Cheerios and history

I've noticed that the current fashion is to write about cereal killers.  A simple murderer won't do.  Not enough punch, energy, evil, I guess.  Ok, it is the matter of serial killers, I mean.  Most of your cereal is already somewhat lifeless and baked.  Your serial killers have killed and are likely to do so again and I may be their target, whereas your murderer who hates your neighbor will murder him and then retire from the practice of taking a life.

A similar language and plotting fashion has modified typical phrases that relate to change.  We used to be able to say that drinking enough water instead of being inadequately hydrated would "change your life".  That statement also lacks punch so it is now customary, modern and punchier to state that following a good suggestion will "change your life forever."  Us graduate school philosophy minors feel bidden to inform the philosophically deprived that every breath one takes changes one's life forever.  Look at it this way, before your next breath, you had not taken that particular breath.  After your next breath, you are then living a life that includes that recent breath.  One of my philosophy books had a dedication that read something like "It is not given to even God to undo what has been done." Us grad school philosophy minors grasp that every event modifies the history of the life we have.  No need to thank me for this insight, it's just one of the pointers that we Fear,Fun,Filoz-ophers provide our readers.

In case you'd like to know, my first and main critic has pronounced today's post as "dumb" and "labored".  Didn't they say the same thing about Hemingway and Austen?

My mind is temporarily closed

I can't get enough staff to operate.  When you have a mind like mine, it takes manpower and woman power to operate the thing.  Too many people have quit or are hung up with covid.  Some are using this gorgeous weather to tour the national parks or suffer the burdens of airplane travel.  I have offered raises and several quarantine periods are almost up.  Maybe tomorrow.  Meanwhile, look at the chronological listing on the main page of Fear, Fun and Filoz and find a post or two that satisfies.

Recognizing beauty

Several things combined: excellent weather, Deb Dana's "Anchored", wonderful conversation between two women potters.  Plus good spirits expressed by walking companions and happy words spoken.  

Lately, I have been looking over my highlights from Chade-Meng Tan's book, "Joy on Demand".  He means by the title habits and procedures to enable feeling joyous whenever that feeling is desired.  Here is a link to my highlights from the book: https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2022/07/your-kindle-notes-for-joy-on-demand-art.html

This morning, my friends were particularly happy and upbeat and it is easy for me to get elevated when they are like that. It can be difficult for a younger person to grasp what it means to an older person when a younger shows automatic behavior reminiscent of many a move the elder has made.

I used to work with computers and programming and I still do, every day.  So, in the age of artificial intelligence and machine learning, when I listen to a serious conversation between two artists, I can appreciate the beautiful timing and shape of that talk.  Suggestions delivered just so, opinions that match and opinions that contrast - humans have an ability to transmit affection and respect in so many ways and so cleverly and so delicately that they tend to challenge our best efforts to duplicate them.

Back to that

I have lived in 17 different locations but we only had a dishwasher in the last couple.  The other day, Lynn found a puddle of water on the floor in front of that machine.  It has been running faithfully for close to 30 years.  She figured it needed a new gasket and asked a service man to look at the machine.  We have a good appliance store around here and they check our machine over.  They installed the new gasket today, very quickly after we asked for it.  

Filling the sink with hot soapy water and cleaning the dishes, glasses, silverware and pans takes us back to starting our life together, having our daughters do the dishes and generally being younger.  The Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer showed that installing older people in housing decorated in the style of their youth, playing music from their young years, giving them clothing in the style they wore in their 20's takes them back in mood and spirit.  We didn't do all that but just doing the dishes by hand and having them dry in a dish rack did get us thinking of earlier years.

It happens that I washed dishes in college.  I washed dishes in a summer job in Vermont after high school.  I have had a few other jobs but dishwashing is probably the most characteristic example of duties and work I have done other than teaching.  If you see me bouncing along the street, you can attribute my youthful appearance and energy to a return to dishwashing.  To refresh me even more, allow me to write dates on my checks [what's a check?] using 19xx instead of this newfangled 20xx.

