“Ashes denote that fire was;Respect the grayest pileFor the departed creature’s sakeThat hovered there awhile.Fire exists the first in light,And then consolidates, —Only the chemist can discloseInto what carbonates.” – Emily Dickinson, Fire I once climbed into a cave deep in the Grand Canyon and observed the soot accumulated on the ceiling from fires generations…
“Death is one prophecy that never fails. Every person is born with a death sentence. Each second that passes by is one you’ll never get back.“ – Edmund Wilson We all have other plans. Each day is expected to be roughly what we thought it might be when we went to bed the night before….
“And if any gaze on our rushing band, We come between him and the deed of his hand, We come between him and the hope of his heart.” – W.B. Yeats, The Hosting of the Sidhe Today is Memorial Day in the United States. A day to remember those who sacrificed everything that we might…
“Rejoice in the things that are present; all else is beyond thee.” – Michel de Montaigne “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it . . ….
“Let us therefore set out whole-heartedly, leaving aside our many distractions and exert ourselves in this single purpose, before we realize too late the swift and unstoppable flight of time and are left behind. As each day arises, welcome it as the very best day of all, and make it your own possession. We must…
Friday’s feel a bit different when your entire week is spent working from home… And the weekend before that… And this coming weekend too. Indeed, Saturday and Sunday feel different, and so does Monday. There’s a cadence to a normal week that’s been disrupted for most everyone, but it’s all kind of lumped together now…
“I’m not the river that powerful presence. And I’m not the black oak tree which is patience personified. And I’m not redbird who is a brief life heartily enjoyed. Nor am I mud nor rock nor sand which is holding everything together. No, I am none of these meaningful things, not yet.” – Mary Oliver,…
“Every morning I walk like this around the pond, thinking: if the doors of my heart ever close, I am as good as dead Every morning, so far, I’m alive. And now the crows break off from the rest of the darkness and burst up into the sky – as though all night they had…
I was making coffee with the AeroPress this morning. I’ve quickly grown to love this coffee press for its ease of use, quick cleanup and the great cup of coffee it produces. It got me thinking about this concept of hedonic adaptation I’d been reading about, where we quickly become accustomed to new things that…
“Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What…