Buddha said, "What you have become is the result of what you have thought."

What goes around comes around. What the Buddha was talking about 2600 years ago has once again turned into a subject matter under scrutiny at cocktail parties. The Law of Attraction is the new age hot topic being bandied about under the title of "The Secret". Books are on the market and a movie is on the big screen.

According to Oprah's website, "The Secret is defined as the Law of Attraction, which states that like attracts like. The concept says that the energy you put into the world—both good and bad—is exactly what comes back to you. This means you create the circumstances of your life with the choices you make every day."

Sounds somewhat reasonable but let's look at the science of it all. According to Wikipedia, proponents of the modern Law of Attraction assert that it has roots in Quantum Physics; (but it's very sketchy how). They also maintain that thoughts have an energy that attracts like energy. Critics say it's just a lot of hooey with no basis in science.

I'm skeptical of any quick-fix solutions and have no patience with psycho-babel. The thing I'm wonderin' about is how much of the buffoonery that plays out in our day to day existence actually is created by us. I think I've hit on the "real" secret.

You see the thing is that while we spend a big chunk of the day (emotionally) balancing the good with the bad, the happy with the sad, and the pleasure with the pain, should we also be turning on a filter to tune out/turn down some of the external craziness that seeps into our lives like pervading dampness that slowly permeates our existence and chills us to the very bone? I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? The more craziness we allow into our lives, the more there will be. It won't just disappear on its own. We've got to take action.

The only way to rid our lives of the toxins (people/jobs/behaviors/carbohydrates-lol) is to eliminate them from our reality. Think about it. Some of us waste a lot of time trying to fix people/jobs/behaviors! We try to help! We try to understand! We offer support!

For instance, if you have a job and the people at your workplace are dysfunctional as all get out and don't have high standards, don't try to fit in. Don't try to help them. Don't try to understand them. Don't offer support. Don't give them more than 1 opportunity to do the right thing. Don't try to change them. Don't give them your time and energy because they don't want to be changed and you run the risk of them latching on to you like leaches and sucking the life out of you slowly. Drop by drop. You can try to assist them all you want, but you ain't gonna get no where 'cause these folks don't want to change! They are fine with being sneaky, sleeze-balls.

Remember, there's a delete button on your computer so you can get rid of all the garbage that is clogging up your memory and slowing down your connection. You have a "delete" button in your life too.

Use it . . .

Yin and Yang . . .

I've been thinking . . .

Life is a balancing act. Like tightrope walkers, we spend the greater part of our lives trying to get it right. Finding the right proportion between working and playing, laughing and crying, hoping and praying. Profit and loss are on our minds a lot too. When we are young we flit away way too much money (cute outfits are very hard to resist). Then we reach an age where retirement is just around the corner (or nearly so) and the rush is on to build some kind of a last minute nest-egg.

We try to keep the scales from tipping (literally), searching for the perfect ratio of exercise to carbs (the chocolate cake is winning in my case). As students of the universe, we strive to be both caring and empathetic. We attempt to ease the distress of others. We try to offer optimism and gladness. When these attitudes are characterized as "weakness" by some, we fight back.

Just when we think we have it all figured out, life changes again.

We need to remember that each of us is teetering on the high-wire. Every day is another balancing act and we're a banana peel away from disaster. . .

Black hole . . .

There is a black hole in my computer.

I have some files (primarily music files) that are definitely in my computer because I can access them via Windows Media Player but I can't SEE them. What I mean to say is that I wanted to copy a music file from my computer to a PhotoStory I was making a few months ago. I know the music file is in the computer because when I open Windows Media Player I can play the song - it is listed in my library. However, I recall seeing a file entitled "My Music" in the past and I can no longer access this folder. I have spent literally hours looking for this folder to no avail.

But wait, the mystery continues. Last week I was working on a website that I was creating for a friend. I know the web file is in my computer because I can access it when I open the Microsoft Front Page program that created the file BUT I cannot SEE the file otherwise. All of these missing files are on my C drive, yet when I search my C drive they are not listed.

Gotta say that I can function well in a world that I don't "understand". I don't need to know how a combustion engine works to drive a car. I don't need to know how a microwave oven works to make popcorn (in about 3 minutes ;-). I don't need to know how the www operates to send an email. I don't need to know how to speak Portuguese to live in Portugal (LOL). BUT this is driving me bonkers.

Where will it stop? I spend a lot of time sitting in front of my computer screen with my cat and my keyboard on my lap. Is it only a matter of time until we also get sucked into the black hole?

In the meantime if anyone in cyberspace has seen my files (or knows where they might be), could they please send them back to me. . .

Slam poetry? Slam dunk!

According to Wikipedia, "Slam poetry is performance poetry, a form of spoken word performed at a competitive poetry event, called a "slam", at which poets perform their own poems (or, in rare cases, those of others) that are "judged" on a numeric scale by randomly picked members of the audience." (For more info on slam poetry and slam poets click here.)

Slam poetry encompasses a very broad range of voices, styles, cultural traditions and approaches to writing and performance.

Taylor Mali is a slam poet. For more information about this former teacher check out his website: http://www.taylormali.com

Taylor Mali tells it like it is! He makes a difference! What about you?

Imagine . . .

"Imagine a school with children that can read or write, but with teachers who cannot, and you have a metaphor of the Information Age in which we live."
Peter Cochrane