Less variety

Eric Barker's blog post today: t.ly/vlrh

Garrison Keilor's writing today: t.ly/FArm

Barker is a good writer and has a column today of five ideas to assist with weight loss.  One of the ideas is cut variety.  Recently, Lynn and I have been reading and using "The Blue Zones Kitchen" by Dan Buettner.  All his Blue Zones books are about people, culture, customs in places of the world where people are notably and statistically long-lived.

Living long might not be a goal for some people since their circumstances and bodies are very deteriorated.  But in general, people want to live long [happy, satisfied] lives.  The Blue Zones Kitchen says that many notably long-lived people practice eating the same foods over and over.  They may even believe that variety in diet is unhealthy.  

One of Barker's clues is "limit variety".  He memorably says that if you have just finished a steak dinner and dessert was steak, you would probably pass.

I included the link to Keillor's piece because I find it enjoyably clever.

Delight awaits

As we age, we are aware that our years are piling up and beginning to reach numbers associated with a completed life, one that started, carried on, and ended. We find stamina, surprise, and suspense declining.  It seems to me that we can apply versions of the woman Byron Katie's approach to our betterment.  She is the one who said she was having the time of her life watching her body fall apart.  It can do so in such interesting ways. Others, such as Dr. David R. Hamilton and the American Buddhists such as Jack Kornfield, Elijah Goldsmith and Sharon Salzburg, stress the value of honest and genuine gratitude and kindness.  I have gotten ideas from Chade-Meng Tan and David Eagleman and Lisa Feldman Barrett.  

Professor Barrett with her books and TED talks and You-Tube videos emphasizes, as Chade-Meng Tan does, that a little meditation and a little practice can teach us how to change our moods into positive ones whenever we wish.  Personally, I don't think most of us are wired to be happy and upbeat all the time.  The more we learn to lift our moods when we want, the less we are in a hurry to do so when clouds, fears and serious downers arrive.  We might arrive at a station in our lives where we see events and our feelings and others' feelings are adventures to experience and savor.

I suspect that the first thing many people could watch for is finger-pointing.  I didn't do it, Mommy.  He did it.  It's their fault that my dreams have not come true.  It's that other group's fault, not me and not the group I am part of.  If you want to see if this might be a path to profit, just listen for acts of blaming others.  Sure, the Martians have a lot to answer for but as my dad used to say, Get your own house in order first. 

Rich possibilities

I have a different activity this afternoon so I can't sit at the keyboard and write a blog post at my usual time.  I know how to set mailings so that they go out of Gmail at a given time but when I finish writing now, I will probably send today's post out early.

I have developed a habit of jotting down five possible topics for a day's post.  Between meditation giving me good awareness of what occurs to me and writing a short phrase to suggest interesting or semi-interesting thoughts when I write a post, I can usually sidestep forgetting and arriving at my usual blog writing time too empty of ideas.  

I enjoy looking at possibilities, whether they are writing ideas or book titles.  I worked at the main branch of Baltimore Public Library and I felt very rich there and elsewhere when I am in the presence of many possible things to read and enjoy.  A symbol of such richness is the library at Trinity College, Dublin, the famous Long Room:

Of course, to use those books at the top shelves, you need to be able to handle heights.

As usual, I urge others to sit in meditation, paying attention to a single visual target or one's breath.  When Jack Kornfield's magic moment happens and you realize you have begun to think about what's for lunch or some other matter, break off lunch thoughts and return to just looking until your timer rings.  Then, pick a book.

Books and eating

I read a while back that the Japanese government recommends eating 30 different foods each day.  I got the impression that they were trying to simplify eating advice.  My wife and I have been fans of variety in eating for years.  So, I am surprised at how readily I have accepted the idea expressed in "The Blue Zones Kitchen" by Dan Buettner that eating the same foods often is a good idea. 

