The Urge for Adventures - November 2016
THIS NOVEMBER ISSUE, I AM PASSING ON GREAT IDEAS FOR FUN, WACKY, AND TRIVIAL DAYS TO CELEBRATE. TO GIVE REASONS TO GET UP OFF THE COUCH AND TO GO FUTHER THAN THE THANKSGIVING TABLE. PERHAPS SINCE WE’VE MOVED INTO FALL, YOU WILL FIND MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOLIDAY SOCIALIZING, TO BE OUT AND ABOUT WITH ONE OF MY FAVORITES DAYS - NOV. 08 – Cooking Something Bold Day.’ NOW IT WILL BE UP TO YOU TO CHOOSE HOW TO MAKE THAT DAY YOUR OWN.
THIS MONTH INTO THE WINTER FESTIVIES YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO BE FRONT AND CENTER, TO GET INVOLVED, READ MY OTHER ARTICLES TO SPRUCE UP YOUR STYLE AND ATTITUDE TO INSPIRED YOU TO BE YOUR AWESOME BEST.
November 2016 Month Long Activities
Aviation History Month
Child Safety Protection Month
International Drum Month
National Adoption Awareness Month
National Caregivers Appreciation Month
National Diabetes Awareness Month
National Epilepsy Month
National Model Railroad Month
National Novel Writing Month
Native American Heritage Month
Peanut Butter Lovers Month
Real Jewelry Month
National Sleep Comfort Month
November 2016 Weekly Events
Week 1 Chemistry Week
Week 3 Game and Puzzle Week
November 2016 Fun, Wacky & Trivial Days
Nov 1 Author's Day
Nov 1 Day of the Dead
Nov 2 Deviled Eggs Day
Nov 2 Plan Your Epitaph Day
Nov 3 Sandwich Day
Nov 3 Men Make Dinner Day
Nov 4 Common Sense Day
Nov 5 Book Lovers Day
Nov 6 Zero Tasking Day
Nov 6 Marooned without a Compass Day
Nov 6 Saxophone Day
Nov 7 Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day
Nov 8 U.S. General Election - Vote Day
Nov 8 Cook Something Bold Day
Nov 8 Tongue Twister Day
Nov 9 Chaos Never Dies Day
Nov 10 Forget Me Not Day
Nov 10 USMC Day
Nov 11 Veteran's Day
Nov 11 Origami Day
Nov 12 Happy Hour Day
Nov 12 Chicken Soup for the Soul Day
Nov 13 World Kindness Day
Nov 13 Caregiver Appreciation Day
Nov 14 Spicy Guacamole Day
Nov 14 Pickle Day
Nov 14 World Diabetes Day
Nov 15 America Recycles Day
Nov 15 Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day
Nov 15 National Philanthropy Day
Nov 16 National Fast Food Day
Nov 17 Great American Smoke-out Day
Nov 17 Take A Hike Day
Nov 17 Use Less Stuff Day
Nov 17 Homemade Bread Day
Nov 17 World Peace Day
Nov 18 Occult Day Push
Nov 19 Have a Bad Day Day
Nov 19 National Adoption Day
Nov 20 National Absurdity Day
Nov 21 World Hello Day
Nov 21 False Confession Day
Nov 22 Go For a Ride Day
Nov 23 Eat a Cranberry Day
Nov 23 National Cashew Day
Nov 23 National Tie One On Day
Nov 24 Thanksgiving - Eat, drink, & be thankful
Nov 24 Evolution Day
Nov 24 Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day
Nov 25 Black Friday – Shopping day after Thanksgiving
Nov 25 Buy Nothing Day...does anyone abide by it!?!
Nov 26 Cake Day
Nov 27 Advent begins
Nov 27 Pins and Needles Day
Nov 28 French Toast Day
Nov 28 Red Planet Day
Nov 29 Square Dance Day
Nov 30 Stay At Home Because You Are Well Day
Nov 30 Computer Security Day
Three Simple Tips to Feel Self-directed and Accomplished
James Ronald Ryun is an American track and field athlete who reminds us that “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
Stephen Covey recommends you decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – Pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things ... And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ for your higher priorities burning inside.”
Here are 3 simple tips for feeling accomplished and on track.
1.) Start Small
A tiny habit is easier to stick to — Pick something, a project, a workout, etc. Your goal is to make it effortless and encompasses your priorities! This habit should take you little time to do. say no more than 10 -30 minutes a day,
that first week, aim to complete this goal just three times, in the first week, then increase that number once your habit feels natural.
