Quote of the Day - 1/8/2012

When we were young, we thought we’d build a house

And happiness would happen in. By middle age, we’d feel

Secure, propped by old loves, certainties. All we’ve learned,

And that with luck, is to invent ourselves each day.

Nadya Aisenberg in Leaving Eden: Poems  (1995)

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Have you reached the realization that “All we’ve learned is to invent ourselves each day?” As children we knew it and, unburdened by a lot of remembered experience, just did it. It is something we rediscover at different points in our lives; it is a positive response in times of transition or change.

Part of growing up included the invention of expectations of what would make us happy. They focused our early adult lives. Sometimes that focus was about a career or a relationship or the accumulation of things. Having enough money almost always was a component. We figured that happiness would be the result.

For me - the life expectations invented in my teen years included college, career, and marriage. The momentum carried me through my mid-20s with almost no tweaking. I was happy during that period but still believed ‘happiness would happen in’ because that was what my experience seemed to be. Then I decided to change plans for graduate school and focus more on career; it was a significant shift in thinking of life goals from academic/theoretical to business/tactical…one of those inflection points of life. Again life proceeded with that focus for years and happiness still seemed to ‘happen in.’ At some point along the line, I began to realize that my tendency toward optimism and trust made it easy for me to be happy. Happiness did not ‘happen in’ because others could view the same situation and not be happy. It was my choice to respond with happiness in the present rather than regretting something in the past or being so focused on the future to not enjoy the now.

As we truly mature we realize that happiness is not something that just happens accidently. In this case I mean something different than physical maturity. Maturity is the knowledge, and sometimes wisdom, that individuals achieve easily in their 20s or beyond while others never quite achieve. This kind of maturity is not tightly linked to an individual’s age. It can be linked to parenthood because that situation often prompts heighted caring for someone outside of ourselves (a child) and that motivates us to be better people than we were before. The key is to realize that our response to our life’s situation is what is important. Whether or not you are happy is your choice; it cannot be provided by someone else.

Happiness is the response we choose to the daily invention of our lives.

Quote of the Day - 1/7/2012

It is a mark of success in a park, public lobby or a porch when people can come there and fall asleep. - Christopher Alexander in A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Cess Center for Environmental)

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This quote is from the mid-1970s. Much has changed since that time. In 2012, when an adult is asleep in a public place, the linkage is often to ‘homeless’ rather than a ‘mark of success’ for the space. Public places are intended for wakeful activity rather than sleep.

But - the underlying meaning of the quote has less to do with sleep than with people feeling secure in the place…that bad things will not happen there…that it is OK to relax and not be on alert. Even in the best of our public spaces, the design of the space is not enough. For over 10 years, the news media and our education system has trained us to a heightened vigilance - particularly in public places; we are often warned about our technical gadgets that draw our attention, sometimes to the exclusion of our surroundings.

Think about a public place you deem to be ‘successful’ - and what are the main elements that cause it to be that way.

The Smithsonian Mall in Washington DC is my example. The open area of the mall is heavily used throughout the year; there are always people about. The picture below was taken on a Sunday in November 2011 - not the peak of tourist season. The Park Police walk the fine line between intrusion and security. Many of the people are there as individuals - enjoying the ‘alone but not too alone’ of a public place. Some are passing through - walking between museums. Some are walking or jogging…not there for the museums at all. It is not a place a go frequently, but when I do it is enjoyable and I don’t feel the need to rush through it to be safe.

That doesn’t mean that I would sleep there.

Quote of the Day - 1/5/2012

One of the earliest known greenhouses was built around 30 AD for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, to satisfy his craving for cucumbers out of season.  Glass had not yet been invented, and the greenhouse, called a specularium, was painstakingly fabricated from small translucent sheets of mica. - Gardening Under Glass and Lights: The American Horticultural Society Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening

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How fortunate we are to live at a time that many fresh fruits and vegetables are available all year round!

• Greenhouses are one way that is achieved - a technique attempted with varying degrees of success for over 2000 years with the first documented case noted in the quote above; there were probably even earlier attempts that we just don’t know about.
• Improved transportation is another; the produce aisle of our grocery often contains items that were grown in another hemisphere.
• Our houses are more evenly heated than in earlier times making is possible to have indoor gardens in winter; I only go as far as sprouts but with a little effort to do more.
• We have improved ways to store produce as well - temperature controlled, atmospheric (gases), coatings, bactericides.

