Happy New Year!
I, for one, am glad 2004 is over. Most of the year I spent in a hospital. Now I am home and my life is forever changed- some of it good and some bad- kind of like life was even before 2004.
Of course, it is a time to reflect and renew so here goes---
still being in a wheelchair sucks- but now being able to stand up and walk a bit is nice.
Having my husband close to me every nite is wonderful compared to the hospital bed I occupied most of the year.
Losing a wonderful business and great clients was sad, but the opportunity to write more and meditate more, and build my coaching practice is great.
Losing my independence to dress myself and prepare meals and clean the house is uncomfortable but receiving the love and compassion from my caregivers is touching.
Having physical limitations for the rest of my life will prevent me from the sports and the kind of travel I used to do. But it has also opened me up to other skillful means- cruises and RVs, Ha! Ha!
Lots of losses but lots of gains. Sometimes I feel like the lines between each extreme is blurred and there is no difference- just things as they are.
I won't be writing as much in my blog as I am going to take another online writing class to develop my book. I also plan on a new look for this site or perhaps develop a new site for my coaching practice.
Stay tuned for that! I have had to shut down some of the comment sections due to spammers but I am going to fix that and have it up and running again. It would be nice to get some feedback from you all so keep coming back or put your email in the Get Notified of New Posts area in the right column.
Happy New Year! Thank you for your cards, letters, prayers, and emails. They do make a difference.
"Like sleeping or eating, meditation brings health and happiness. It gives us all - including our children - the opportunity to bring peace to ourselves and our families." Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
"The path forward is about becoming more human, not just more clever. It is about transcending our fears of vulnerability, not finding new ways of protecting ourselves. It is about discovering how to act in service of the whole, not just in service of our own interests. It is about rediscovering courage — literally, cuer age, the rending of the heart-to pursue what Adam [Kahane] calls 'an open way,' because the only progress possible regarding the deep problems we face will come from opening our minds, hearts, and wills."
— Peter Senge, from the Foreword to Solving Tough Problems
My friend, Ginger Cockerham sent this to me and I would like to share it with you:
"We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are."
Sandra Shelton
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If I see things the way I am, what is my truth for 2005?
2005 is full of promise and possibility,
if I am inspired.
Things can be changed,
if I am action.
The challenge isn’t overwhelming,
if I am community.
The Gap can be bridged,
if I am committed.
Generosity is natural and easy,
if I am abundant.
This is a magical, wonderful world,
if I am Awestruck.
Before the ice is in the pools,
before the skaters go,
Or any cheek at nightfall
Is tarnished by the snow,
Before the fields have finished,
Before the Christmas tree,
Wonder upon wonder
Will arrive to me!
-Emily Dickinson
Many people are prone to trade their portfolios before the end of the year just for tax purposes or because they believe their returns are too low. Edwin Lefevre points out in his biography of Jesse Livermore, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, "a man may see straight and clearly and yet become impatient or doubtful when the market takes its time about doing as he figures it must do. That is why so many men in Wall Street...lose money. The market does not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight."
Here's to sitting tight.
Steven Romick-President of FPA Cresent recently shared this:
A recent study co-authored by Professor Campbell Harvey of Duke University Fuqua School of Business surveyed 401 chief financial officers. I will share some of the distressing findings with you. "The survey found that companies routinely employed legal accounting gimmicks to hit their numbers. But the study also found that 78% of CFOs would give up real economic value in exchnage for artificially smooth earnings-including deferring spending and selling off patents. More that 55% said they would delay starting new projects to meet earnings targets."
Sadly sacrificing long-term earnings is determined by too many to be an acceptable business practice.
In the four months that I was in the hospital, I realized right away that the ability to welcome total strangers into my room and my life was going to be a necessity. At all hours of the day and night, strange men and women would come into my room and do all kind of unmentionables to my body. They are called doctors and nurses and they are there to help you and you are aware of that yet there is a strange meeting of the minds when you see each other. Of course, there are the usual pleasantries, ?Hello, My name is Marie and I will be your nurse till the morning? and sometimes there are no pleasantries ? just a stranger with no badge or ID and no hello and no eye contact. In order to make my stay as comfortable as possible I knew that I would have to change. Rather than allow myself to feel depressed about losing control over who and when anyone walked in. I started to play with it. When someone strange walked in and did not acknowledge me, I would say, ?Hello, my name is Fern, and I will be your patient for the rest of the afternoon?. Some would laugh and some would grumble ??I am just filling in for Felice who is on her break, Honey? ?Well, Honey, that is very nice of you?. (Being short and small, usually evokes people to call me Honey, Sweetie, Darling, etc. ad nauseum and this is not even the South.) But- they mean well. I became aware that my experience was a lot like how we interact with people in regular life. It is easy to quickly judge them by their looks, their accent, or how they address you. The reality is we really don?t know them very well, and they don?t know us so we kind of owe each other the benefit of the doubt that we are good caring people that want to help each other.
"Without any intention, fancy way of adjusting yourself, to express yourself as you are in the most important thing." -Suzuki Roshi
Zen master, Seung Sahn, passed away on November 30. He was well liked and respected by all. I never met him but felt very close to him through my teacher, Kwong Roshi. Of course, many of his books I have read and studied. He has written- Only Don't Know, Dropping Ashed on the Buddha, and The Compass of Zen which you can get at www.amazon.com.