Eating is fundamental and keeps coming up.  In high school, I joined the wrestling team and that sport focused my attention on my weight.  Too heavy and you let the team down by default.  Then, in freshman year of college, the professor said we had to do a research paper.  I did one on foods and nutrition.  A few years later, this wonderful creature grabbed me and made marry her and she turned out to be in love with vegetables although I learned from my mommy that the main meal of the day has a starch, a vegetable and a meat.  The Blue Zones Kitchen says that long lived people don't eat much or even any meat and we are moving toward more beans and less meat.

Every once in a while, I have another experience with Amazon refusing to send me a Kindle book because earlier, sometimes much earlier, I already bought the book.  I have read several books by the Canadian-American geneticist, Sharon Moaleb.  This is a man whose first name is pronounced sha-'rone in the Israeli tradition.  I use the Libby app on my iPad, especially on Mondays in an attempt to limit my acquiring books and found his "The DNA Restart" about eating foods aligned with one's genetic makeup.  I went to buy it and was told it was already in my library of Kindle books. The book is supposed to help me be aware of the amount of amylase in my saliva as a clue to how much carbohydrate I should eat.  Check with me in 2027 to see how I am doing.

But, what do I know?

As an educator, I am interested in the situation of Not Knowing.  My friend recalled how she felt the day of her PhD oral exam.  She had studied, and read, and written her dissertation but she realized how many questions her committee might ask her that she couldn't answer.  There was SO much that she didn't know!

I think if people all had a chance to experience knowing a great deal but knowing how little they know, it would help them. The lawyer, the physician, the carpenter, the housewife, the mother all know quite a lot but most of them realize how much they don't know, that such a situation is ok and that it will always be true. My experience is that older people often have a pretty good notion of what they know, what they don't and the degree to which they can rely on given bits of "knowledge". 

Of course, getting a little deeper into knowing, we realize that we forgot quite a bit of what we once knew. What was my phone number when I was in high school? Besides forgetting, there is the matter of getting out of date. Some of what we knew and still remember is not true now. Politics and fashion are famous for changing but personal tastes, technology and our bodies change, too.

Meanwhile, have a flower.  Have TWO flowers!

Facebook videos

Yesterday, I emailed and posted a link to a video of a little Asian girl doing floor exercises.  She contorts and twists and puts her body in amazing positions.  Everyone who has commented on the video has expressed reservations about doing what the little kid does.

That is wise, I am sure.  One friend wrote,"Um, no".  Another advised calling an ambulance first.  That way medical help would already be on the way. It is surprising what some bodies can do.  Since Lynn showed me the link from yesterday, I have seen Australian young men jumping through hula-hoops in various amazing ways and Lynn showed me four musicians playing Ravel's "Bolero" but all four are playing on the same cello at the same time.  You would think that would not be possible but they do it.  Here is a link to the cello players: https://fb.watch/eqGF3qaSKF/

I have read that Google search is the most used website in the world and that YouTube is the 2nd most.  I don't know how Facebook compares but I know that a few years ago, Facebook was said to have a billion (with a B) users.  Several people have told me they have learned knowledge or skill from YouTube videos.  I searched on Google for help in showing a Facebook video to non-Facebook users.  I haven't found a way to get a link to the hula-hoop jumpers but I think you can see it on Bill Kirby's Facebook page.

My teacher said to do this

https://www.facebook.com/733767211/videos/1207399623396104/

Bill

Bleeding 2.0

I left yesterday's blog post at the point where we were going to go to the ER to stop my little wound from bleeding.  

But she consulted Dr. Google about bleeding while on a blood thinner and she learned about "Bleed Stop", a powder version of a styptic pencil.  That's the implement that a person uses to stop bleeding from a shaving cut.  She poured some of the powder into her hand and pressed into my cut.  The trouble was that the bleeding stopped for 10 or 15 minutes and then began again as soon as I tried to move or walk.  After three or so re-starts of bleeding, we figured we had better see what the Emergency Room could do.

Before we took off to try to get into the ER, we tried reaching my medical practitioner.  We got a nurse and she advised us to bandage the cut well.  It is quite small and Lynn bandaged it well.  I slept through the night without any trouble.  This morning, the bandage began slipping and losing its grip so she gave me a new one.  It is still good. 

Blood

Physicians have said I should stay on a blood thinner to be safe since I have something in my blood .  I have been taking one for a couple of years. Blood thinners are supposed to make one's blood less likely to form a clot in the wrong place in the body.  But blood thinners make bleeding easier and faster.  

This morning, I accidentally cut myself getting on my bike.  As I age, I have a tough time lifting my leg high enough to get on the bike.  I gave myself a little cut on the zipper of the bag behind the bike seat.  I saw it was bleeding but I didn't tend to it until I got home. By then, my sock was quite bloody and my shoe had blood on it and in it.  I lay down on the bedroom carpet and quieted myself. Over the next few hours, I worked at stopping the bleeding.  Lynn learned about coagulant powder from the internet and went and found some and bought it.

It is "Bleed Stop" and it works pretty well.  However, when I move, stand or walk to our mailbox, it starts up again.  We are going to see what the ER can do about it.

Terminology mix-up

Some of my friends tell me that they have a Kindle and enjoy using it. Later, I find they don't have a Kindle but a Kindle Fire. I have two Kindles, one kept upstairs and one kept downstairs.  When a friend spoke about apps on a Kindle, I asked what apps can you get on a Kindle. 

I like the Kindle for reading e-books.  It doesn't show me notifications of anything.  Ok, not strictly true.  It does show me ads for books I might want to buy but the ads only come when certain parts of the Kindle are being used.  You can buy a Kindle (e-reader) without ads but you have to pay extra for that arrangement.  I would not be surprised if there is an arrangement where you can pay an extra fee and have ads cease.  The only ads I have seen are for books, for e-books, and I can enjoy seeing some of the possibilities.  

But ads are not exactly the same as notifications.  In my experience, a notification is a message that something has happened, usually that something is available or a person is trying to reach me.  It is the sort of thing a secretary working with me might interrupt me to tell me: Your daughter has been born, your wife has won the lottery.  

The Kindle Fire is a tablet, like the iPad or some of the Samsung tablets.  They are something like a clipboard-sized iPhone.  You can connect to the internet with a tablet and you can pay for an account with an internet provider to send a continuous signal to a tablet so that it can be used for all the usual computer related tasks.  I have found that a computer is considerably more powerful and efficient for doing many jobs and I wait until I can use a computer instead of a cell phone or tablet.

The Kindle has one main job: to show me text in an electronic book (a single computer file of all the words in a book).  The Kindle Fire has apps, short for applications or short, specialized computer programs.  I just looked at the question "How many apps are available for a Kindle Fire?" And found the answer, 15,781.  Puzzles, games, weather predictions, etc.

Getting a notice of an ebook gift

If you get an email from Amazon stating that you have been given a gift from Bill Kirby, you can forward it to me and ask if it is genuine.  It probably will be real, even if it is very difficult to figure why I would send that book to you. If you find the book interesting, you can get to read it if you click in the email from Amazon that you accept it.  

You can see the text in an Amazon ebook in several ways.  While using a computer, you can use a browser such as Edge, Chrome or my favorite, Firefox, to visit the web site read.amazon.com.  You can do the same thing with a browser on a phone or a tablet, too.  You can also download Kindle software onto a computer, a tablet or a phone and read any ebook you have from Amazon using the software or app.  

If you own any Amazon ebooks, you have a library of those books but any particular book may just be in your library on the Amazon computers.  It has to be downloaded to a particular device even if it is already available on a different device.  You probably have  a default device and once you accept an ebook, it may be immediately downloaded to that default.  Several times, people have expressed disappointment that they couldn't get a book, only to find it was already downloaded but was hidden among other downloads.  

Some of my friends have expressed strong objections to ebooks and want to read only traditional paper books. I more or less understand the familiarity of the heft of a book with pages and a scent but, for me, the speed and convenience of acquiring the ebook makes it worthwhile.  Sometimes these days, I find the print size too little in a traditional book and I switch to using a device that can make the print large.  

