Tag Archives: fun
A happy talent
“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson Sometimes we confuse recreational activities with play, but the two are not always linked. It’s possible to turn recreation– especially organized and scheduled pursuits– into just another task on our to-do list. It’s also possible to play while engaged in duties that most people …
God’s medicine
“Mirth is God’s medicine. Everybody ought to bathe in it.” — Henry Ward Beecher As Norman Cousins famously demonstrated, laughter really is the best medicine. It can break through the gloom and lift the heart more quickly than any other remedy. Years ago while we lived in Ohio, we were coping with the worrisome heart defects …
Any wonderful unexpected thing
“After the keen still days of September, the October sun filled the world with mellow warmth…The maple tree in front of the doorstep burned like a gigantic red torch. The oaks along the roadway glowed yellow and bronze. The fields stretched like a carpet of jewels, emerald and topaz and garnet. Everywhere she walked the …
A certain free margin
“You must not know too much, or be too precise or scientific about birds and trees and flowers and water-craft; a certain free margin, and even vagueness – perhaps ignorance, credulity – helps your enjoyment of these things…” — Walt Whitman I think Whitman just explained why I get such a kick out of nature. …
For your mind
“Sometimes the best thing you can do for your mind is take it for a walk.” — Ashleigh Brilliant Ashleigh can speak with authority on this topic. He’s lived over eight decades without using a car very much.* In fact, I don’t know whether he even owns one. I’ve only ever seen his bicycles, parked …
You never know
“…you’re not the only one who feels like you don’t belong, or that it’s better somewhere else. But there ARE things worth living for. And the best part is you never know what’s going to happen next.” ― O.R. Melling Recently I was flying out of DCA to attend the memorial service for Tuffy, about whom I …
Smaller and less sneaky
“Friends can make you feel that the world is smaller and less sneaky than it really is.” ― Lemony Snicket Sometimes, especially lately, it’s pretty hard to see the world as a friendly place. From the nefarious newsmakers who hack away at others figuratively, digitally and sometimes even literally, to the rude strangers who cut …
Something possible
“Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order…a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.” — Kakuzō Okakura It seems to me …
The garden of the spirit
“The ground I tend sustains me in early summer, but the garden of the spirit is the place I go when the wind howls…Raised in the mind’s eye, nurtured by the faithful composting of orange rinds and tea leaves and ideas, it is finally the wintergarden that produces the true flowering, the saving vision.” — Louise …
See from a bike
“It is curious that with the advent of the automobile and the airplane, the bicycle is still with us. Perhaps people like the world they can see from a bike…without leaving behind clouds of choking exhaust, without leaving behind so much as a footstep.” — Gurdon S. Leete While I was in Oxford, I found …
Something you have to learn
“Nobody is born smiling – being happy in this world is something you have to learn.” — Ashleigh Brilliant How true! And as with all kinds of education, some people seem naturally better at learning happiness than others. A few are exceptionally gifted in this way, and others are what we might call “learning disabled” when …
A sunny spirit (2017)
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.” — Mark Twain Dear friends, I thank you for your patience and your kind comments– which I look forward to answering as soon as I can catch my …
To wander
“Wandering is the activity of the child, the passion of the genius; it is the discovery of the self, the discovery of the outside world, and the learning of how the self is both ‘at one with’ and ‘separate from’ the outside world. These discoveries are as fundamental to the soul as ‘learning to survive’ …
The one who comes in
“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” — Grace Pulpit I’ve written before about how isolating trouble can be. To put it bluntly, most people would rather not think about illness, disability or death unless they can’t avoid it. Those who are dealing with such issues, often …
Whimsy and change
“Pretension and trendiness are pesky intruders. I try to swat them out of my studio while making tea for whimsy and change.” – Ellis Anderson My friend Ellis wrote those words years ago referring to her work in jewelry design. But I copied and saved them, even though I’m not an artist, because they apply …
Geniuses
“A certain group of geniuses can easily learn even the world’s most difficult languages: they’re called babies.” — Ashleigh Brilliant Are you bilingual, or (even more impressive) do you speak several languages fluently? If so, I envy you. I’ve always wished that I could communicate in many different languages. I suppose it’s because I like to …
A clover, any time
The pedigree of honey Does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him Is aristocracy. — Emily Dickinson I am a person of simple tastes. During our lean years, I supposed this was because we couldn’t afford grand things. But the passing decades have taught me that it’s a deep-down unchanging part of …
Company enough
“I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me.” — William Hazlitt I think many of us can identify with Hazlitt. It’s almost impossible to feel lonely when the birds are chirping, the squirrels are scampering around and the rabbits hop silently from place to place. Even the flowers …
More important
“It’s bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children’s health than the pediatrician.” — Meryl Streep “Eat your vegetables. They’re good for you.” — almost every mother who ever lived Pediatricians are important in fighting children’s diseases, to be sure, but it might be even more bizarre that we somehow generalize their crucial responsibility …
A fountain of gladness
“A kind heart is a fountain of gladness, making everything in its vicinity freshen into smiles.” — Washington Irving During my days on campus this past month, there were some long hot lunchtime walks between the communications building (where I had classes) and the library. Fortunately the campus is gorgeous and well shaded with countless trees, …
Something worth more
“I work hard in the orchard, not for the money anymore, but for something I can’t explain. Something worth more than money.”― Steven Herrick I have only faint childhood memories of occasionally picking fruit. I recall muscadines and plums, and the blackberries that grew in the wild bushes surrounding the pond behind our home. One year …
Where there is joy
“Find a place where there is joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” — Joseph Campbell What brings you joy? For most of us, there are many answers to that question, and some of us are fortunate enough to discover new joys daily. Perhaps the surest way to survive despair is to grasp …
A very astonishing place
“If you can sustain your interest in what you’re doing, you’re an extremely fortunate person. What you see very frequently in people’s professional lives, and perhaps in their emotional life as well, is that they lose interest in the third act. You sort of get tired, and indifferent, and, sometimes, defensive. And you kind of …
Defeat Despair 