Denver, CO 03/04/09; posted 03/08/09; ©2009 fstopcove

Denver, CO:

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Chambered Nautilus

A friend of mine told me recently that she writes so that she will have something to leave behind when this all too brief candle goes out. Must give us pause, there's a thought that should stop frivolity in its time-wasting tracks. Pema Chödrön says in Always Maintain a Joyful Mind, "Don't waste your precious time. You never know how long you have." And it's true, obviously. so why do we waste time that could be spent creating our legacy? I think it's like the value of what the Buddhists call "no-mind" in relation to thinking. We need a rest sometimes, a break from the serious work we have undertaken, and playing a computer game or watching college hoops on TV can provide that respite. The key, as in all things, is balance. How much play time do you need?

A few days ago I was coming up the stairs in the late afternoon and I saw the sun spotlighting this shell that sits on a table in our upstairs hall. I grabbed the camera and shot some frames and then I put one of the photos into the webpage and looking at it reminded me of the Holmes poem that I probably hadn't read since Mrs. Moore's English class, and the poem reminded me of what my friend said. Nice how things are all connected like that. "Nice, nice, very nice."

Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me, edited by Ben Karlin

Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle