Stupid Wise Beautiful and Amazing

  The Stupid : Those impossible "Easy off tops" of peanut butter containers that have those way-to-tiny-little "tabs" that aren't big enough to pull, and that eventually require a knife or scissors to remove! Frustration!!!!  The good part is that, rather than be frustrated by the sadistic designer, I've learned not to be angry every time I try to remove the top. Now I see it as a meditation as I use a knife (that amazing invention to be discussed in a future blog!) to slowly mindfully  "zen slice" the top, then roll back and peer joyfully at the beautiful peanut butter below. Fully immersed in the now! I've changed frustration into a new meditation. The Amazing : We take everything for granted. Yet there is a long and creative history to the development of peanut butter. It was NOT magically developed in the grocery store. Who would have thought that peanuts (also known as  groundnut, goober, pindar or monkey nuts),  those underground seeds,  ...

Beautiful. This raindrop bejeweled Pacific Madrone leaf with its multicolors and intricate webbing. I photographed on my rainy day walk with   Louie this morning.  " Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where others see nothing."   Camille Pisarro.  I am blessed to see so many beautiful things in humble places. I want to share that in this blog. Beauty surrounds us everywhere. Wise . I asked chat GPT about How Aquinas understood beauty. According to ChatGPT: In his commentary on the sentences, Aquinas writes extensively about the relationship between God and beauty, and how beauty can lead us to a different understanding of God in Book IV, Aquinas writes:  "Beauty is found in things because it is a reflection of the divine goodness, which is the source of all beauty and loveliness." Stupid. Tear open food containers things that don't work! My example tonight, Crystal light packets that I have to cut open with scissors! Amazing . Look at t...

Beautiful ! Oven Bakend bread (I do mine from store bought frozen bread dough)! The smell of of fresh baked bread baking, the joy of slicing it, the taste, oh my god the taste, of fresh baked bread slathered with melted butter! Wise : Creativity can often result from "when one's whole pattern of thinking proves untrue." This quote is from the Introduction to John Steinbeck's East of Eden (copyright 1992). The introduction points out that both Steinbecks big books were written "on the cusp of a divorce." We are creatures of habit And ways of thinking. When our ways of thinking, are torn away by disaster, divorce, loss, pain, or illness, we are forced to see the world in new ways. Hopefully, with more wisdom, kindness, and compassion. I found this to be true in my own life. Stupid : Me: again :) I often have to laugh at myself, and hopefully learn. I have chronic, and sometimes severe back pain. Going to my chiropractor helps. I forget! OW OW OW! I ...