What to find in this blog

I try to write short, interesting passages or links that have a chance to brighten the day.  I more or less avoid deep personal confession or items that I don't think will be of interest to a varied audience.  I am not fluent in any language but English and am not highly conversant with any culture but the US.  I try to direct attention to exciting or memorable ideas and statements.

I look for little gems.  When I think of recent ones that stick in my mind, the elementary joke comes up.

"Imagine you are in a ship that is sinking in highly shark-infested waters.  What do you do?"  Click here for the answer.

To me, that is a little gem.  My judgment was supported by the action of a friend who immediately found paper and pencil to write the item down after hearing it.

Here is another gem, a Zen story from Charlotte Beck's "Everyday Zen":

A young man fell in love with a beautiful but nasty woman.  She said to him,"I will love you if you show me that you really love me by bringing me the head of your mother."  The besotted young man rushed home and cut off his mother's head.  He grabbed it by the hair and ran to deliver it to the woman.  While he was running, the head said,"Don't run, my son, you might fall and hurt yourself."

How to tell tired: I really liked the jacket photo on the book How to Tell When You Are Tired.  It really is a good picture of a man who looks tired.  I think that among the tiredest moments I have had were sometimes just after a wrestling match ended.  In college wrestling, I think we did three 3 minute periods.  During the match, which is very intense, I was totally oblivious to anything other than my opponent and the referee.  Sometimes, afterwords, I was extremely tired, so tired that I could not close my fingers.  We were often given oranges and I would be too tired to hold onto one.

How to tell bored: I have heard of the idea of the subjective passing of time.  Einstein is said to have explained the relativity of time by referring to an hour with a girlfriend seeming like a minute while a minute on a hot stove would seem like an hour.  So, we can use that fact to tell if we are enjoying what we are doing.  Look at your watch and note the time.  Then, wait until it feels that good amount of time has passed.  Look at your watch again.  If five minutes or less has "watched by", you are bored.  If you forget to look again or you are surprised it is so late, you are having a good time.