5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights

Voice your concern over Chinese Human Rights Violations and Send a letter to Yahoo!

Shi Tao, a Chinese journalist, is serving a ten-year prison sentence for sending an email to the U.S. Yahoo! helped put him there. We must tell US Corporations that we will not tolerate actions abroad that we would not tolerate at home.

Tell Secretary of State Rice that the violence must stop in Darfur.

The U.S Administration can influence European and other donor countries to provide much needed equipment, and it can offer to provide funds for the helicopters itself. The U.S Administration can influence mutual allies to press the Government of Sudan to quit stalling and facilitate the deployment of UNAMID.

Support the survivors of Hurricane Katrina by asking the Senate to support Gulf Coast Housing Recovery Act (S. 1668).

Many residents of the Gulf coast region were evacuated because of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Nearly three years later, why are survivors who want to return still stranded and displaced?

Sign the international pledge on Internet freedom and publish irrepressible fragments of censored material on your own blog or website.

It is imperative that we stop censorship of the Internet.

Send an urgent appeal to defend activists in Mexico!

In Mexico, environmental activists working to protect their lands and livelihoods from encroaching economic interests have faced grave danger due to brutal efforts to silence their protests, including death threats to themselves and their families, violent attacks and unjust imprisonment.

We can all make a difference. Take 15 minutes to do all of these 5 Little Things right now.

Related Posts

• April 22, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Help The Environment (17)
• April 14, 2008 -- Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-13-2008 (0)
• April 11, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Connect With Your Kids (8)
• April 6, 2008 -- The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-06-2008 (5)
• March 25, 2008 -- 5 Little Things (24)

5 Little Things - To Help The Environment

Today is Earth Day! It seemed only fitting that today’s 5 Little Things should be ways to help the environment. Although it would be great if everyone could drive hybrid cars, have solar powered houses loaded with energy efficient appliances - if you are like me, you don’t have the resources to just go out and get all those things. But every little bit helps - and in some cases in very big ways. Try these 5 Little Things to do your part!

Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. A conventional bathroom faucet with an aerator uses between 3 and 6 gallons of water per minute. Shutting the tap off while brushing your teeth or shaving saves as much at 3,000 gallons of water per person per year.

Turn off ceiling fans when you leave the room. As a fan generates air movement downward across the skin, evaporation of body moisture takes place, causing a cooling effect. So, unless you are in the room to feel the air movement, that benefit is lost. According to Florida Power & Light, simple things like turning off ceiling fans when leaving a room can save $7.00 per month in energy costs. (multiply that by 340 million Americans - and you have some significant savings!)

Buy a water filter instead of bottled water. The average American drinks 22.6 gallons of bottled water a year. Making all that plastic releases over four pounds of carbon dioxide per person and consumes a surprising amount of petroleum (.005 barrels, or nearly a quart of oil per person).

Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.

Wash your clothes in cold water. About 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. There are two ways to reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes—use less water and use cooler water. Unless you’re dealing with oily stains, the warm or cold water setting on your machine will generally do a good job of cleaning your clothes. Switching your temperature setting from hot to warm can cut a load’s energy use in half.

Recommended Viewing:

If you are one of those last people who really don’t think there is much to global warming or that you just don’t see why you should care, then I strongly suggest that you see the following two videos:

National Geographic: Six Degrees Could Change the World

A Global Warning? (History Channel)

They have been running on the History Channel and on National Geographic - or you can purchase them from Amazon.

Join the movement and take the 5 Little Things Challenge!

And make sure you don’t miss any updates on The 5 Little Things Challenge by subscribing to Brucisms now!

Related Posts

• May 15, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights (5)
• April 14, 2008 -- Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-13-2008 (0)
• April 11, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Connect With Your Kids (8)
• April 6, 2008 -- The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-06-2008 (5)
• March 25, 2008 -- 5 Little Things (24)

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.

Rachel Carson

5 Little Things - To Connect With Your Kids

Parenting is tough business today. Our kids are on information overload. Between iPods, cell phones, the Internet, 275+ channels of cable tv… oh yeah, and girlfriends, boyfriends, sports, first jobs, cars, teenage social trauma, and the fact that we know absolutely nothing about what goes on in the world today (I know - because my girls let me know that nearly every day!); how is a parent supposed to parent anymore?

