Welcome to your week.

"There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days will be your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span."
-Ernest Hemingway.

The Story of the Fisherman.

I have been frequenting a blog (http://aurajoon.blogspot.com) by a pretty amazing woman in Oklahoma. She wrote about an adventure that she and her husband went on wherein they heard the following story... thought I would share and see if you take it as much to heart as I do:

An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of the fish.

"How long it took you to catch them" The American asked.

"Only a little while." The Mexican replied.

"Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish" The American then asked.

"I have enough to support m family's immediate needs." The Mexican said.

"But," The American then asked, "What do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play my guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat. And with the proceeds from he bigger boat you could buy several boats,eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats."

"Instead of selling your catch to the middle man you would sell it directly to the consumers, eventually opening our own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then eventually to NYC where you would run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then, senor?"

The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."

"Millions, senor? Then what?"

The American said slowly, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evening were you would sip wine and play guitar with your amigos...."

What an incredible and humbling reminder.We are each so lucky to have this life... the time we are allotted- the people we love. To spend it looking for tomorrow rather than appreciating today would be an awful waste of what beauty already lies before us. And how often it is that what we are seeking has been right in front of us all along.

August Ending.

I am very much looking forward to overcast skies & rainstorms, big cozy sweaters, fires in the fireplace, hot cocoa, and orange leaves. August is nearly over and although I think it'll be a while until California cools down for the year, I'm anxious for it to start!

Verbs the Word.

Dream House.

For those of you who know me really well, you're well aware that my dream house is a tree house. I can't wait until I have a house of my own with a big tree in the yard so that I can build my own dream tree house. In the mean time, though, I am obsessing over this amazing one I just stumbled on. You can find the full story about it here:
http://theletteredcottage.net/camp-treehouse

A Bit Deep For a Wednesday.

I once learned in a college Philosophy class that nothing is real. That everything that surrounds us is merely our interpretation of it.

"This desk," my Professor said, "does not exist."

He placed his hand on the desk.

"It exists because the nerve endings in our fingers tell our brain that they can feel a hard surface. So we know it is solid. Our optical receptors in our eyes tell our brains that it is brown, so we know it's color. It exists because our senses communicate to our brains that is it so, and for that we do not doubt that it is so."

Our world exists because our bodies communicate to our comprehensive brains that it exists as we see, feel, smell, hear, and taste it to be. And from a philosophical perspective, does this not also mean that as much as everything around us exists, it's quite possible that none of it does? Or perhaps what one person sees or hears or smells is not what another senses in that same scenario?

And so when people discuss feelings, I can't help but find their attempts at rationalizing "feelings" to be somewhat amusing. They want proof. They want evidence. But is not your evidence less real than my feeling? Your proof is merely the compilation of your senses telling you that something is legitimate. Facts can only explain the "How" of the world. But not the "why."

Faith, Love, Intuition. These are all things that exist without our rational senses telling us that they are Real. None of them can be explained with scientific evidence. None of them can be displayed in a lab using complex formulas. They can't be forced, they can't be created without a personal will to possess them. But are they any less real? Because our hands can't hold love and tell us that it is there? Our eyes can't see God and tell our brains that faith is practical. We can't hear intuition except in the silence of our inner minds. Not a one of those things is communicated to our brains by sensory perception. And maybe that is why they resonate in our minds when we discover them within ourselves. The way the blind can sometimes have magnified hearing to compensate for the loss of that sense... when we FEEL in our minds, it's amplified because of the non-use of our other senses to discover it.

So don't tell me that my faith is false. Don't tell me my love is misled or that my intuition is unfounded. Because they are just as realistic of an idea as the desk you sit at to read this entry.

Be Gentle.

Early this week I made a commitment. I decided to start being more kind to myself, more gentle and more forgiving. I think we insist on pushing ourselves too hard. Perfecting ourselves so consistently that we forget to be forgiving with our imperfections. And it often seems that when we push things too hard to go one way, they tend to go the opposite way in almost an act of defiance.
I'm starting with my attitude towards the people around me. I want to start looking at my world around me through more forgiving lenses. Stop judging. Get back my sense of patience with things that I might not fully understand. Listen more, speak less.
I also want to be more gentle with my body. I've been eating like crap lately. Lots of pizzas, chips, and junk food. It's awful. My body needs to be better taken care of. I've also been going crazy with my face, scrubbing with unforgiving cleansers and masks. And I need to remember that my skin is a very sensitive canvass, and needs to be taken care of gently. I hope to be less abrasive, in ALL areas of my life.

New For You.

Hey kittens! I added a few things to the sidebar on my blog. So now you can follow me via email as well as check out all the stuff that inspires me on a daily basis. Enjoy!!

Wishing.

"It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan."

-Eleanor Roosevelt.

Happy Things.

1. Shirt from Piperlime, 2. Earrings from Wet Seal, 3. Watch from Piperlime, 4. Fire Bar from Whole Foods.

This is pretty much my afternoon's agenda.

Some Changes...

...are a brewin', I can feel it in my bones. And once I get that old familiar feeling, whatever follows is inevitable.

Change is a good old friend that I'm looking forward to seeing again.