Twittascope:

You are convinced that taking yourself seriously now will help you make the right decisions, but you could be so focused on the facts that you miss something else that’s even more important. Sometimes, a leap of faith can make all the difference in the world. If there’s something that you’re thinking about leaving behind, set the facts and figures aside long enough to check in with your heart. Don’t discount the power of your own intuition.

Daily Tao.233: Prophets

The prophets have their secrets
And their certain magic.
I am not a prophet.
I know only the ordinary.
That is my Tao.

Finest Quotes:

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.
John F.Kennedy

Comfortable With Uncertainty by Pema Chodron: 24. Staying In The Middle.

Openness doesn’t come from resisting our fears but getting to know them well.

That is the trip inside my head for today. I will be back to bind them together in a coherent reflection.

1. A letter from my supplemental insurance carrier wanting me to designate up to three people to notify for if/when my premium payments are not made. Shred letter, recycle envelopes.

2. Credit card application. Shred & recycle.

3. Life insurance application from AARP. Shred & recycle.

4. Directv. S&R. When you offer the internet, telephone and channel bundle, we may talk. Until then. S&R.

5. Rockler - telling me that I am one of their BEST CUSTOMERS! It has been at least several years since my last expenditure. If I am one of the best, their standards and expectations are curious. S&R

6. Metlife Auto Insurance card identifying me as a Preferred Motorist and a Personal Identification Number. S&R

7. Discover Card offer. Apparently will never recall me kicking them to curb, for irresponsibly corrupting my credit rating, over 25 years ago.And never fulfilling their promise to take appropriate corrective action. S&R with a vengance.

Seven items for the week. You may ask yourself, as I ask myself, why don’t I register to Opt Out with the Direct Mail Association?

I certainly and quite easily could, but consider the employment impact throughout the junk mail supply chain. Loggers, paper mill workers, marketing folks creating the copy, printers, the post office and finally the recycling industry. Opting out would break this chain of employment.

So I’m not grumbling, only reflecting.

Most were DiscovereDuring other writings. Others WeREvealed when one thing leads to a NexThing. Some were the result of daily living. Many were captured for inclusion in my 50 Things project.

1. VanisheDesolve
2. LefTurn
3. RighTurn
4. ArtistiCreativity
6. DisasteRecovery
7. DucTape
8. GeneratoRunning
9. ExploREflection
10. GuideDiscovery
11. BaDreams
12. SelFirst
13. ReaLiving
14. CosmiCycle
15. ShutteRelease
16. FasTrack
17. StupIDeas
18. WindoWonder
19. MarkeTrade
20. ClosEnough
21. ShorTime
22. NobLEadership
23. UsERror
24. CluttereDesk
25. SeconDraft
26. FacilitateDialogue
27. HumaNature
28. ProfounDisappoinment
29. EntitleMENTality
30. GrowinGrass
31. TighTerse
32. MinimaliSTyle
33. FurtheReflection
34. ExcellenThought
35. FinDevelop
36. EmploymenTermination
37.PracticaLogicaLineaRational
38. ParkinGarage
39. FirsThing
40. TourisTraffic
41. LimiTransition
42. PapeReading
43. ProjecTask
44. CrediTaken
45. CrediTaken
46. AttendanCEnsus
47. PaINjury
48. DangerouSituation
46. Stressurged
47. VirtuaLife
48. ReaLife
49. FocaLength
50. WaiTime

“The world appears as you perceive it. Go forth with a humble attitude, and let your heart be moved by what you experience.” ~ 365 Tao Fusion

As usual, Tao touches other current and recent thoughts. “Esse est percipi” is from George Berkely with translation stating, “To be is to be perceived.”

From Tao, through George Berkely, to my current book on CD Einstein by Walter Isaacson.

Every day, we see the same things. Or do we? Why not look at each day for what it becomes – a nonrenewable resource. Look outside and look within. What has changed? What needs to be changed? What can be allowed to remain stable? The act of perceiving influences the object observed.

I see the shadows and sun rising into my forest. Winter’s lowest light comes soon. December 21 is a Solstice Day in 2009. A pivot point.

Today, there is 8 hours and 54 minutes between sunrise and sunset. My challenge is to remain intentionally aware of this pivot point and note the experience.

Books retained will include my Harvard Classics – the five-foot shelf of books. My Ayn Rand paperbacks. And a few others.

Don’t get me wrong. Every book read, every idea consumed, continues to either pry open my mind or confirm my mentality.

But not every book needs to be retained. It’s time for some to go. Other ideas await and beckon.

This is the first book listened to from my membership in audiobookworm.com. The idea for this was presented recently in my blog titled On Listening. Now that I’ve gotten through the first book, and am two CDs into the second – Freakonomics, how well did this work for me?