I’m not Dr. Phil or any kind of parenting expert. I’ve made (and make) the same mistakes most father’s have. But I do have 5 daughters. Only two are still at home, the 13 yr old superjock Katie; and the 18 yr old social queen and self-appointed expert on all I don’t know, Jessica. It is still a challenge to connect - but here are 5 Little Things to help.

Eat dinner together at the table - If you take away the iPods, cell phones, tv, and video games for an hour and sit at a table around some food, guess what happens? Your kids talk to you! In my house it’s impossible to try this every day - but at least once a week, try to have a “sit down” meal as a family. If it’s too hard to manage at home, or if you have a hard time getting your teenager to “fit you in” - then take the family out to a sit down dinner. (Even the 18 year old won’t pass up a free meal at a restaurant)

Read a story - This has always been a “tried and true” way to connect with younger kids, but it can work with teenagers too, as long as it’s on their terms. Be prepared - you may be in for the latest gossip in “Teen People” or the newest fad in “Seventeen”! I’ll admit, I don’t do this often enough, but I think my girls appreciate the effort when I do. They’ve even rewarded me by sitting down with me to watch a ball game - well for a few minutes anyway (and I appreciated their effort, too).

Play a game of checkers - Kids 5 to 55 can play checkers. It’s great one on one time. Let your kids take the lead in the conversation and you’ll be amazed at the things that they will share. Want to connect as a family? Try a game night. My family does best with “Trivial Pursuit” or “Mad Gabs” - but any game can work.

Volunteer together - The greatest gift you can give to your children is the gift of giving. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, or a Boys & Girls Club. Volunteer for a community clean up of a public park or wilderness area. Not only will you connect with your child - but you will give them a different perspective on life, and the gift of providing a service to others.

Get outside! - Go to the beach. Take a hike. Paddle a canoe. Let your kids see that there is a big world out there beyond the tv - a world full of beautiful wonders that we are all connected to.

It’s easy to fall into a routine of reruns and dinner on the sofa. It’s easy to let your teenagers cocoon themselves in their rooms on the phone, listening to music and updating their “MySpace” (all at the same time). But if you make the effort to connect, they will meet you half way - and the rewards are far greater than the effort.

Join the movement and take the 5 Little Things Challenge!

And make sure you don’t miss any updates on The 5 Little Things Challenge by subscribing to Brucisms now!

Related Posts

• May 15, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights (5)
• April 22, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Help The Environment (17)
• April 14, 2008 -- Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-13-2008 (0)
• April 6, 2008 -- The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-06-2008 (5)
• March 25, 2008 -- 5 Little Things (24)

Diane Drinkwater from FreeLittlePigs wrote:

When I was about 16 a friend and I were given a huge amount of flowers by a florist. They were not good enough to be sold, but were still perfectly good flowers. After taking some for my friend’s mum we stood on the high street and handed out free flowers for a couple of hours. People asked how much. People refused. People accepted. People smiled. It was really amazing to do something so spontaneous and fun.

Chris Cade from Spiritual Short Stories wrote:

The story caught my attention - if it’s okay, I’d love to share it with the readers on my site as well.

As for the 5 little things challenge, indeed I’ve been doing these “little” things for a couple of years now and can personally attest to the powerful changes within me. People who knew me even a couple of years ago hardly recognize me in some cases… not because I was “bad” or mean, but just with regards to the depth I now engage the world and the increased sense of peace and compassion I embody.

Here’s a few of the “little” things that I started doing here and there, but I did them enough that now they’ve become a part of the way I live my life (so yes, I’ve done them this week)…

- I always give homeless people at the corners either money or food, without regard to who they are, how they look, or what they do with what I give them. I used to only give food to homeless people because once, I gave a homeless man some money and I watched him go buy alcohol with it.

I’ve since come to realize that I don’t feel it’s my place to judge what others do with my gifts. I give for the sake of giving without any attachment to the outcome.

Last time I did this was a couple of hours ago. I think the guy might have even been a college kid moonlighting on the corner, but either way he thanked me with a smile and appeared genuinely grateful.

- I eat extremely slowly, and by doing so, thoroughly taste and enjoy my food. A few weeks ago, it took me almost an hour to finish a single large muffin.

- Each morning I wake up without an alarm clock. This alone has had profound impacts on my state of being.

- When others ask for my time, I make it a point to stop whatever I’m doing and make time. Occasionally, I may ask for a few minutes to tie up a loose end to what I’m working on, but about 99% of the time I turn my full attention to the person who is before me.

