I smell winter sky I see the grass beneath me Don’t let this pass by. ( adapted from Over by Kings Of Leon ) Daily Stoic: All this, ALL of this, is internal. Every bit of this is for introspection and self-improvement. I can only control my internal world — even then too often unreliably or incompletely.  I have far too many faults of my own to criticize others for theirs. (It's also generally unwelcome, often boorish, and almost always ineffective.) Time to be better.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

He learns how to act. He acts out of path too often.  Individuality.    Daily Stoic: When nothing else is important, when it hits the fan and only my virtue is at stake, then I must hold fast to my principles and do what needs be done.  Time to be better.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Meditation III: Today's Meditation IV:

Let's go flow downhill.  Roll along the rill, cleft through  Stones' uneven ground.    Daily Stoic: Everything is change, changing, changed from before.  This is the way of the world and I cannot change it. The more I fight against it, the more frustrated I become.  Better to roll with it, to flow with it, to go with and anticipate it so I can adapt to it and maybe even come out ahead in the end.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig: Daily Shakespeare: King Lear | Act 5 Scene 3

Sun bits run in lanes Striped fern, now not, striped again.  Swinging shade makes play.    Daily Stoic: This takes Occam's Razor to the next level, right? Epictetus' Lazer?  I must be careful to withstand the masquerade of my biases before my will. If it fails and transforms . . . now willingly blind to the errors of my perception.  Be I must be careful that I not allow blinders to limit my vision of myself, either.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

Buzzing in my ears Las moscas me molesta .  So what? I ignore sounds.*   Daily Stoic: The Roman emperor cautioned himself against complaining, in public or private.  The Roman emperor , the most powerful man in the world, cautioned himself against complaining, in public or private .  And yet I whine about picayune follies me pica .  Time to be better.  Today's Meditation: Today's Pirsig: Cf...  ----- Daily Shakespeare: The Tempest | Act 3 Scene 2 --------- * I remember a video from long ago of an interview with an Australian aborigine. As they talked, many flies buzzed around his head.  He paid them no mind. The interviewer asked if he was bothered by them. He answered by telling about a visit he took to NYC.  "All around me, constantly, was noise. A never ending sound which invaded every moment of the day. How can you stand it?" Interviewer: "We don't notice it. It's always...

Paths, trails through the dew Life travels where it needs go. I go in circles.   Daily Stoic: I am responsible for my life and my appreciation of it. I am responsible for my life and my actions in it. I am responsible for my life and my course through it. There are no excuses.  There is no appeal.  It is up to me and no one else. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig:

Yellow mustard wings O'er thorax and carapace.  Delicious coney.    Daily Stoic: How well can I, would I, allow a significant problem, something that would deeply impact my family or friends or self, to wash over me, acknowledging it's reality (in all senses) while remaining rational and acting rather than merely re acting?  This is one of those things I fear. I've dealt with trauma before . . . and poorly. Some minor, one terrible, one unthinkable. My ability to ride the turbulence drifted from fair to untenable to exacerbating the issues.  I think I'm better prepared now than I was then, but I haven't been tested (significantly) since I started relearning and deepening my study of Stoicism and Zen.  Time to practice resiliency.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig: Daily Shakespeare: Henry VI, Part 3 | Act 2 Scene 5

Hardly even here,  The last rays fall below Earth.  Good thing. She's my fave. Daily Stoic: The history of the world, the history of humanity, is one of endless repetition. The 24-hour news cycle tries to tell me " But this time it's difffffferrrrennnnnnt! "  Sure it is.  They want me outraged to push an agenda.  I stopped watching the news probably 10 years ago and it has been wonderful . If something is truly important, I hear about it through other channels: friends, family, somewhere online.  If it isn't, I never spend one single erg of brainpower on it.   I stay calmer.   (I don't get stressed about it.) I stay kinder.  (I don't learn to hate my neighbor.) I ignore those who need be ignored. (I don't worry about what the assholes in the gov't are doing.) " But but but . . . what about XYZ?  And what if it's an immediate  story that you need to know NOW ?!?!?! "  Hasn't happened in 10 years.  What makes me think ...

Strong. Steady. Steadfast. Foundational to my works. Wait.  Why's there water?   Daily Stoic: You cannot step in the same river twice. - Heraclitus Is this because the river has changed? Or because I have changed?  Yes. I am different from moment to moment, just as the river changes.  What do I do with this information?  Ride the wave.   Follow the Tao by allowing myself to flow with the currents of Nature. Control my reactions to unexpected facts and events, neither too sad nor too happy.  I must acknowledge the change and find the proper way through to the next scene. Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig:

Must be up to code.  Tao. Is the role of no role.  Flow naturally.    Daily Stoic: In many ways, I know my role. At work, at home, on the field, here. In other areas — parenting teens, new hobbies, changing friendships — I'm still figuring it out.  I do my best.  I learn so my best can be better.  I practice so it becomes easier and automatic.  I meditate so it becomes genuine.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig: Daily Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet | Act 3 Scene 1

After Earth, what comes?  After all, what else remains? No more. Nothing less.    Daily Stoic: On this, all people are equal: they control one thing . . . their mental response to the world.  I've met pols and billionaires. Many times, actually. Quite influential people, all told.  When I have, I've always felt intimidated.  Why?  Because my monkey brain still reacts to subconscious social status signals which help organize and arrange our primate group dynamics. Even though I know they are not better, that we're not inherently different, there'd still be an unpreventable, momentary flash feeling of inferiority.  Something to continue working on.  Time to be better.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II:

Length. Volume. Total.  Sum of life in boundaries.  Limits of my being.    Daily Stoic: Of the three fates, it was Clotho who weaved the cloth of our lives. She choose the born and those who were unborn.  Who received good fortune, and who bad.  Whether a Divine Will (see yesterday ) guides my life or blind Fates draw my string, or it's deterministic motion through the Void, or a Swerve which introduces randomness in a clockwork universe, sometimes things will happen to me which I neither asked for nor expected.  They become facts about life I must deal with, desired or not, ready or not.  The bets I can do is the best I can do. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.  Today's Meditation: Today's Meditation II: Today's Pirsig: Long today because this is the crux of this part of the book. And I find it interesting, to boot.  Daily Shakespeare / New Word I Learned Today: Macbeth ...