry from March of 1884: I have to create a circle of reading for myself: Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Pascal, The New Testament. Never a shy thinker, Tolstoy included many of his own insights in his collection, including the quote above.  Many are wonderful and worthy of reflection, but some reflect the morality of the day and reinforce such stereotypes as a lower social role for women vis a vis men. I have three versions * by different translators, different selections of sayings for each day, etc. and I'm on my third read through, having first picked up a copy near the beginning of My Morning Studies , drawing quotes from them most days as I have