- I ask strangers “How are you?” with genuine caringness and listen for their response. People at the checkout stands seem to enjoy this immensely, because even though I ask them the same question as the person before me asked them, they can feel the difference.

I think the list could go on and on… but it all starts with doing 1 little thing 1 time. Once we feel the impact that it has on us and those around us, that 1 little thing snowballs into 5… and 10… until eventually it’s not a little thing nor a big thing, it’s just a way of being.

And that, I believe, is what you mean when you talk about the outcome of this exercise being change.

Shilpan from Successful Soul wrote:

Bruce,

You are awesome. You won’t believe this but I realized that I had a chance to make a difference yesterday. I was at the check-out counter at the local grocery store. Couple behind me was talking about damage to their home during recent storms. I did not know how much was their grocery bill but I paid $50 to the cashier and ask him to credit to their bill and walked away. After reading your article, I am feeling great about making difference for one starfish.

I have a blog and I will add your story and request stories from others.

Thanks again from the bottom of my heart,
Shilpan

Thanks to everyone who has participated so far - and keep them coming! Together we can make a difference one little thing at a time!

Join The 5 Little Things Challenge and subscribe to Brucisms now!

Related Posts

• March 25, 2008 -- 5 Little Things (24)
• May 15, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights (5)
• April 22, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Help The Environment (17)
• April 14, 2008 -- Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-13-2008 (0)
• April 11, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Connect With Your Kids (8)
• March 18, 2008 -- The Happiness Project (7)

5 Little Things (that make a BIG difference)

This article is not about making you more money, or making you more productive. In fact, it isn’t about changing what you want, what you have, or what you can achieve at all.

It’s more important than that.

It’s about changing who you are.

I know, that’s a big statement. But stay with me, keep reading…

The Star Thrower (by Loren Eiseley)

One day, a man was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a young person reaching down to the sand, picking up something and very gently throwing it back into the sea. As he got closer, he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?”

The young person paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish into the sea.”

“Why are you throwing starfish into the sea?” he asked.

“The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”

“But, don’t you realize that there are miles of beach here and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The young person listened politely. Then knelt down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, “Made a difference to this one.”

5 Little Things

Write Down Your Intentions - Take out a blank piece of paper. Think of a change you’d like to happen in your life - it can be something positive that you’d like to enter your life, or maybe something that has been troubling you. Now write it down. Visualize what your life will be like once this change has happened. How will you feel? How will others feel about you? What will be different. Burn that image in your mind. Got it? Now fold the paper in half, and then fold it in half again. Take a book off your bookshelf and tuck the paper inside. But the book back on the shelf. Now, let it go - and let life take care of the details for you.

Commit a Random Act of Kindness - I like to call this a “drive-thru drive-by act of kindness” The next time you are at a toll booth, or at the Starbuck’s drive-thru, or a fast food drive-thru - pay for the car behind you. Be creative with this one - the only rule is that the gift has to be anonymous, and it has to be for a complete stranger.

Write a Poem - You heard me. Write a poem for somebody you love. I don’t care if it’s corny. If it’s long, short, good, bad. Doesn’t matter. Remember when you were 5 and in Kindergarten? You cut out that big red heart in construction paper and wrote that poem for your mom with a big fat crayon for Valentine’s Day. “Rozes are red, violits ar blue…” Remember the look in your mom’s eyes when you gave it to her, how they twinkled, and maybe teared up a little bit. How she gave you that big hug, and then she took the magnet and put it on the refrigerator and it stayed there until Mother’s Day? Remember how great you felt? Don’t you want to feel like that again?

Take a Walk - I’m not talking about exercise. I mean just a walk. But don’t walk with just your feet. Walk with you eyes, your ears, your nose. Is it cold where you are? Can you smell the woodsmoke from someone’s fireplace on the wind? Can you hear birds chirping? Squirrels scurrying around. Look at your feet, are there ants just going about their day as if you didn’t exist? Every time I take a walk I am reminded that our universe is infinitely large and infinitely small - and that in the context of the universe I am absolutely essential and insignificant. (If you don’t get that - stop thinking, and go take another walk!)

Give Somebody Flowers (for no good reason) - Everybody like to receive flowers. Yes - even us guys (but don’t ask me to admit that in public - especially in front of other guys!). So give flowers to your mom, your spouse, teacher, best friend, next door neighbor, whoever - just attach a quick little note that says something like; “You are so special to me. Thank you.”

