Thinks I find along the way
My Anam Cara and I are preparing for a visit to the Emerald Isle in late October and as part of the process I was looking for films that might help her prepare for Irish culture and language. I stumbled upon this…
Continue reading “The Quiet Girl”
Any fan of documentaries, particularly those of Ken Burns will recognize the iconic voice of Peter Coyote. As one of those fans, imagine my joy when I discovered that the voice behind many of my favorite historical documentaries such as The Civil War, The American Buffalo, and Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery is not only a great actor and voice artist, but also a Buddhist priest!
Continue reading “Peter Coyote”
Book Review: Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen
“Lies My Teacher Told Me” is an eye-opening exploration of American history that challenges the conventional narratives presented in textbooks. James W. Loewen masterfully exposes the gaps and inaccuracies in what is often taught in schools, encouraging readers to think critically about the information they receive. His engaging writing style makes complex topics accessible, while his passionate advocacy for a more truthful and inclusive historical account is inspiring. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the real story behind America’s past. It not only enlightens but also prompts discussions that are vital for a well-rounded education. Highly recommended!
I love history and this book is the best history book I have read in the past year or more. I wonder what would have happened if Hitler had been accepted by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and become an artist instead of an ‘arsonist’…
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand[a] was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range while being driven through Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. Princip was part of a group of six Bosnian assassins together with Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Vaso Čubrilović, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Cvjetko Popović and Trifko Grabež coordinated by Danilo Ilić; all but one were Bosnian Serbs and members of a student revolutionary group that later became known as Young Bosnia. The political objective of the assassination was to free Bosnia and Herzegovina of Austria-Hungarian rule and establish a common South Slav (“Yugoslav”) state. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis which led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia and the start of World War I. The assassination team was helped by the Black Hand, a Serbian secret nationalist group; support came from Dragutin Dimitrijević, chief of the military intelligence section of the Serbian general staff, as well as from Major Vojislav Tankosić and Rade Malobabić, a Serbian intelligence agent. Tankosić provided bombs and pistols to the assassins and trained them in their use. The assassins were given access to the same clandestine network of safe-houses and agents that Malobabić used for the infiltration of weapons and operatives into Austria-Hungary.” Source: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – Wikipedia
If you find this interesting, you might like this book…
Blogger Maria Popova is celebrating 18 years of one of my favorite blogs “The Marginalian” (formerly known as Brain Pickings): “Somewhere along the way, you realize that no one will teach you how to live your own life — not your parents or your idols, not the philosophers or the poets, not your liberal arts education or your twelve-step program, not church or therapy or Tolstoy. No matter how valuable any of that guidance, how pertinent any of that wisdom, in the end you discover that you make the path of life only by walking it with your own two feet under the overstory of your own consciousness — that singular miracle never repeated in all the history and future of the universe, never fully articulable to another.
Continue reading “18 Life-Learnings from 18 Years of The Marginalian”
This new dating trend is reconnecting couples—and it’s all thanks to penguins: Pebbling: A Delightful Dating Trend Inspired by Penguins
Michael J. Menard’s book ‘The Kite That Couldn’t Fly’ recounts how 14 children faced uncommon challenges. Yet most of them found the way to overcome their struggles and thrive: Adverse Childhood Experiences: Who Stumbles and Who Thrives?
“One sunny afternoon, when he wasn’t feeling well, Jobs sat in the garden behind his house and reflected on death. He talked about his experiences in India almost four decades earlier, his study of Buddhism, and his views on reincarnation and spiritual transcendence. “I’m about fifty-fifty on believing in God,” he said. “For most of my life, I’ve felt that there must be more to our existence than meets the eye.” He admitted that, as he faced death, he might be overestimating the odds out of a desire to believe in an afterlife. “I like to think that something survives after you die,” he said. “It’s strange to think that you accumulate all this experience, and maybe a little wisdom, and it just goes away. So I really want to believe that something survives, that maybe your consciousness endures.” He fell silent for a very long time. “But on the other hand, perhaps it’s like an on-off switch,” he said. “Click! And you’re gone.” Then he paused again and smiled slightly. “Maybe that’s why I never liked to put on-off switches on Apple devices.””
Isaacson, Walter. Steve Jobs (pp. 570-572). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Could you use a little self-compassion? Dr. Kristin Neff shares the kind way to set boundaries and stand up for yourself. Source: Do You Need Fierce Self-Compassion?
Explore our inspirational quotes from leaders, authors, scientists, and cultural icons. Be encouraged to develop the best version of you. Source: Everyday Power: Inspirational Quotes To Live Your Best Life
These three questions are the key to becoming the best partner you can possibly be. Source: 3 Questions for Couples to “Check In” with One Another
Happy birthday, your Excellency!
“Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America’s first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.”
Two leaders; Vilhjalmur Stefansson and Ernest Shackleton; contemporaries in the same field over 100 years ago with vastly different leadership styles worth observing. The following observations are based primarily on the following sources; in the case of the Ernest Shackleton, several documentaries as well…
Continue reading “Comparing and contrasting the leadership styles of two contemporary explorers”
Whether you’re starting over or discovering a new identity, these works can help reset your perspective. Source: What to Read If You Want to Reinvent Yourself
One of the best gifts I’ve received in a long time is ‘Conversations with McCartney’. If you’re a Beatles, Wings or Paul McCartney fan (I’m all three) this book is a must read. Written by fellow Liverpudlian Paul de Noyer, it’s an intimate look at Paul’s life from his perspective…
I’m reading it slowly a chapter at a time. In between I go to Spotify to listen to the album(s) that was/were discussed in that last chapter and it has given me even greater appreciation for this musician who has been part of my life since I first began to listen to music in 1960-1.
Check it out — perhaps you’ll be as chuffed as I am!
Books show us what it is like to be another and at the same time return us to ourselves. We read to learn how to live — how to love and how to suffer, how to grieve and how to be glad. We read to clarify ourselves and to anneal our values. We read for the assurance that others have lived through what we are living through. “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read,” James Baldwin reflected in his most personal interview.
And yet while books may give us a foothold for the disorientation of being and an antidote to our existential loneliness, the paradox of living is that no example, no parallel, no borrowed wisdom is a substitute for life itself. The story of our own lives is only ever written on the blank page of living, our store of wisdom only ever found in the deepening truth of our own experience.
In 1918 — more than a decade before he penned his magnificent essay on the timeless magic of books and three decades before he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — Hermann Hesse (July 2, 1877–August 9, 1962), entering his forties, captured this paradox in a short poem of great simplicity and loveliness, found in the posthumous collection The Seasons of the Soul: The Poetic Guidance and Spiritual Wisdom of Herman Hesse (public library). Source: What Books Give Us: Hermann Hesse on Reading and the Heart of Wisdom
A new book by Robert Sapolsky argues that we’re not in control of or responsible for the decisions we make. Source: Do You Have Free Will?
The author writes “Being resilient means you have already come through “many dangers, toils and snares.” Hopefully, you will become stronger, more mature, and compassionate. Being resilient means you have successfully broken through the darkness you confronted.
This means you have light to offer others, too. You have insights to share that can help someone else avoid an error you made yourself. Maybe you can calm someone’s fear as they face a procedure you had yourself.
Share the light. Share the wisdom life has taught you. You may well be someone’s answered prayer.”
That is the very purpose of this website — to share the light and wisdom through curation and occasionally, creation. I could just bookmark this content and keep it to myself by I share it here (and automagically to Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X) in hopes that just one other person might stumble upon it and benefit from it. Go to the source: Curating What Fills Your Mind Can Shape Your Resilience
Bright, shiny objects! 
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