Category Archives: Ruminations

Three Hundred Forty-Nine

The age of the universe is, according to theorists well-versed in such things, 13.79 billion years, give or take 21 million years. That, they theorize, is the amount of time that’s lapsed since the Big Bang. Prior to the Big … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-Eight

I am so distant from knowledge I want desperately to have; but I’m too afraid of the efforts required to get it. A case in point was, coincidentally, shown on last night’s TV. I’d love to know the intimate details … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-Seven

Admit your failings, even if solely to yourself. Only by acknowledging your flaws can you hope to begin the long and arduous task of correcting them.

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Three Hundred Forty-Six

There may come a time for an armed insurrection. Not there; here.

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Three Hundred Forty-Five

Don’t disclose, not even to yourself, what you don’t want others to know. You might ask, “What could that be?” I don’t have the answer. I know only that what you know is not knowledge in a vacuum; hear it … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-Four

We can experiment with new personalities like we try on new clothes. If one doesn’t fit, we can shed it and try on another one. But, what if it weren’t so easy? What if we had to make a long-term commitment when … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-Three

Worry is a symptom of an emotion, not an emotion of its own standing. Worry arises from fear and frustration, billowing like smoke from a box of damp newsprint, too wet to burn yet too hot to erupt in flames. If a problem is … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-Two

I’ve never been more concerned about the future of the United States of America than I am now. I fear the growing popularity of Donald Trump, with his bombastic racist and nationalist diatribes and his naked Islamophobia, offers evidence that I live … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty-One

A walk among naked trees on a cool, bright Autumn day is energizing. Listening to birds and watching them flit from tree to tree took my mind off obstacles. Shielding my eyes from the sun as I ambled along a … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Forty

Twenty-five days until this year fizzles into history. I wish I could express joy at this fraction of a lifetime that’s ending, but when I recall the year, my eyes get cloudy and dark. I remember awful, ugly things that never … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-Nine

Routine can be comforting, but it can wreck creativity and vitality. In everything from the foods we eat to the activities in which we engage, variety is important. The key is finding that delicate balance between comfort and challenge.

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Three Hundred Thirty-Eight

In the end, nothing matters. But until then, everything matters.

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Three Hundred Thirty-Seven

The line was crossed yesterday. It should have happened before. Regardless of when it happened, or should have happened, here is the upshot: I am no longer willing to accept that I have a disagreement with people who support ready … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-Six

A man can wrap his emotions in a steel blanket inside a stone cave of his own making, but if he does he will lose a part of himself he can’t recover. I’m only now beginning to realize the ability to emote … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-Five

There’s never an inappropriate expression of real love. There’s never a reason to be embarrassed to love someone. Yes, we’ve created artificial boundaries that keep us from being “in love” with people we love, or at least expressing our love … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-Four

The only means for us to end racism and bigotry is to engage in honest and thoughtful conversations, one-on-one, with people unlike us. No question arising out of honest curiosity should be off-limits, but if one party finds a question … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-Three

A few days ago, I watched the sky change from thick to thin and go back again. That’s how I perceive the presence and absence of clouds; the sky skips between corpulent and consumptive.

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Three Hundred Thirty-Two

This morning, for reasons beyond my ability to comprehend, I am thinking about the decomposed granite we bought to fill the spaces between the flagstones of our patio in Dallas. The flagstones were hard sandstone, the sort of stuff that … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Thirty-One

Tears are lubricants. They enable emotions to flow freely, expressing emotions the way they were meant to be, tumbling unimpeded from the mind into an unsuspecting world.

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Three Hundred Thirty

The desire to document one’s philosophies of life is not arrogance, in my view, though my perspective may be a creature of personal protective armor. Rather, it is the expression of a hunger to be understood. It reflects a person’s wish to collect his attitudes on life in capsule … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Twenty-Nine

Late afternoon shadows seem gentler, softer than the hard lines of dark figures against bright reflected light of the harsh morning sun. Late-day filtered light makes dim images, tired old relatives to the brash young impressions made by their morning brethren … Continue reading

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Three Hundred Twenty-Eight

Pretend everything will be fine. Believe it. Behave as if it were true. And maybe it will be true. Whether everything will be fine or not, surely it will…be. That’s the way it is.

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Three Hundred Twenty-Seven

The weight of the world is not on your shoulders; instead, it is on the shoulders of an abandoned child, seeking food and water sufficient to enable her search for sustenance to go on again tomorrow.

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Three Hundred Twenty-Six

Give yourself permission to fail without repercussions. Be kind to yourself in failure, regardless of whether others are kind to you. Failure is an indication of determination. Multiple failures; obsession.

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Three Hundred Twenty-Five

Before I began writing this morning, I read a little. Something from Brain Pickings caught my attention. These words of Jane Kenyon, the poet, resonated with me. Though written as advice to poets, they apply to everyone. This quote merits … Continue reading

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