“But, Bruce - I’m single, not dating, don’t live near family or friends and can’t think of another soul near me to give flowers to!” Well, email me - we have a lot of work to do. But you can still participate. Go to the grocery store. Pick out a small bouquet of flowers - pink or yellow are always good. Now go pay for them. Within 10 minutes of purchase, give them to either an older woman (55 to 100 works best) or a little girl (3 - 7 works best, with her parent’s permission of course). Say something corny like, “These beautiful flowers should belong to a beautiful, young lady”. I guarantee that both you and she will be all smiles and walking on air for hours! Heck - even if you do have somebody to give flowers to, this is fun! Give some to a stranger, anyway!

“OK, I’m still reading - and these things are nice and all, but are they really going to change who I am?”

The 5 Little Things Challenge

Yes. I am convinced that if you incorporate these little things into your life that they will cultivate the qualities of generosity, gratitude, charity, and cheerfulness within you - that these attributes will begin to permeate your life and create opportunities for abundance. So I’m challenging you to do one little thing each week for the next month, then come back here and share your experiences. Every Sunday in April, I will post a “Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge” and share your stories. Do you have a blog of your own? Post your experiences there and trackback or ping me - and I’ll include them in the Sunday posts.

Throw a star! Let’s make a difference - one little thing at a time.

Make sure you don’t miss any updates on The 5 Little Things Challenge by subscribing to Brucisms now!

Related Posts

• April 6, 2008 -- The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-06-2008 (5)
• May 15, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Make a Difference for Human Rights (5)
• April 22, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Help The Environment (17)
• April 14, 2008 -- Best of The 5 Little Things Challenge; 04-13-2008 (0)
• April 11, 2008 -- 5 Little Things - To Connect With Your Kids (8)
• March 20, 2008 -- Playing A Round; Life Lessons in 18 Holes of Golf (39)
• March 18, 2008 -- The Happiness Project (7)

Golf is a game that is played on a five-inch course - the distance between your ears.

Bobby Jones

Playing a Round; Life Lessons in 18 Holes of Golf

It’s 9:00 am on a chilly February morning (ok it’s 58º - but hey! that’s chilly here in Florida), the sun is glistening on the remaining dew as I stand over the 1st tee. I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders, and (tink!)…

After a month of nearly constant rain and general life busy-ness, I had the opportunity to play my first round of golf this year a couple of weeks ago. As I look forward to playing another round next week, it occurs to me that there is a lot I can apply to life from a round of golf. So here are those life lessons in 18 holes:

The Front Nine

Appreciate the Beauty - Golf courses are typically beautiful places. Manicured grass, stately trees, pristine lakes - on the course I always take a moment to appreciate just how beautiful it is. I need to do this in my everyday life as well. We are surrounded by wonders everyday - I need to take a moment to appreciate the beauty in my life.

Be In the Now - I’ve always played “athletic” sports - football, baseball, basketball. Sometimes I could “get in a zone” and couldn’t miss a shot, or could hit anything that came near the plate. But in golf - with that little ball just sitting there, and no stimulation from direct competition - I have a hard time finding that zone. Everyday life can get that way, too. I need to find ways to be in the now - to slip into “the zone”.

Play the Ball As it Lies - In golf, the rules state that you must play the ball as it lies. Life is like that. I need to accept my situation whatever circumstances may bring - and take my best shot to be successful.

Be Honest - In golf, everybody keeps their own score. I read somewhere that Bobby Jones once penalized himself a stroke because his ball “shuttered” as he was taking a practice swing. Both the tournament official, and his opponent, said that they did not see the ball move and that he need not take the stroke. But Bobby said that it had moved, and took the penalty - and lost the tournament by one stroke. What an inspired life I would lead if I could hold myself to the same level of integrity!

Plan ahead - Good golfers don’t just grab a club and hit the ball as hard as they can! They “work the hole backwards” - they decide where they need to put the ball on the green to have a makeable putt, what approach shot will put it there, and where their tee shot needs to land to give them that approach. I need to look at my life like that and ask, “Are the actions I’m taking now putting me in the best position to take my next shot?”

Narrow Your Focus - To make a great shot you have to narrow your focus to the point that you can see the exact point of impact where the clubhead meets the ball. I need to apply that same level of attention and narrowness of focus to my everyday activities.

