Enlighten Me

You are on one side of a closed door.  There are other rooms on the other side of the door.  You can’t see them, but you know they are there.  When you were traveling through the space between sleeping and waking, you remember having been on the other side of the door.

How to Own Christmas

Reblogged from Invisible Mikey:

• 
• 

13,000 Santas in Londonderry - @Arthur Allison

Over time, the best and worst in people becomes concentrated and specified.  The dual nature of Christmas is a superb example.

Read more… 551 more words

Since I'm getting a number of hits on this old article, I guess it's time to bring it back!

Getting in the Spirit

A Newsy Post you can Sing Along With

Life is Beautiful (1997)

The time between Halloween and New Year’s Day seems to go by faster every year.  I’m doing less than I used to, on purpose, but it still feels like activities, responsibilities, even the passage of hours speeds up.

Review: 10 Steps to Finding Your Happy Place

(The BOOK)

 (The cover has an inviting painting of a happy place.)

The Mysteries of Life and Death

Some title, huh?  I would have liked to be more creative about it, but I’ve been put off-balance, spun round and sat down by the magnitude of mysteries lately.  It’s not as hard to accept the inevitability of death when the person dying is old, but it can still pop up in unanticipated ways.

My Kind of Prayer

As regular readers are aware, I’m committed to radical inclusiveness.  I don’t deny friendship to people because they hold different political or religious views than mine.  I don’t think any belief system except a forgiving orientation toward service can encompass the entire truth of life.

The Best of Mikey (so far)

Since I’m nearing 300 posts, it’s time for another retrospective.  These articles were among those most viewed, but more importantly, I thought they were good even when re-read.

This One Starts Out Boring

Firing the big gun (1915)

My recent inability to access the most interactive features here on WP.com are producing interesting results.

Dream Engines

I’ve been away from the computer, recharging my imagination.  The weather has been unwilling to decide which season it is.  It rains, the sun breaks out, it rains again, and so on.  The constant changes have invigorated my unconscious.  I’m waking up with memories of my dreams

My Wife Fell Down Today

Mary took a misstep on the concrete steps outside church this morning.  She had a moment’s dizziness, went to one knee, and her head bounced.  Gravity never forgets.

Quality Vs. Favoritism

I have a tendency to sort the world in two simultaneous ways.  There are things I term “good” merely because I enjoy them, and things that I identify as “good” because they achieve their intent in an undeniably superior way.  It’s very important to me to be able to tell the difference between these two.  I’m obsessed with being aware of the difference.

The Leavening

An extraordinary, miraculous effect occurs as one calendar year begins preparing an exit and the next one prepares for birth.  There’s a lightening of mood.

Letting Go of the Books

It has taken a week, but I moved 50 boxes of books from storage back to the house and put them in piles by subject.  In order to be freer from materialism, you have to free yourself of material (duh).

Dating Problems

An artist’s conception of the “Turkish Stonehenge”

I hope you will forgive the misleading title of this article.  It’s one of my little jokes.  There are many places and things in the world that are old, but that have no accompanying information regarding when they were established and created.  It’s hard to tell how old they are.

What Will You Die From?

I’ve written about death and dying before by sharing personal stories about helping people in my care die with less discomfort.  I’ve also written about relating to death as a normal part of life.  What I haven’t done is lay out simplified models to help you predict what you are likely to die from.

The Taming of Everything

The Uptown Fair on Lawrence Street

Every dwelling place requires periodic cleaning.  Our hearts are the apartments in which we dwell.  They need cleaning too.

Scratching Post

The cats and I each have items used to exercise our paws.

My period of relevance has passed.  I’m enjoying my life very much, but I know I am out-of-sync with current culture.

My Point Is…

Table for four – just enough.

At one extreme is meat.  At the other is cake.  I consume neither.  Plants sustain my body.  They are in the middle.

What if There Isn’t?

TIME Magazine wimped out.  On the cover was the provocative question “What if There’s no Hell?”  The article inside hardly dealt with the question.

Deluxe Gift Baskets (#1)

Partially sage, I rose merrily, on time.  Fluffy snowflakes have erased the borders between roads and yards.  The coffee’s warm, and the fireplace glows.  What a fine time for reading.  In addition to my regular peeps (they’re on the Blogroll), here are some blogs that I’ve been enjoying lately.