small men

The small man

Builds cages for everyone

He

Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long

For the
Beautiful
Rowdy

Prisoners.

- By Hafiz, a Sufi poet from the 14th century.

a day (never too) late

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.’” – Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Find your voice...your vocation and live it passionately.

simple style

Some days I wish I lived in Europe...this is one of those days. I stumbled across a home decor supplier based in Denmark. It is called House Doctor ...maybe on my next trip to the continent...in my dreams.

Charter for Compassion

Check out this video. It is my hope.
The Charter for Compassion.

the annual letter

For the past 12 years, my friend Holly and I have adhered to a yearly tradition each New Years Eve. Sometime each January, we write a letter to ourselves to be opened on NYE the following year. Ever year, the letter is a surprise. No matter how hard I try, I never can remember what I wrote to myself.

After we finish writing our letter, we give it to the other person for safe keeping. This also ensures that we try to spend New Years together which I think we have for at least 10 of those years.

My 2009 letter surprised me with the degree of hope I had last year. 2009 was a great year with a few bumps along the way but it was hopeful.

I will be writing my 2010 letter this afternoon. Not sure what I will put into it. My attitude is not as hopeful this January but I am sure no matter what I will be in a different space when I read the letter so I try to write to that version of myself.

I did find an online version of this tradition. You can send this website your "letter" and have it deliver it back to you on a designated date to your email....I still prefer the old-fashion written version but if you are interested, check out futureme.org.

May 2010 find you choosing unexpected and risky paths.

What matters now

If you have 15 minutes, check out the e-book on Seth Godin's Squidoo page. I highly recommend downloading it. It's free and it makes you think. Two very good reasons to check it out!

Design your own life

This is my new idea...to share thoughts, discoveries and creative bursts. Recently, I read "My Life In France" by Julia Child and thought to myself...
"I want to be as passionate about something as Julia was about food."

What I am passionate about is living life intentionally with beauty, hope and joy. My goal in life is to be an original and not a duplicate of what someone else thinks I should be. So here is my humble way of sharing my adventures with the world. I am going to try to blog five days a week - for those that know me, stop laughing now. Okay, it may be once a week but I do want to focus on five areas of designing an original life. Those areas are:
Home | Spirit | Learn | Community | Work

Like my life, this blog is a prototype...if it doesn't work the first time, it will be back to the drawing board. Change and adjustments are just a part of life.