2.) When to do it
If you have a habit already in place then hitchhike off that habit, having a habit that is already second nature, will be a good time to transition into scheduling a new habit right after. An example is to add a new habit right after eating breakfast or just after a physical workout. Think about your day and vacant time slots, when can you spare a moment to insert a new habit? Pairing new habits with an existing habit can help make it seamless.
3.) Practice makes perfect
You’ll probably need a few nudges before your new habit becomes second nature. That's why siteofcontact.net subscribers can jot a note to me under the heading Habit Building Reminders and I will send an email alert on the day of the week, you request it.
The more regularly you practice, the more quickly Habits will become just another part of your life.
“If you do not pour water on your plant, what will happen? It slowly withers and dies. Our habits will also slowly wither and die away if we do not give them an opportunity to manifest. You need not fight to stop a habit. Just don’t give it an opportunity to repeat itself.” – Yogi Swami Satchidananda.
So to recap feeling self-directed and accomplished, turn priorities into a manageable habit - Starts small – Pair it with something you are already doing - Be consistent. Now that you know the secret, begin your habit setting journey now, and jot me a line now and again about how you are doing.
Calvin
A Murder on the Appian Way
Hey glad you stopped by, got a book for you to read "A Murder on the Appian Way." A real whodunit page turner.
I loved this book, it gave a historical point of view on Political propaganda and the problem with engaging peoples prejudges rather than having them engage in critical thinking.
“A Murder on the Appian Way” by American author Steven Saylor.
It is election year 52 BC and Rome has erupted in gang fights on its streets. A prominent political candidate Clodius Pulcher is found murdered on the main road, the Appian Way, the main suspect is the rival candidate Titus Annius Milo. A detective, known in those days as a finder is hired to find the truth after Rome’s Senate building is burned to ashes and the city teeters on the verge of destruction.
The story is rich with legendary powerful super stars of the day such as Caesar, Marc Antony, Pompey, and Cicero, all lurking in the shadows, with whispered gossip of plots and sexual escapes. Gordianus, the finder, his task is to find and bring back the truth out of the chaos, but not without peril to his own life, for a trial, that is explosive and politically motivated by such luminaries as Cicero and Marc Antony.
The power brokers work the cities inhabitants as if chess pieces on a chess board, a city now scared by fear and filled with madness.
From this book came the lesson of why there should be careful deliberation and critical thinking on the parts of voters when making a decision – two paragraphs I have condensed and paraphrased into this sentence is this - “Yes Gordianus … because you went there, you saw, you spoke with witnesses …but the jurors (in our case, the voters) will have done none of these things, it is up to me (the politicians) to shape their perceptions, … truth … if man could be made to respond as they should by telling them the truth, do you think I would use any other tool?... But truth is not enough for them; often it is the very worst for a man with a cause (political ambition) …Thus there are men (politicians) who are clever enough to bend the truth … (they think) in order to keep the State free and in one piece.”
This book, I found to be a very good read. Let me know what you think.
Calvin
7 Tips to Cultivate Your Style
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. – Gandhi
Happiness I found means different things to different people, some it’s money, others more sex (or some sex), then again, other people it is feeling less or no isolation or the need to be lonely, still others gain security in knowing that they are effective in their actions, and things can happen the way they feel they should.
This blog is about learning about your charisma, and actions that can help you connect to it. Therefore, allowing you to reconnect to events or people in such a way to have you feel a part of something bigger and move forward.
The following seven tips require you to remain conscious of your actions, as you take courage to move your life forward and there in reveal and perfect your signature style.
1) Be aware of what gets you excited, of what moves you, what you like or gives you passions to do things.
2) Learn where your attitudes of likes and dislikes might have come from, then how to change them if necessary.
3) Pay attention to how you define your purpose or what you want to achieve in life and be accountable to reaching your goal.
4) Focus on moving forward with agility. Include your readiness to learn and use new concepts and techniques combined with what you know to bring about new concepts and creations.
5) Be coachable, with attributes of being curious and grateful.
6) Be aware of your Body Language and how it effects your results. Now this will need you to see some humor and the ability to laugh at yourself and your life as situations become awkward or stressful in your reinventing yourself.
7) Strive to work with the courage to see things through, or know when to stop action, because it is finished as defined by your purpose.
Your signature style will appear with an air of synchronicity once you’ve begun the conscious work. Oh, and I would suggest keeping a journey to capture every step of your adventure even the scary parts--this is October after all.
