Do I even have time to clear the clutter?

It is the end of week 11 of this term, and man, it's hard! Well, I have to say it is the intensity that makes it hard. Almost there.

In the midst of the push of Latin, post-grad sticky notes abound. Transcript ordered, recommends in place, application needs to be completed. So many stickies that are being pushed to the side in order to drill Latin vocabulary.

A few Latin snips:

volo, velle, volui, _____ - be willing, want or wish

dubito, dubitare, dubitavi, dubitatum - hesitate, doubt

fas, n., (what is divinely) right; (what is) permitted



But, what about this year's word of the year...could it be a new dictionary ENTRY?

In the feed:

A Washington Post ARTICLE that was interesting.

I wanna make my own!

On the cushion:

Wind in the cave;

Movement in stillness.

Power in silence.

"In a cave, all outer sounds are smothered by rock and earth, but this makes the sounds of one's own heartbeat and breath audible. In the same way, contemplative stillness turns us away from everyday clamor but allows us to hear the subtle in our own lives. 

When listening not with the ear but with the spirit, one can perceive the subtle sound. By entering into that sound, we enter into supreme purity. That is why so many religious traditions pray, sing, or chant as a prelude to silence. They understand that the repetition and absorption of sound leads to sacredness itself. 

The deepest sound is silence. This may seem paradoxical only if we regard silence as an absence of life and vibration. But for a meditator, silence is sound unified with all of its opposites. It is both sound and soundlessness, and it is in this confluence that the power of meditation emergence."

~excerpt from 365 Tao, Daily Meditations, Deng Ming-Dao, 1992, p. 7

Fun fact to know and tell your friends:

Enlightenment simply means being more fully human. 

I have very little time to surf the web these days, but have seen that there is way too much talk about the president-elect. The whole world seems to be upside-down with everyone trying to make sense of the madness on one side, and political positioning on the other. And, even after the head of CNN admitted their mistake of over-featuring Trump during the election, they still should be called the Trump News Network for all their continuing coverage of his every move - and, I am sure he is eating it up. I have been more than dismayed to see the selections for the presidential cabinet, as it shows all those who have (and have had) connection with Trump (that few were aware of), or at the very least have no problem with the incoming administration's whack-a-do and dangerous propositions (like building a wall, doing away with Obama-care, deporting Muslims). I thought John Oliver had some welcome insight (below), however it is unfortunate that even saying these things out loud will not make anything different. I am equally doubtful that protesting will accomplish much, either.

I am working on acceptance...how 'bout you?




Personal Proverbs:

Time spent focusing on the progress of others, 

neglects our own.