Category Archives: Thoughts For the Day

It’s hard to stay hopeful and optimistic, but if the easy alternative is to be a despondent pessimist, I’d better put my shoulder to the wheel.

Forty years ago today, Patty Hearst was kidnapped in Berkeley, California by the Symbionese Liberation Army and then, not long thereafter, she joined the organization. The world has changed a lot since then. I still wonder whether her conversion was a … Continue reading →

I used to think a “curmudgeonly” demeanor was sort of cool, even in myself.  Now, I wonder why I saw things that way.  And I wonder if, sometimes, I still do. Today, at least, when I encounter a person who … Continue reading →

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  One’s judgment of what constitutes beauty says a great deal about the person who makes the judgment.

I read recently of advice a father gave his son, who was facing prison if he did not change his life.  The advice was, essentially, to calm down and to focus on the moment. And the way to do that: … Continue reading →

The solitude of an early morning appeals to me.  Perhaps solitude, alone, appeals to me. But the mix of solitude and an early morning is food for my soul.  I love the time before the sun shoves the darkness into … Continue reading →

About three years ago, a friend shared with me that, each year on the anniversary of her father’s death, she burns a yahrzeit candle. She said, “It’s a Jewish tradition to mark the day with a candle that burns for 24 hours. … Continue reading →

It is important, I think, to give people the benefit of the doubt; look for the good lurking beneath the sinister cover, as it were.  Too often, the State is complicit in wrecking lives when those lives might have been … Continue reading →

Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es. ~Anthelme Brillat-Savarin~ Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826 This translates, roughly, into “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” … Continue reading →

When I look in the mirror, if I see no reflection, just a smudge where my heart used to be, it’s time to consider just which way I’m heading and it’s time to look closer, to try harder to see. … Continue reading →

Within yourself is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself. ~Herman Hesse~

Humans’ understanding of the world in which we live is restricted by our ability to comprehend things outside our realm of experience and beyond the limits of our imagination.  We understand how animals can feel pain because we understand, to … Continue reading →

Sometimes, we’re too tough on ourselves and too tough on others; we demand for the sake of demanding, rather than for any reasonable purpose.  We insist on following processes that do not suit us, though their purpose was simply to … Continue reading →

If you have a friend, you would do the same for him (or her) as you would do for your family, because a true friend is just the same as family, just without the legal paperwork. Your friend, your true … Continue reading →

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” ~Mark Twain~

Doing good by accident or coincidence is not sufficient.  Being good requires conscious thought, recognition that one has choices, and actively and, in light of that recognition, deliberately choosing to do the right thing.  Not think the right thing, do … Continue reading →

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. “ ~Martin Luther King, Jr.~ On … Continue reading →

Another Sunday.  For some, the day to rest, for some to work, for some to go to church, for some to question religion.  Every day of the week is a little like this day, this Sunday, but we call them … Continue reading →

I drink tea and forget the world’s noises. ~Chinese saying~

Which advice is most helpful, most healing? “Cry, if you must, but know this: you’ll run out of tears before you run out of pain.” “Cry, if it helps. Whatever gets you through your darkest hours is what’s right.” I … Continue reading →

I’ve known very few people who allow themselves to truly know who they are, deep down. I think that’s because people are afraid of what they will find if they look inside themselves. The possibility of looking, to find only … Continue reading →

If I feel someone has wronged me or treated me badly, the easiest, but least satisfying, response is anger. The hardest, and by far the best, response is putting my energies into forgiveness and reconciliation.  Through this, I strengthen myself … Continue reading →

Now is the best time to start something new.  Now is the best time to recapture a dream gone awry. Now is the time to correct past mistakes.  Now is that “one day” you’ve always talked about.

I do not understand people who believe empathy and sympathy are signs of weakness.  I do not understand people for whom dominion over others is the only sign of strength. If I were a better man, I would try to understand … Continue reading →

We measure ourselves against clocks we had no part in creating. Age is a construct we use as a metric of achievement or, conversely, as a measure of what we have not achieved. Until there is no more to measure, … Continue reading →