Go Not to the Temple

For those who think they have crossed mid-life

1. Focus on enjoying people, not on indulging in or
accumulating material things.

2. Plan to spend whatever you have saved.. You
deserve to enjoy it and the healthy years you have
left. Travel if you can afford it.

Don't leave anything for your children or loved
ones to quarrel about.
By leaving too much, you may even cause more
trouble when y ou are gone.

3. Live in the here and now, not in the yesterdays
and tomorrows. It is only today that you can handle.
Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may not even happen.

4. Enjoy your grandchildren (if blessed with any)
but don't be their full time baby sitter.
You have no moral obligation to take care of them.
Don't have any guilt about refusing to baby sit
anyone's kids, including your own grandkids.
Your parental obligation is to your children.
After you have raised them into responsible adults,
your duties of child-rearing and babysitting are
finished. Let your children raise their own off-springs.

5. Accept physical weakness, sickness and other
physical pains. It is a part of the ageing process.
Enjoy whatever your health can allow.

6. Enjoy what you are and what you have right now.
Stop working hard for what you do not have.
If you don't have them, it's probably too late.

7. Enjoy your life with your spouse, children,
grandchildren and friends. People, who truly love
you, love you for yourself, not for what you
have. Anyone who loves you for what you have will just
give you misery. And you'd probably know that by now.

8. Forgive and accept forgiveness. Forgive yourself
and others. Enjoy peace of mind and peace of soul.

9. Not trying to be morbid, but befriend death.
It's a natural part of the life cycle.
Don't be afraid of it. Death is the beginning of
a new and better life.
So, prepare yourself not for death but for a new
life with the Almighty.

10. Be at peace with your Creator. For ..... He is
all you have after you leave this sojourn on Earth.

Slow Dance

Slow Dance
By David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed,
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time, to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Image and conflict -- Krishnamurthi

“It is easy to smile at people outside your own home. It is so easy to take care of the people that you don’t know well. It is difficult to be thoughtful and kind and to smile and be loving to your own in the house day after day, especially when we are tired and in a bad temper or bad mood. We all have these moments and that is the time that Christ comes to us in a distressing disguise.”

“It is one thing to say I am a sinner, but let someone else say that about me and then I feel it – I am up in arms. If I am falsely accused I may suffer, whereas if correction be founded on even a small reality – something in me having deserved it – then often it hurts more. We must be happy that our faults are known as they are.”

Both above from Mother Theresa

It is interesting to me because they are consistent with Krisnamurthi’s view on conflicts.

It is easy to smile at people you don’t know because you do not have an image of the person. To someone you know, you have already formed an image – and that you are expecting that image to be consistent. But the image is not the person. So inconsistency is almost guaranteed.

If I am falsely accused I may suffer – that is again due to the image. My image of myself is being challenged by someone else, who has a different image of me. I feel hurt because I sense that the image I have is not me, and that it is painful to change that image because it introduces uncertainty.

The Five Silences -- Mother Theresa

Silence is the beautiful fruit of prayer.

We must learn not only the silence of the mouth

but also the silence of the heart,

of the eyes,

of the ears

and of the mind.

Maxims of Warren Buffet

Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you
need.

Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; spend what is left
after saving.

Hard work: All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to
poverty.

Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income.

Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

Auditing: Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.

Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet.

Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Mindful Living

Mindfulness -- quality and power of mind that is aware of what's happening but without judgement and without interference

Imagine a beautiful snow mountain behind a lake. The water in the lake perfectly calm, like a mirror, reflecting the mountain. One can not tell which is the real mountain. You are there, watching the mountain and the lake. But you leave no trace of being there. There is no breathing, no foot prints, no shadow.