Let Go - No matter how great or how lousy your last shot was, let it go! A guaranteed recipe for a bad shot is to be dwelling on the last one. I need to let go in everyday life as well. Let go of my insecurities, past grievances, past successes and failures. I need to give myself a clean slate every day so that I have the opportunity to make something spectacular!

Be Aware of Your Emotions (so they don’t get the best of you) - Part of letting go is to approach each shot objectively and with purpose. I need to approach both my failures and successes with same level of objectivity. This isn’t to say that I should become an unemotional machine. It means to be aware of my emotions - the ups and the downs - and to make sure that I take action with intention rather than reacting based on emotion.

Keep Your Eye On the Ball - To make a great golf shot, you have to keep your eye on the ball all the way through the point of impact. It’s the same in life. If I find that I’m not making the progress I want toward my goals, it is usually because I’ve let myself get “busy”, but with activities that don’t really help me achieve my goals.

The Turn

Eat Lunch - I know, it doesn’t sound like great “personal development” advice, but the reality is that I often get busy and forget to eat lunch. I need energy to make it through the “back 9″, and to keep focus through the afternoon everyday. Plus, it really helps my focus to take my mind off my work for a little while before diving into the afternoon.

The Back Nine

Delight in the Success of Your Competitors - Golf is a game where your greatest competition is with yourself. It’s common to congratulate your competitors on a great shot, to celebrate a great putt. How often do we do the same in our professional lives? I should celebrate the success of my competitors. If my competition is succeeding, then the market is good. I don’t need the whole pie - just my little slice!

It’s More Fun When You Play With Someone You Like - One of the things I love about golf is the comradery of spending a few hours with some good friends. No cell phones or email - just small talk and a common passion. I know from experience that it’s a lot more fun to work with people that you like as well. Life is too short to spend it with people you don’t like.

Drink More Water! - No, really! I need to drink more water! (Don’t you?)

Be Prepared for Stormy Weather - Here in Florida it can be a bright beautiful morning on the first tee, but invariably, by the back nine it’s a torrential, tropical downpour. It pays to have a rain shirt and umbrella in your bag! Life has its share of storms, too. Too often I’ve just assumed that it would be blue skies - and then get blind-sided by the inevitable storm. I really need to make sure that I do a little each day to prepare for that next storm that will come along.

Sometimes You Have to Pitch Out of the Rough - Even the best golfers sometimes put it in the trees. In this spot, a good player will pitch out into the fairway to be in the best position for the next shot. We all hit obstacles to our success. Rather than trying to force my way through them, sometimes I need to sidestep, or even take a step back to put myself in the best position to take my next shot.

Don’t Think Too Much - Keep your head down, align your shoulders, follow through the shot - man, a golf swing is a lot to think about! But when you are standing over the ball, you can’t think - just swing. I need to keep from “over thinking” things in my life, too. I need to take the advice that Tom Cruz’s character received in The Last Samurai - “- no mind”!

Mind Your Manners - Golfers will tolerate a lot from a “newbie”. For the most part they’ll tolerate slow play, bad play - but most golfers really don’t appreciate poor etiquette. I should approach everyone in my life that way. The world could use a lot more common courtesy.

The More You Do It, The Better You’ll Be- Like I mentioned before, I’ve always played sports. “Practice makes perfect” is a mantra of every coach I’ve ever met. How much time do I really spend practicing the skills that really matter? How much richer would my life be if I practiced better communication, compassion, and empathy in my personal relationships?

Leave the Course Better then You Found It - It is good golf etiquette to take care of the golf course. If you take a divot - fill it. It’s good etiquette to fill a divot that you are near - even if you didn’t make it! What a legacy we would leave if we practiced this every day! I would be a much better husband, father, friend, and person if I made a concentrated effort to leave everything and everyone better than I found them.

The 19th Hole

Have Fun! - I’m not a good golfer. I’ve been playing for nearly six years, and I’ve never broken 100. But golf isn’t about putting up a number for me, it’s about the challenge, the friendship, and the sportsmanship. I’ve hit a lot of really bad shots, but I can honestly say that I’ve never had a bad round of golf.

… the ball jumped off the face of the club! It was a great shot - 220 yards and straight as an arrow.

Unfortunately, I had lined up my shot to compensate for my usual slice - so (plunk!) it went straight into the lake! Oh well, it’s gonna be a great day for golf!

Oh yeah, one more piece of advice: If you play like I do, take a lot of inexpensive golf balls. (It will save you money - and when they hit the water, they sound just like expensive ones…)

See you on the links!

