We Need Change

Are you better off than you were eight years ago?

A New Earth- Eckhart Tolle

Let me first say this is not a book that you just read straight through and expect to grasp it all as you would a light fiction novel. I struggled through the first half of the book and then I got about midway and that's when it began to speak to me. Mind you, it is not a lot of new ground for someone familiar with books of similiar themes... for example--controlling the ego, or living in the present moment. There are some practical suggestions in the book.... and it is worth using it as a guide or at least a reminder to stop and let the world unfold as it is, and quit hallucinating through your life... living for some future that may never happen, or waddle in past mistakes, that keep you from living in the NOW.
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I learned something from this book. I learned that we don't see a lot of things as they really are because our own thoughts about them get in the way. Familiarity with something makes it worse. In the book the author says some people feel more alive when they visit foreign countries... because their senses heighten. PERCEPTION takes up more of their consciousness than their thinking.
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I'll buy that. We all think too much. We all "label" too much. The point is... it causes great suffering and misunderstanding. And I say it leads to a great deal of miscommunication...and to an unauthentic experience. A made up in your head way of looking at the world, instead of seeing it... or seeing someone .... for who they really are inside: A soul with a common purpose.
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True communication with one another... the bonding that you feel instantly,without words, the joy that you feel when you are understood-- there is no need to label it or to try to understand it. To me that joy is a great starting point for peace.

I also liked the part about bringing joy Into what you do...don't expect to get joy OUT of what you do. And if you can't bring joy into it... move on. Do something else.
As Pollyanna as that sounds there is a lot of sense in it.

Finally, for someone looking for their life's purpose... the book offers an interesting perspective that made me look at my own purpose in a different light.

Homer Tries to Vote for Obama

Guest Muse: Excerpt from "My Gal"

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Explaining how she felt when John McCain offered her the Vice-Presidential spot, my Vice-Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, said something very profound: “I answered him ‘Yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

Isn’t that so true? I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t.

That is just how I am.

Do you know the difference between me and a Hockey Mom who has forgot her lipstick?

A dog collar.
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Read the rest:
(link)
George Saunders, The New Yorker


Thanks Suki for passing this along.

Palin Vlog #3: Cramming for the Economic Debate

Sippin' on Haterade? Gotta love this. Sara Benincasa rocks.

Palin Debate Chart

Click on it to enlarge. (From AmericaBlog)

Playing with the Big Dogs

"Can I Call you Vlad?" (wink wink)
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-Sarah Palin, (sometime in the future, God forbid)


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Maybe if Hillary had winked more--flirted, wore a skirt and heels, acted like a girl, carried a baby around for while, we wouldn't be where we are today. Men love that. I can't tell you how many men have joked, "I'm votin' for her because she is purdy."
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(To be fair, one man I spoke with said he would NOT sleep with her, even though she is pretty. What would they TALK about afterwards? Oh... there's another column writing itself....)
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Maybe if Hillary had just let her "handlers" sequest her from the media, or if she would only answer questions she wanted to answer. UNFILTERED. WITH NO FOLLOWUPS. PERIOD. And only gave those answers in the pathetic, generalized soundbytes that were stamped and approved, tried and tested by the party... (read this: all those men who control her.)
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Baloney. Bullshit. Hillary never would. It's undignified to play the "girl" card. And it is pathetic to be like this Mrs. Beasley doll with a string in her back... spouting out talking points. It's insulting to every woman who has to watch this unfold.
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That's what I'm left feeling after the VP Debate Thursday night.
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I heard a Republican woman, who is an attorney, make the remark on local TV that she can't believe how much women HATE Palin. I see where she is coming from but it is not HATE. Women are INSULTED that this woman is even the Governor of Alaska let alone a candidate for Vice President of the United States.
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She strung sentences together. Wow. (Still needs a diction coach, but that's my own snark) Now if she only had anything of value to say. (Like a relentless crow outside my window... caw...he's a maverick!!!! caw, caw....)
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A shame there is not swim suit competition for Vice President.

A Beauty Queen Flash Back

Okay, I'm amusing myself killing time before the Biden/Palin debate.

Big Debate Tonight

I will watch until my cringe reflex gets too great.

That voice gets to me. It's a chalkboard thing.

Wow... She Can't Name ONE Magazine or Paper

The Complete Ignorance continues... She has a frigging journalism degree and can't name one newspaper or magazine that the reads?
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COURIC: . . . I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and understand the world?
PALIN: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.
COURIC: Like what ones specifically?
PALIN: Umm… all of them. Any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.
COURIC: Can you name any of them?
PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news… Alaska isn’t a foreign country where it’s kind of suggested it seems like, wow how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, DC may be thinking and doing, when you live up there in Alaska. Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
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Not even Guns and Ammo? How about Wasilla's Shopper Guide?