In closing, I leave you with a favorite quote - Vincent Van Gogh:
“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, to learn how to do it.”
Meditating on a spirituality of wholeness
by William Fennie
A Gnostic Book of Hours
June Singer
HarperCollins, 1992
At the turn of the 1990s Jungian analyst June Singer had completed what she thought would be her final work, Seeing through the Visible World: Jung, Gnosis, and Chaos. Fortunately for us, a muse came and "sat on her shoulder," telling her that she had yet one more work to complete. Because of that fortuitous event we have A Gnostic Book of Hours, Keys to Inner Wisdom.
The work is just what you would expect from a person of such accomplishment toward the end of her professional career. Her masterful blending of the Rule of Saint Benedict, which reaches into the roots of the European monastic tradition, and "heretical" texts which the Roman Catholic Church and others have for centuries tried to suppress by every possible means, shows a deft and subtle hand as well as profound spiritual intuition.
The Benedictine Offices (periods of prayer) are: Matins (night); Lauds (daybreak); Prime (early morning); Terce (midmorning); Sext (midday); None (mid afternoon); Vespers (sunset); and Compline (bedtime).
For each of these periods Dr. Singer has selected one portion of the Gnostic writings that were uncovered at Nag Hammadi in 1945. She very thoughtfully matches the subject matter of the scriptural extract to the time of day when the meditation will take place. Then, over the period of seven days, there are seven sections of the reading, each with its own annotation and commentary.
The combined impact is formidable. I use this book three or four times every the year, and each time I use it I see very significant results. Just making sure that I stop at the various times during the day to do the meditation completely changes the nature of how I live in the world. As Dr. Singer writes, the primary purpose of a Book of Hours was "to enable the reader to maintain an awareness of the presence of the divine mystery within the everyday world."
The nature of the texts corresponds very well with a spirituality that seeks to engage with both the inner and outer aspect of life, both the male and female aspects of the divine. In addition to seeing a recognition of the the feminine divine we run across many references familiar to those of us who were brought up in the Christian tradition. Here, for example, is an extract from the Apocryphon of John:
The Womb of Every Thing
"The invisible Spirit looks at himself
in the light that surrounds him, the water of life.
"He gives to every realm in every way,
putting his desire into the spring of the pure-light water.
"His thought performed a deed, and she came forth:
she appeared before him in the radiance of his light.
"Her light shines like his light,
the perfect power of the virginal Spirit.
"She is the First Power to come forth from his mind.
"She is the Forethought of the All."
In tandem with Dr. Singer's cogent reflections, these become genuine meditations, not formulas: they encourage reflection, even life-review. By the time the week is over you have traversed a long road into your unique inner universe.
The book is beautifully ornamented with images from Ethiopian Coptic Magic Scrolls - all in all, a beautiful book. A paperback edition was re-issued after the original printing sold out. It's very nice, but these days you can get an even finer first-edition hardback through one of the associated vendors at Barnes and Noble or other book sellers.
If you want to learn more about the gnostic tradition and its history, look for Elaine Pagels' works, "The Gnostic Gospels" and "Beyond Belief."
Have you gotten your Hallowe'en costume yet ?
007 Unmasked !
The Reluctant Reader
Book Pick Summer Read 2016
Bob Biddle's favorite summer read was: “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert. Bob said "What I found interesting was my altitude about the book before I read it. 'Just another freaking inspirational self-help books', he’d complain. Voted on by some of those women from the book club." Why in fact he said he almost did not go to the group, if he had to read it. But he relented and did read it. He was surprised how fast he got through it, and what was worse, he had to admit, thou he hated to, that he enjoyed the writers style and he as a budding writer got tips on the creative writing process especially the point that 'if you don’t use it you lose it.'
Bob reported that if you ever had an idea only to have it come to fruition through someone else? Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, “Big Magic”, explains why that might have happened to you.
Gilbert, the author discusses the attitudes, approaches and habits needed in order to live the creative life. Bob went on to say "I found inspiration in 'Big Magic' as it felt she was writing the book specifically for me and my quest to become a better writer. However, whether writing a book or creating art, she demonstrates how the creative process is symbiotic as the thought or idea completely depends on its host to give it substance."
In Gilbert’s writing style, Bob enjoyed her use of personal and professional experiences to shed light on our reluctance and fears to uncover the “hidden jewels” within each of us. As she says, “The work wants to be made, and it wants to be made through you.”