Eyes focused on the Distance
The bicycle has been taking me places I didn’t know existed before this summer. During my transition to a much lighter work schedule, I found a lot more time just lying around waiting to be picked up and spent. So I borrowed my son’s bike and rode around my world, looking here, and spinning over there, sweating up this hill and flying down the beyond.
Early one weekday morning, I rode out to watch the commuters screaming to work on the busy four lane near my house. Pulling up to the intersection I stood and watched the traffic light change a few times. On one cycle, a cop sat waiting in his cruiser, and another car approached as the light turned red. The car went right on through and I looked over to see if the cop was going to do anything about it. He looked back at me. Then he floored it and went on his way, ignoring the car.
Normally, I would be streaming along on my way too, radio murmuring in the background, in my sealed car space. But today I was still and stopped, Just standing on the top of this hill. The silence enveloped me for a while. The birds sang and the sunlight streamed through the summer leaves, the breeze blew across my sweaty face, cool and welcome and free. And in a little while, the world of work rushed on past, faceless people driving and driving, stopping for the light then roaring on down the hill.
It was as if I was frozen for a moment in time watching the rest of the world, still unfrozen, stream on around me, over me, past me. I longed to join them, feared missing whatever it is that we chase all our lives. And I felt relieved too, above it somehow, free from the drive, the pursuit, the Game. Free.
I read somewhere that if we only focus our eyes on close objects, we tire and grow weary, that it is a good idea to occasionally look up and focus your eyes on the distance. I guess we evolved gazing into the distance, looking for dinner or predators or whatever. So I turned the bike around and glided back into my peaceful little neighborhood, waving at the morning walkers, headed home and keeping my eyes focused on the distance.
Dave Seward
August 15, 2010
Quotes of the week
Meditation of the week
All experience is an arch to build on.
-- Henry Brooks Adams
We can learn something from any experience, even one that is painful. In fact, we often learn more from painful experiences than from pleasant ones. When we say or do something foolish or hurtful that causes us embarrassment or guilt, pain gives us a reason to learn and behave differently next time. It may hurt to be arrested for drunk driving, but the pain of that experience may be the beginning of recovery for someone who is addicted.
We can't change the experiences we have, but we can learn from them. Our life is a gift that comes wrapped in what we experience each moment. When we accept this gift and open it willingly, no matter what the wrapping looks like, we put ourselves in a position to discover unexpected treasures. We live life to the fullest, and we learn who we are as we grow. In that way, all experience is positive in building our new lives.
Today let me learn something that will help me grow in wisdom and maturity.
-- Henry Brooks Adams
We can learn something from any experience, even one that is painful. In fact, we often learn more from painful experiences than from pleasant ones. When we say or do something foolish or hurtful that causes us embarrassment or guilt, pain gives us a reason to learn and behave differently next time. It may hurt to be arrested for drunk driving, but the pain of that experience may be the beginning of recovery for someone who is addicted.
We can't change the experiences we have, but we can learn from them. Our life is a gift that comes wrapped in what we experience each moment. When we accept this gift and open it willingly, no matter what the wrapping looks like, we put ourselves in a position to discover unexpected treasures. We live life to the fullest, and we learn who we are as we grow. In that way, all experience is positive in building our new lives.
Today let me learn something that will help me grow in wisdom and maturity.
Poem of the Week
Do the thing that is next, saith the proverb
And a nobler shall yet succeed:
'Tis the motive exalts the action;
'Tis the doing, not the deed.
Margaret Junkin Preston
'Tis the motive exalts the action;
'Tis the doing, not the deed.
Margaret Junkin Preston
History I lived through- I was 21 years old
On August 9th, in 1974, Richard Nixon officially resigned from the presidency. At 11:35 a.m., his resignation letter was delivered to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Gerald Ford took the oath of office. Then, at 12:05 p.m., exactly half an hour after Kissinger accepted Nixon's resignation letter, Gerald Ford gave his first speech as president of the United States. He was the only president in U.S. history who was never elected president or vice president.
In his inaugural address on this day 36 years ago, Gerald Ford said: "My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great republic is a government of laws and not of men."
Gerald Ford died in 2006 at the age of 93 and a half, having lived longer than any other American president.
Video of the week
FDA approves depressant drug for the annoyingly cheerful
You can’t make up such a thing as that, I dare you to even try
Websites of the week
If I Hadn't Found Jesus, I'd Feel Pretty Shitty About My Crimes (thanks Brother Rob)
