Remember this, if you can. There is nothing more precious than time. You probably feel you have a measureless supply of it, but you have not. Wasted hours destroy your life just as surely at the beginning as at the end, only in the end it becomes more obvious.
— Herman Wouk, The Cain Mutiny
Laying claim to the future
A promise is a way of laying claim to an uncertain future. It is a way of projecting oneself into the coming months, protecting a commitment that may be impossible to keep. It is also a means of guarding or binding one’s identity—the I in I promise.
— John Kaag and Skye C. Cleary, Advice on New Year’s Resolutions from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, theparisreview.org
Advice on New Year’s Resolutions from Kierkegaard and Nietzsche
Imminence
A friend asked me, so, do you have all your Christmas preparation done?
Heh! The simple answer is no; the more complicated answer is, is ANYONE ever COMPLETELY done with Christmas prep? It reminds me of what Lorne Michaels once said about Saturday Night Live. He said the show doesn’t go on the air because it’s done. It goes on the air because it’s Saturday night at 11:30.
Same with Christmas. It arrives on its own schedule, regardless of how much (or little) of what we’d hoped to get done has actually happened.
Oh, ye of limited vision…
Everything unknown to us must be fictional or nonexistent.
~ the unimaginative
Inducement
“I wonder what pleasure men can take in making beasts of themselves.”
“I wonder, Madam,” replied the Doctor, “that you have not penetration to see the strong inducement to this excess; for he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
~ Samuel L. Johnson
Contrast
The full moon never shines so bright as against the darkest sky.
The problem with sunrises
The only problem with sunrises is, they schedule them so early in the day.
The kindness/cruelty balance of the universe
Whenever I pet some of my snoozy kitties and I get a little purr in response, I feel like I have somehow redressed the kindness/cruelty balance of the universe a little bit for a moment.
The flavor of life has unpredictable seasoning
Randomness is part of the flavor of life, and it always reminds me that no matter how deep I am in my grief, there’s a whole world proceeding forth with or without me.
Obstacles
The light of the full moon may be blocked by the clouds, but the tides are undeterred.
— Me