There are still seasonal fruits and vegetables. Pomegranates are what I think about first. They are the ultimate December fruit for me….so beautiful with their deep red coated seeds. They really are not available in my grocery except for November-January. Strawberries are available all year round but are less expensive when they are in late May/early June for my area; years ago there was a local ‘pick your own’ strawberries farm that my family enjoyed annually (unfortunately, plant problems followed by a housing development has now overcome that tradition); somehow strawberries always seem to taste better during that ‘in season’ time.

What is your favorite out-of-season veggie or fruit this week? With it below 20 degrees F for the past few days - I’m enjoying little cherry tomatoes. 

Quote of the Day - 1/4/2012

Over our heads

Through the night

The stars descend,

Sacred threads of evening.

-        Marjorie Agosin in Rain in the Desert / Lluvia en el Desierto

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There are so many nights in the cold of winter that are clear. I glance up at the sky as I am hurrying to the mailbox or into a store. Standing a while to just look is not comfortable.

Sometimes, though, the sky is so dark that a narrow rectangle of stars is visible through the skylight of my house and I’m always thrilled to see them in comfort while being frustrated that I cannot see more. It is a reminder of the vastness of this place in which our world rotates on its axis and around the sun…how much has been derived from observations of the stars that are the ‘sacred threads of evening.’

Do you think a higher percentage of the population were star watchers in ancient times than today? It seems that might be true because they were outdoors more than we are now and because they understood less. The world was a more frightening place to them because it was unexplained. Now our biggest fears are about things we ourselves have created. Star watching and seeking to know more about them seems so benign in comparison.

Quote of the Day - 1/3/2012

Nature uses as little as possible of anything. - Johannes Kepler

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Nature is a great teacher. The tangent I want to take from the quote today is not so much the first order lesson of biology…it is the translation of what we observe in nature to the way we live our own lives. The beginning of the year prompts thinking of changes we want to make and the theme for me this year is what I take from this quote.

‘Use as little as possible’ is a great mantra. I want to de-clutter all aspects of my life. Clutter gets in the way of what is truly important. It means that I need to better differentiate between what is essential and what is fluff.  The fluff needs to be used up, reused, donated, or recycled. Over the past few years I have focused on reducing the amount of trash the household produces but there has been a slow accumulation of things - older clothes, furniture that is no longer needed, etc. It needs to find a new home in 2012 enabling my life to be honed in the same way nature hones biologic systems.

Quote of the Day 1/2/2012

Fashion wears out more apparel than the man. – Shakespeare

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How much attention do you pay to fashion? The diversity of attire in the workplace and public places is so broad that ‘fashion’ comes close to ‘individual choice’ now - probably more so than any other time in history. I certainly haven’t thrown or given any clothing way because it was ‘out of fashion;’ I either wear it out or give it away because I am simply bored with it (or it doesn’t fit me anymore).

Comfort is more important to me than high fashion. Maybe that is true for a lot of people.

• There used to be outfits in my wardrobe that I thought only looked good with shoes with a lot of heel. I’ve gotten rid of those outfits (and the heels) or decided that I don’t need the height as much as I thought I did. There are still a lot of very high heels in the stores but I don’t see them worn all that frequently. My guess is that people that wear the very high heels, do so for relatively short periods of time and not when they are going to have to walk for any distance.
• I used to wear dressy sandals with lots of straps. Now I wear flip flops or thick soled walking sandals. I notice a lot of other people wearing the same type shoes. Maybe there will not be as many feet that look misshaped by years of contorting shoes in the years ahead.
• If clothes don’t fit me well (too tight, too big, hangs funny), I give them away.

There were probably times in my life where the Shakespearean quote was true for me, but not now. Is it true for you? 

Quote of the Day - 1/1/2012

There were two kinds of ambition. The wrong kind seeks power for the sake of power. The right kind of ambition for the power to accomplish any duty, no matter how hard or heavy it proves to be, for the sake of one’s country and for what one believes to be right. - Mignon Eberhart in Run Scared.

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Ambition and purpose….the drive behind the actions we take to guide our life. Philosophically we associate the desire for control with integrity and high moral standards too. That is the positive side of ambition and counselors/mentors often encourage us to develop a driving ambition and purpose rather than drifting through life, accepting what comes along.

But - as the quote from Mignon Eberhart points out, you can do all those things and still have the negative result of being drawn to power without the underpinning of integrity and a sound moral compass.

As we begin 2012 and are thinking of the goals we are setting for ourselves, let’s keep in mind that ambition needs integrity and morality to be a healthy part of 2012 plans.