2.19.2011 more quotes

I really like the following “resolutions” of Ben Huh, CEO, Cheezburger.com:
1) Compromise less on core beliefs. 2) Worry less about the future and concentrate on being in the moment. 3) Focus on the important and outsource the urgent.

I think they’re all worth pondering and pursuing. The last one however, really struck me. It was like the clouds parting and a bright light and voice coming down saying, “hey, THIS is for YOU dummy!” I get caught in the tramp of the opposite ALL the time, especially at work. urgent does NOT equal important, even if it needs doing.

“finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -emerson

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2.19.2011 quotes

“It is a physical journey, but also one of learning and imagining.” -Susan Viguers, on Clif Meador’s artist book: Memory Lapse

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2.14.2011 spending time with my boys

Playing on the playground with Max, enjoying his excitement over his monkeybar accomplishment, pushing him on the swing, spending the day with Carter, even though he’s been sick, making him a grilled cheese sandwich.

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2.14.2011 happiness is...

My amazing, beautiful wife.
Making her a valentines card.
Spending time with my family.

See more progress on: find at least one thing each day that makes me happy and record it everyday for a year

2.2.11 reading

reading “drive: what motivates us” dan pink. really like what this book has to say.

listened to a rob bell lecture at greenbelt conference
began listening to randy pausch’s “the last lecture”

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2.2.11 spending time with the boys

enjoyed spending time with the boys yesterday, reading, playing, working on some lego projects and laughing.

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2.2.11 happiness is...

an amazing partner who is often able to fly at a higher altitude than me and help me see that even when our 7 and 2 year old boys are driving me crazy or not doing what i’d like for them to do, that they really are wonderful kids and we have so much for which to be grateful.

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2.2.11 happiness is...

having a great eye doctor. even though he’s in a different city, he was able to squeeze me in and i’m grateful for one good eye (my better one anyway!) that could get there and back safely!

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1.30.11 happiness is...

knowing that even though i’ve missed a lot of days in this journal, that i have soooo much to be happy about. my amazing wife- full of grace and mercy and beauty and laughter and love. my two wonderful boys that fill our lives with fun and laughter and joy. I could list these things everyday!

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1.30.11 spending time with my boys

even though my little one has the flu, we had a good time reading books and playing. just being around Max is a joy, even when he’s under the weather. Enjoyed playing with Carter too! After Max went to bed with worked on a Lego project and read some. He’s such a great guy and a wonderful big brother. I told him tonight that I wished everyone in the world could have a big brother like him.

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1.30.11 intentionality

i think perhaps my lack of entries on 43things in the last few months might reflect that i’m doing better on this goal? i want this idea of being more intentional to be at the for front of my mind, so that whatever it is i’m doing, i’m there in the moment, not thinking/worrying/longing for anything else. to be fully present

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1.30.11 inbox zero

it’s a journey much more than a destination, but i like to view all of life this way!

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1.30.11 excercising

this has gotten much better in the last month or so. making it a priority and feeling good about the results. been lifting mostly three days a week and running and using the elliptical 3-5 days a week.

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1.30.11 quotes i like

Is ther a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God? Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?

Why is talking so much easier than listening? What is it about silence that is so difficult? Why is it easier to surround myself with noise and keep moving, than to stop, be silent, and listen?

How much noise do i voluntarily subject myself to? Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?

Maybe the healing and guidance we desperately need is not going to come from one more meeting or therapy session or sermon or self-help book, but from simply listening for the voice of God.

Is it possible that you have been looking or God in the winds, the earthquakes and fires, and he is waiting to speak to you in the silence?

Rob Bell, Nooma #5 Noise

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1.30.11 quotes i like

“Maybe the truth of the Adam and Eve story, maybe the the greatest power of the story, is not so much that it happened, but that it happens.” Jesus teaches us how to live in the reality of God NOW, here and today….Where is God? Where isn’t God? His fingerprints are all over our world…or maybe it’s his world and our fingerprints?
...Do we treat this world like a waiting room for the next life? Do we treat faith as a ticket to something beyond? Are we just hanging out and waiting? What good is a faith that doesn’t have anything to do with the world we live in now?

...Followers of Christ—people of peace, of justice, of mercy, of grace, people committed to partnering with God to make this world, the world that we al live in, the kind of place that God originally intended it to be.

....Jewish saying:
A person’s good deeds are used by God as seeds to plant the very trees of Eden.

(Rob Bell, Nooma #3)

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Merry Modern Collage Christmas Card

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quotes i like 11/5/10

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea and the music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more.”

-Lord Byron

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october 1-17: happiness is...

10/1 … ordering artists books

10/2 … family gathering and all of carter’s grandparents there to see him play soccer

10/3 … an afternoon with my family

10/4 … traveling to school with my boys

10/5 … carter thinking of others and inspiring others to pick up trash

10/6 … an all day seminar that actually turned out to be great

10/7 … finalizing lots of loose ends for a conference

10/8 … a successful presentation and conference

10/9 … delicious breakfast and more good presentations

10/10 … a lazy afternoon

10/11 … spending the day with ann

10/12 … my birthday!

10/13 … my fun choir

10/14 … a beautiful day, an excuse to get out of the office, and sharing rare books with a class

10/15 … a surprise taking the rest of the day off, the end of a week and returning home to my lovely wife and two wonderful boys

10/16 … crisp morning, soccer game, looking at rocks

10/17 … two beautiful english choral settings

10/18 … my boys laughing in the car on the way to school and a note to my sweetie letting her know i’m thinking about her

See more progress on: find at least one thing each day that makes me happy and record it everyday for a year

10/13/10

reading choosing civility and
the music instinct

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9/20/10-9/30/10 - happiness is...

9/20…my beautiful wife and funny boys

9/21…an engaging colleague and his infectious enthusiasm, playing with carter and max and having dinner all together. ann and i got to go for a walk which was really nice. ran a mile on the treadmill and did weights.

9/22…a cancelled meeting, getting a lot done at work, a good choir rehearsal

9/23…highlight of my day was to come home and be with the boys and with ann. they completely brighten my life. we played in the backyard some until time for bed. after reading to max and putting him to bed, ann and I went for a walk. it was good to be out together as nightfall came, listening to crickets chirp and talking about our days.

9/24…a thought-provoking teleconference, and “friday”!

9/25… a completely lazy and schedule free saturday

9/26… carter went to a friend’s house and max took a nap, so ann and I had some great time to ourselves! among other things, enjoyed working on some art projects with ann, while sharing some coffee. we played outside, went to a playground for a little bit in the afternoon. the first glimpse of fall arrived with cooler weather. we ate dinner on the patio.

9/27… cooler weather and a really productive day

9/28… lunch with carter and an evening walk with ann

9/29… long day, but a good conversation with jay and then with ann after i got home

9/30… thai food, good conversation, soccer game, and some good books

See more progress on: find at least one thing each day that makes me happy and record it everyday for a year