Sunday, February 17, 2013

Mindful Monday: Randomly Seen and Heard

Mindful Monday: On Monday's I'm going to share what's been on my mind. I by no means have any of this figured out, I'm just thinking out loud here.

Random bits and pieces that have squirmed across my mind lately.

1. Did you hear about the meteor that exploded over Russia last week?  I've watched too many sci-fi shows for my imagination to stop there.  What if...?  Whatever it was, the shock wave blew out glass windows, injuring 1,200 people.

2.  Right now I'm reading The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley.  The story alternates between the past and present, and during an interlude I came across the following paragraph that made me think. "I wish I could say that we have learned our lesson. But humans rarely look back in the past, until they have made the same mistakes. By which time their opinions are considered irrelevant, as they are apparently too old to understand the young. Which is why why the human race will remain as flawed yet as magical as we are."   Hmm, interesting.

3.  Speaking of what we can learn from history, a friend mentioned this book over the weekend.  It's about a bunch of unsolved puzzles from the past that indicate an advanced ancient civilization we no longer know about.  For example, there are detailed maps dating back to the 1500's that accurately show the coastline of Antarctica   Without modern-day technology, how did they accurately sketch a coastline buried beneath a mile of ice?  What about the geometrical shapes and 5-mile long perfectly straight line drawn in the dessert sand?  I'm curious to pick up a copy of the book and see what other signs of ancient civilization are out there.

4. I recently heard about a study showing that though Americans are among the wealthiest, we are the most unhappy.  No matter how much we have, our culture says it's not enough and that we must have more.  I think the key to being happy is to be satisfied and content regardless of what we have.  Gratitude is a great place to start.

5. In case you didn't notice, the days are getting longer.  More daylight!!!

6. Did you know that President's Day is not the official name of today's federal holiday? The official name of the third Monday in February is Washington's Birthday.

7. Did you see the fingernail moon last week?  It was breathtaking.  Not a good thing to notice while you're driving.  The the fingernail was small, but you could practically see the whole moon.  A few nights later I couldn't help but notice how bright the stars were.  I love it when constellations seem to just pop out of the sky.  If a cold bug like me stops to gaze despite the frigid temperatures, you know it must be beautiful.

Food for Thought: "Like all magnificent things, it's very simple." -Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting 


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