Words to Live By

"...the only way to get through the sad is the funny."-Katie Crouch (The Rumpus Magazine)

Finding God Where We Don't Think He Normally Goes...

“A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation.” William Blake (1757 – 1827) 

Check out this blog entry from Resistance and Renewal  entitled  Finding God on Sundays (in the pub) .

For a majority of mainstream Protestant American Christians the idea of going into a bar is abhorrent due to certain cultural beliefs (not necessarily scriptural based beliefs). That said, a pub in England, (short for a Public House), is not the same thing as most bars in the USA-there are pubs where people bring their kids and its a community meeting place.

Become a Life Coach!

You ever have something annoy you and you're not entirely sure why it annoys you? I saw the photo above on a website and something about it rubbed me the wrong way. I assumed it was just me being in a snit and went about my business. 

A couple of hours later, it hit me: This annoys me because of the assumptions that it makes about being a life coach. This gives the impression that being a Life Coach is a matter of taking an online course and starting to tell people how to run their lives. Remember the old SNL sketch of Matt Foley-the motivational speaker? 

Chris Farley portrays a 35 year old loser who lives in a van down by the river but portrays himself as a famous motivational speaker who scares kids away from drugs by his tough talk. 

Sure, I'm over simplifying it and this could be a fine course with good information. But my point is this-being a life coach should be more than a title that you wake up one morning and decide to call yourself. It should be more than just an online course you take that lets you decide you have the right to speak into people's life. 

Why do I feel so strongly about this? I hate the casual approach to people's lives. I don't feel that a one size fits all approach works in all arenas. Being a life coach, (I prefer the term mentor), should be a result of someone being truly successful in their life; they should be someone who knows you intimately and who you decided to trust. 

In my own life, there have been several people who "decided" they were going to be my mentor when I was younger. Then there were people that I watched from afar and tried to emulate their lives. There are people I have known intimately who have taken me under their wing and helped me and gave me an example to shoot for. 

When I see the difference between that and the casual concept of life coaching, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Yes, I understand that this could be purely my opinion and that there could be valid online courses to teach you how to help others. I'm willing to believe that. However, my point remains that choosing a mentor is not the same as choosing a hair stylist. There are far too many casual relationships in this world that may give us the appearance of real success without producing any substantive growth in our character. 

Scared dental selfie before a root canal.

So the good folks at United cancelled my flight from Chicago to South Bend so I find myself in the last seat of a bus. I`m a little unclear if by law I`m required to be that guy that takes his shoes off & talks to himself loudly so that everyone remembers why they hate riding the bus so much.

Sustainable Kidnapping

What Should I Post?

I've got a facebook account, twitter, google+, linkedin and several blogger accounts. So with all that "connectedness", what do I share? If something makes me happy, laugh or inspires me, then I share it. If I write something I think will resonate with others, then I share it. But I try to never sit down and think, "What should I post today? What will get me more followers, more likes, and more attention?". Any time you do that, you just need to step away from the keyboard. There's a good chance you won't be happy with what you produce, and people will know you are just trying too hard. Good content never comes from that desperate search for affirmation. Good art is never the result of simply wanting to be liked. It's letting what's original about you come out at the right time. 

Broken fingertips in soapy water listening to #jazz & #poetry on my mp3 player. I`m happy...

I`m a lumberjack...and I`m OK.

Top lap swimmers for 2013-I was #4!

Deep High Energy House Music Mix by JaBig

Stikyard Drumming Group

Ginger Cat vs. Paper Army

Carlos Andrés Gómez "Thinking of Each Other as Animals"

What is Love?

"And we know what love is, or we think we do, It's a monster truck that barrels over freshly planted soil burying red flags like bugs, not even feeling their sticks snapping in the knobs on its tires." -Stephen Elliot

Charles Bukowski Quote

"I could never accept life as it was, I could never gobble down all its poisons. But there were parts, tenuous magic parts open for the asking."-Charles Bukowski 

From Betting on the Muse

A Good Definition of Feminism

I don't agree with the rough words used 
in the cartoon below, but they represent
the way people speak to women sometimes
so its accurate of the kind of prejudice 
abuse some women suffer. 

Charlie Brown Christmas Flash Mob

Charles Bukowski Quote

I think I need to seperate my cymbals. They keep multiplying when I`m not looking.

"Bluebird" by Charles Bukowski

"I Write Like" Analyzer

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

I Write Like. Analyze your writing!

Bus Driver Stops Suicide

NanoWriMo Starts - Here's my playlist.

Late tonight/early tomorrow I'm starting NanoWriMo-National Novel Writing Month.
Here's my Spotify playlist if you want to listen along. I'm going to finally try to get
Frank's Bad Day finished for good.

Coconut Pear Oatmeal

1 cup water
1/2 cup milk (not skim)
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 medium pear-diced
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon molasses
1 packet splenda
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)
salt to taste
cinnamon to taste
pinch of ginger
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Add water, salt and spices to pan and begin to boil. Once boiling add oatmeal and stir. Wait several minutes and add pears and coconut and stir. Turn heat to low simmer. Add butter, maple syrup, molasses, and Splenda and milk. Cover and let cook for about 5 to 10 minutes-stirring occasionally. Once it gets to the consistency you desire add the vanilla, stir and serve.

Lily by Geoffrey Gevalt

Awesome story about a very deep 2.5 year old.

100 Miles

In April I started keeping track of my distance swimming. I soon decided I would swim 100 miles by the end of 2013. A mile is 36 laps down and back at the YMCA pool. I started out doing 1/4  to 1/2 of a mile each day. Then I would shoot for 27 laps, which is 3/4 of a mile. Several times after that I came in early and swam extra and got to 1 mile. It took about 1 hour and 20 minutes the first time I did it and I was spent afterwards. Finally, around the end of summer I was doing a mile several times a week. Now I can do it every day.

Today was the big day, I reached the goal early finished my 100 miles.

Lily Myers "Shrinking Women"

Here's an incredible piece of poetry about the nature of women. Powerful stuff.

Today I have swam a total of 99 miles this year. Tomorrow will be the big day I have been working for all year: 100 miles.

Quote from Robert Coles

Today I downloaded my weekly podcasts from The Writer's Almanac by Garrison Keilor and found this little gem:

"We should look inward and think about the meaning of our life and its purposes lest we do it in 20 or 30 years and its too late."-Robert Coles