When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him.
  
When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
  
He then asked the students if the jar was full.
  
They agreed that it was.

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Category: Bits and Pieces · Spirit & Soul

By Jesse Lewis

It’s easy to look at the world today and feel discouraged by how things are in general. Maybe it’s getting worse all the time and maybe it’s not. How much of this is perception is difficult to know, since we live only a short time in this life-in the grand scheme of history.

So when we consider whether it’s worth the effort to move forwards with trying to change the world in a positive way, doubt has this sneakyness about it. It wants to creep into your heart and cripple you.

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Category: Bits and Pieces · Spirit & Soul

By Jesse Lewis

I was out driving today for work, on the way from one appointment to the next, when I noticed a sign that said “Do What You Can. Be Where You Are.” I thought this was a very perfect thing to read at that particular moment because I was working on my own practice of mindfulness, trying to be a mindful driver. Like most people, I could get distracted by thoughts. Like many who are working on being mindful and living in the moment, sometimes we scold ourselves a bit for getting off track.

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Category: Bits and Pieces · Spirit & Soul

Giving is the title of Bill Clinton’s book, which I have not yet read.  But I agree that giving can be a great healer during times of stress. . . .   I mentioned somewhere on this site the wonderful homecoming I had when I returned from a trip to find my entry loaded with gifts, carefully and artfully placed, by my neighbors.  And I recall one Christmas when a friend, who was having a particularly hard time, found anonymous gifts on her front porch on each of the mornings of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  She later found out it was a family who ‘adopted’ someone each Christmas for a similar bevy of anonymous gifts.  How wonderful!  And I recently read that Tony Bennett opened his door to a choir of singers, engineered by a musical friend.  It was his first Christmas alone and his friend knew it.

Our nation is in chaos, but if we all step up and begin giving rather than taking, we will be a better nation and better people for it. . .

Category: Bits and Pieces · Spirit & Soul

Oprah.com had a list of what Oprah knows for sure.  I have selected some of my favorites and redefined them to apply to my own beliefs:

• You define your own life.  Write your own script.
• Love doesn’t hurt—it feels really good.
• What you put out comes back all the time.
• The past has no power over you, if you choose not to give it power.
• Worrying is wasted energy—use that energy to do something.
• You become what you believe.
• Trust your instincts and intuition.
• Let passion drive your profession.
• Every day brings a chance to start over.
• When you don’t know what to do, get still.  The answer will come.
• Trouble doesn’t always last.

And from me:

• Most things have silver linings.  Search for them.
• Find your own Truth.
• Turn problems into opportunities.
• Change provides opportunities.
• Follow the Golden Rule.

Category: Bits and Pieces · Spirit & Soul