Bruce

A special thanks to Skellie for providing inspiration in her article Your Trump Card Post Idea.

Related Posts

• March 25, 2008 -- 5 Little Things (24)
• January 25, 2008 -- Book Review: Blink * The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (0)

Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds.

George Santayana (Spanish born American Philosopher, Poet and Humanist who made important contributions to aesthetics, speculative philosophy and literary criticism. 1863-1952)

The Illusion of Chaos

I was catching up on my blog reading today and came across the article Wrenching order from chaos in your life on A Miracle A Day. Jason is a thoughtful and motivating writer, and I agree with his underlying message of personal responsibility; however, I respectfully disagree with the premise of wrenching order from chaos.

Jason writes:

Order, or at least the human perception of it, doesn’t come naturally. Nature is full of chaos and random chance, not the planning and structure that our minds crave. That means that someone, at some point, has to step in and take action to change the natural course in order for that structure to be built.

On this point I have to disagree. Nature is very orderly and balanced. If it were not, life itself could not exist.

As I am writing this, my heart is regulating my blood, my lungs are regulating my breathing, neurons are firing within my brain, nerves are sending signals to my hands - all these things and millions more are working in perfect order!

Chaos is an Illusion

Imagine that you are at Union Station on a balcony looking down onto the crowds of people below you. Everyone is scurrying from one place to another in a seemingly chaotic, random fashion. But under this seeming disorder, is in fact, perfect order. Each person is going to a specific destination. It is our lack of context and perspective that colors our perception of circumstances and makes them appear chaotic.

Chaos only exists within the human mind when we cannot control the natural order of things.

Control is a lie

We feel that our circumstances are “chaotic” when we no longer have control over them. But we never have control - it is our belief that we can control nature to fulfill our own desires that brings us into disharmony with natural order. It is this disharmony that creates the chaos in our minds. But the only thing you will ever control is your decisions. And this is the wonder of life - because it is our ability to adapt to changing circumstances, to accept the ups and downs, yet still be compassionate, determined, and creative - this is what makes us uniquely human.

I for one am grateful for the “chaos” of life. If it were not for the unexpected - our life would be like a book that we’ve read the ending to. Boring and predictable.

Success lies not in our ability to “take action to control chaos” - it lies in our ability to adapt, thrive, and accept change as a wondrous gift.

That is the miracle of life.

Please help me reach my goal of having 100 subscribers by March 31, 2008 by Subscribing to Brucisms!

Related Posts

• No Related Post

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them”

Thomas Jefferson

Related Posts

• February 21, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Robert Frost (1)
• February 20, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Thich Nhat Hanh (0)

Daily Wisdom: Robert Frost

BIRCHES

WHEN I see birches bend to left and right

Across the line of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.

But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.

Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them

Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning

After a rain. They click upon themselves

As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored

As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.

Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells

Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust—

Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away

You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.

They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,

And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed

So low for long, they never right themselves:

You may see their trunks arching in the woods

Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground

Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair

Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.

But I was going to say when Truth broke in

With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm

I should prefer to have some boy bend them

As he went out and in to fetch the cows—

Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,

Whose only play was what he found himself,

Summer or winter, and could play alone.

One by one he subdued his father’s trees

By riding them down over and over again

Until he took the stiffness out of them,

And not one but hung limp, not one was left

For him to conquer. He learned all there was

To learn about not launching out too soon

And so not carrying the tree away

Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise

To the top branches, climbing carefully

With the same pains you use to fill a cup

Up to the brim, and even above the brim.

Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,

Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.

So was I once myself a swinger of birches;

And so I dream of going back to be.

It’s when I’m weary of considerations,

And life is too much like a pathless wood

Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs

Broken across it, and one eye is weeping

From a twig’s having lashed across it open.

I’d like to get away from earth awhile

And then come back to it and begin over.

May no fate wilfully misunderstand me

And half grant what I wish and snatch me away

Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:

I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.

I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,

And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk

Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,

But dipped its top and set me down again.

That would be good both going and coming back.

One could do worse than be a swinger of birches

Robert Frost

Related Posts

• February 22, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson (0)
• February 20, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Thich Nhat Hanh (0)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child — our own two eyes.

All is a miracle.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Related Posts

• February 22, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Thomas Jefferson (0)
• February 21, 2008 -- Daily Wisdom: Robert Frost (1)