If you get a notice that I have sent you a book and 

You hate ebooks,

You hate Amazon,

You hate me.

You dislike the sound of that book or have any sort of disinterest in accepting the book, 

Don't accept it.  

If you send me an email that you don't want that book, I will try to remember not to tell Amazon to resend the offer. Meanwhile, if you are interested in using ebooks, you might search out the Libby app, which allows you to borrow ebooks from your library through the air for 14 days.

Did I miss anything?

I like the feature of Kindle readers that sends a single file to my email that consists of the highlights I marked with a fingertip while reading a given book.  The other day, I saw a reference to "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" by Susan Jeffers.  I immediately recognized that book as one I read and admired decades ago.  That was before Kindles and their downloading technology of whole books.  Thinking about the Jeffers book and the satisfaction of getting a file of valuable remarks an author made, got me thinking about the book "Breath by Breath" by Larry Rosenburg.  That book I did read post-Kindle tech.  I thought of downloading the file of highlights from Breath by Breath before I found that I had already downloaded them and posted them on a web page.  

They are on this page:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/breath-by-breath-notes

The first highlight is

The cultivation of mindfulness is ultimately a matter of life and death, not in a scary way, but in the sense that we are always at risk, in every moment, for missing what is deepest and richest in our lives, the texture of the tapestry itself. We might say (every pun intended) that the richness lies right beneath our noses in any and every moment. 

I consider that comment to be along the lines of "What's going on behind me?"  I like the idea.  It also relates to FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out.  

See, the thing is you and I and everybody misses out every minute.  It is indeed good to be alert, to be aware, to be open.  But you and I and my friends missed out on what happened yesterday in Lagos.  Also on what happened down the road.  Also what Lynn made in her ceramics work in the basement.

Sorry, we just cannot keep up.  Try to live with that knowledge.  Try to relax, enjoy what you can and LET GO of the rest.

Different uses for a blog

Yesterday, I put a link in my blog post to a web page in my website.  The page is a poor one.  It is the highlights from Kindle reading of Chade-Meng Tan's book "Joy on Demand".  The highlights give a good idea of the author's spirit  and wit but the layout of the page is incomplete. Things were going along ok when I used my blog for daily posts and my website, Kirbyvariety, for more permanent information that I wanted to preserve.  But then Google said I needed to convert the website to a new format.  I didn't read or study much about what was happening.  They said they would convert the old site to a new format and they did.  Meanwhile, I opened a 2nd site, Kirbyvariety2.

There are many pages on my websites that relate to good books and to meditation.  Here is a link if you are curious:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/welcome-to-my-home-page

If I had my choice, I would continue putting selected highlights I collect during the reading of a book on a webpage when I have some reason to arrange for that book to get attention.  Usually, it is either the book is relevant to some idea or issue or a group of friends might be interested in the book.  

I don't find the current Google sites tools very usable so I posted the highlights from Joy on Demand in a better form on my blog site.  I may change my idea of what a blog site is for and drop the Google Sites.  I have a chronological listing of posts on the main web page at https://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/  In addition to that tool, the powerful search window in the upper left corner of that page allows for good searching.  When I finish writing this post, I will post it and email it as usual.  Doing that will create two posts dated today.

Reading through my highlights from Chade-Meng's Joy on Demand is worthwhile whether or not you have read the book and whether or not you meditate.  I looked him up today and he still seems to have only the two books, Search Inside Yourself and Joy on Demand.  However, he is evidently no longer an employee of Google.

As I have written before, I began this blog with the intention of explaining and promoting a practice of meditation.  Meditation is possibly the most valuable thing I have ever done for myself.  I value it highly and I treasure good insights about how and when to meditate.  Meng's comments that to meditate, one just needs a mind, and that the shortest useful meditation uses a single conscious breath have been very helpful. 

 

Kindle highlights FOR: 

Joy on Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness  

Within

by Chade-Meng Tan 

Free Kindle instant preview: https://a.co/3nR12bt 

Selected by Bill Kirby 

33 Highlights | 27 Notes 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 6 

To meditate, you just need to have a mind. 

