The Experimental Life

 

You are the laboratory and every day is the experiment.

Go and find what is new and unexpected.

Joel Elkes

If life is an experiment, perhaps we should apply the scientific method

Let's try it!

Step 1:  Ask a question: 

(go ahead!  ask yourself a question....only you know what you really want to find out about yourself)

Step 2: Make an observation and do some back ground research 

 Think about it

    (be honest now....why do you still have that bad habit....or that unfilled aspiration?)

Step 3: Propose a hypothesis      (take a guess-what have you got to lose?)

Got it?  OK...let's move on

Step 4: Decide how to test the hypothesis 

  ( remember: You are the laboratory and every day is the experiment)

Step 5: Test the hypothesis by living the truth that you discovering. Results?

Step 6: Accept or reject the hypothesis: 

 Press on or return to Step One

Because as Socrates said:

The unexamined life is not worth living

and that's poetiquejustis

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Psalm 139:23

Change

A cocoon is effective only as a means of change

Kathleen Norris, From Acedia and Me

I used to have a little friend (now a grown up attorney!) 

 who would cross her baby arms and say

"no looka me, no talka me. no toucha me!"

The kid knew how to cocoon!

Hiding away from the world has its time 

 And it has its place

But when we are once again ready to face life

                                                      
                                                                  We should step out big!

We should emerge!

Refreshed and full of vibrancy

 Otherwise...we were just hanging around!

and that's poetiquejustis
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,
 and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28 

 

Heading To Higher Ground

 

 To pity distress is but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

Horace Mann

There seems to be a lot of distress in the world these days

Even our jeans are distressed!

I am over it!

The sun is still shining

The waves are still rolling to shore

Morning coffee is still a delight

I am heading for higher ground

And I want to take as many people with me

as I can

 and that's poetiquejustis

You will keep in perfect peace
    those whose minds are steadfast,
    because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever,
    for the Lord, the Lord himself is the Rock eternal.

Isaiah 26:3-4

 

The Moving Life

Everything in life that we really accept

undergoes a change.

Katherine Mansfield

We all grow up

And then we move on

Dreams are outgrown

New dreams take their place

Do not mourn that things have changed

Celebrate that you were there to see the miracle of life

unfolding before your very eyes

And that's poetiquejustis

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  

Psalm 16:11

 

Here Are Your Options

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Winston S. Churchill

 

Window of opportunity stuck?

Cut a new one!

Lose the key to the door to the future?

Take that thing off the hinges!

Opportunity just not stopping at your floor?

The go up the down escalator!

But whatever you do, 

Do not let your chances pass you by!

Emily Dickinson said:

"Not knowing when the dawn would come, I opened every door"

And that's poetiquejustis

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” 

Show me your faith apart from your works, 

and I will show you my faith by my works.

 James 2:18

 

Seek Peace and Pursue it

To have peace and confidence within our souls- these are the beliefs that make for happiness

Maurice Maeterlinck

Tug of war

At once peace with who you are

And thinking you should be MORE

Tug of war

Now at peace with where you are

Now thinking you should be someplace else

Tug of war

The world pulls one way

And your heart pulls the other

Until something has got to give

Me?  

I am pulling for your heart

and that's poetiquejustis

                     Who can understand their errors? Please, cleanse me from secret faults.

                                                               Romans 7:15

 

Where Have You Been All Your Life?

The spiritual path is simply the journey of living our lives

Marianne Williamson

C S Lewis said;

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… 

It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

Thanks to the wonders of social media

Baby boomers from around the world reconnecting

Old flames

                                                                               and

People you hardly remember

Once they were "there" in your past

And now they are "here" on your computer screen!

But how did they get from there to here?

Ask them! 

 I did recently and learned a friend had found his way from our high school graduation 

to today 

through working in Algeria

another has found her calling in the equestrian life

another as a well loved teacher

Ask your friends where they have been all your life!

- you are going to get some great answers

as you brighten your day and theirs

and that's poetiquejustis

Oil and perfume rejoice the heart; 

so does the sweetness of a friend's counsel that comes from the heart.

Proverbs 27:9