Qualified ? 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 8 

My baseline happiness used to be misery, which meant that when nothing was happening, I was miserable. this is true for many people 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 8 

In a couple of years after I started mind training, my baseline had shifted to jolly, which means that when  nothing was happening, I was jolly. 

reset your thermostat 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 8 

When I experience something painful, it’s painful, but I eventually return to being jolly. Wow. much better 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 13 

In fact, this has been so helpful that I use my watch’s chronometer to remind me to take at least one breath per  hour when I am fully present to it. 

one conscious breath per hour

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 14 

it’s something you can do too, wherever you 

11/2/2019 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 15 

from within—from a peaceful mind as a result of taking a few breaths, 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 16 

Joy, in contrast, is a pleasurable feeling. 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 25 

The first, most basic and possibly most important benefit of mind training is the ability to calm the mind on  demand. 

take a look: clear, useful, easy Don't be fooled by the simplicity 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 28 

So I began to meditate every morning for ten minutes. 

that's it - ten minutes 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 31 

However, when the mind is alert and relaxed at the same time, relaxation gives random ideas space to arise and  play, and alertness lets us see them and their connections, just like dropping pebbles into a placid lake. 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 61 

I like to apply wise laziness to the process of mind training, mostly because I’m striving very hard to be lazy. you should, too 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 62 

I was in for a much bigger

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 65 

Bushnell’s Law states, “All the best games are easy to learn and difficult to master.” 

not just games 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 65 

This leads us to a question only a shamelessly lazy engineer would ask: what is the absolute minimum amount of  meditation practice before there is any sort of benefit? My answer: one breath. 

take one conscious totally aware breath 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 72 

if, for whatever reason, you can only choose one, always choose gentleness over intensity. we all need to learn this 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 72 

Make Breathing a Habit 

always spend some time breathing 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 93 

A key aspect of meditation is the skillful combination of wise effort and letting go. 

work at what you should, accept what comes 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 94 

Instead, meditation is about allowing the mind to settle on its own terms, in its own time, which includes  allowing thoughts to arise as and when they want to. 

watch and notice 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 104 

I decided I would sit on a chair and literally do nothing. It turned out that nothing was precisely what I needed to  do. 

can you do nothing for a few minutes ?

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 105 

I got calmer, my health improved, I started responding better to stress, and I became less of a dick than I used to  be. 

how to be less of a dick 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 107 

Recognize that there is joy even in the first breath. Do the One Mindful Breath practice often—make it a habit. 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 115 

there is a very simple tool that’ll allow you to cause joy to arise. That simple tool is: smiling. William James agrees: smile to call up joy 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 124 

When walking, take one moment to attend fully to the joy of being able to walk. 

not a small thing 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 129 

My recommendation to all of you: at least once a day, remember that someday, you will die, and that everybody  you love will die. If for no other reason, than because it is true. 

memento mori 

Highlight (Yellow) | Page 152 

Compassion, in contrast, is significantly harder because it forces us to come face-to-face with suffering. 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 186 

The first is to be willing to experience joy in the midst of emotional pain. The second is to be willing to  experience the emotional pain itself. 

not easy but worth it 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 187 

As I developed more skill at accessing joy in meditation, I realized I could do it even when I had a crappy day  and I was feeling sad, angry, or disheartened. 

try it!

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 187 

peace and joy are the default states of mind. They don’t have to be created—they just need to be accessed. basic, normal states 

 (Bold face type is my comment when I have one)

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 200 

Second, the way we judge ourselves tends to be far more negative than the facts can justify. not the only one 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 210 

At every step of your growth, expect failure. Lots of failure. 

when you keep on trying, failure leads to success 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 212 

Love yourself enough to allow yourself the space to suffer, without shame or judgment. main thing 

Highlight (Yellow) and Note | Page 236 

Second, the difference between the average and what is considered excellent is a mere 4 percentage points. It is  the same with loving-kindness and compassion practice as applied to real life. 

a little better can make a big difference