The ‘book’ first – 5 CDs. The way my drive time goes, I got through one CD a day. Starting in the morning, finishing on the way home. That is about 58 miles per CD.

The first thing I missed was the ability to capture quotes for further reflection. Kind of annoying and certainly a dangerous activity at 65 MPH. (Yes, that’s me, that guy in the right lane, ambling and meandering onward and maybe in your way). First thought, buy the book anyways! Per Amazon.com, the list price is $24.99, sale price is $18.24, with used ones available from $4.82. This extends the economic impact to my bottom line. Renting the book, then buying it. Pick one? This defeats the purpose of one or the other.

The firsthing I learned was I really need to work on my listening skills. I heard the whole book, but didn’t listen to the whole book. Some distractions were caused by the voices in my head tangenting down a mental path influenced by an idea presented. No longer listening, only hearing was occuring.

Then there are the disruptions caused by having to pay cognizant attentions to the dangers of the road. I.E. TRAFFIC.

However the CD is divided into segments. So it was possible to repeat missed segments.

O’Rourke is a solid writer in the gonzo journalistic style. While good for hilarity, at times his three example style of good, better, then absurd became predictably tedious.

PJO does Adam Smith justice and provides bonus material from Smith’s earlier work on Moral Sentiments.

Other things missed. Foreword. Jacket blurbs of endorsement. A table of contents. Perhaps even illustrations that lend visual support. Can’t scan through a CD. And my personal model of the three levels of reading to learn is moot.
Level I: Scan the paragraph and section headers, read the introduction, any author notes and any blurbs of endorsement
Level II: Scan all RTF emphasized words and chapter titles when provided
Level III: Read the book – word for word.

That all being fussed about. The excercise of Listening to Learn will continue. I already sense an improvement in my listening skills. Let it continue.

My first book is On the Wealth of Nations - P.J. O’Rourke. Notice that is only, not the source book.

As one of the first titles in Atlantic Monthly Press’ “Books That Changed the World” series, America’s most provocative satirist, P. J. O’Rourke, reads Adam Smith’s revolutionary “The Wealth of Nations” so you don’t have to.

It is a good listen, although I miss having my pen in hand to capture lifted pithy expressions for further reflection. There is at least one on CD 1 – third selection in.

Just like NetFlix, when done, all I have to do is drop the CDs back in the mail and they will send the next one while I listen to the second selection sent. This will create a revolving library with something always available to listen to. So far, each day, I have been able to listen to a CD a day – coming and going.

Next on deck is Freakonomics by Steven Levitt.

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life — from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing — and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives — how people get what they want or need especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of … well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

More ideas instead of two hours daily of dormant drive time.

A Son of Thunder by Henry Mayer. Subtitled: Patrick Henry and the American Revolution. 475 pages with 40 pages of Notes, and 8 pages of Index.

1st line: “People set out early, harnessing steaming horses in the post-dawn chill or walking across stubbled fields still drifted in mist.”

Boanerges is the origin of A Son of Thunder. From the Bible, Mark 3:17, “And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder” This title reflected Patrick Henry’s strength for rhetorical flourish embedded within his eloquent and evangelical revivalist inspired speeches. When he spoke, everyone listened. And there was tremendous substance beyond the style.

Patrick Henry, beyond his oft quoted rhetorical blast of

“Give me liberty or give me death”

is largely a forgotten patriot. Beyond the seven words of fame lies a self-made man, one who lived the American dream of steel-spoon background, and endlessly toiled for liberty.

PH was a second generation Scottish emigrant. His zeal for liberty was influenced by the Scottish clan culture. As quoted in How The Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman, in 1768 Patrick Henry told the North Carolina colonial assembly,

“We shall ever be more ready to support the government under which we find the most liberty.”

He was a member of the Virginia delegation before, during, through and beyond the American Revolution. But he was not a member of the Virginian aristocracy. He was and spoke for the common man who toiled endlessly for, and to a large measure achieved, a better life. This cultural and society division, coupled with his candid speaking talents, worked both for and against his best intentions.

His career spanned politics as a member of the Virginian House of Burgess, later as state govenor, military commander, lawyer, plantation(s) owner and land speculator.

Through Patick Henry’s engagement and advocacy, We The People now have our Bill of Rights. PH spoke out against the secret development of the American Constituion, seeing it as a consolidation of power with aristrocatic tendencies & ever less mention of persoanl liberty and threatened to erode the very rights that are the foundation of our Declaration of Independence. This was his one of his last political engagements and most intense in national politicals.

Last line: “Red Hill remains a secluded corner, far from the durge of modern life, and visitors come only by the handful and the hundred in search of the man who once spoke the language of thousands”

I am glad I read this book and learned even more about this remarkable patriot. My copy was purchased at Colonial Williamsburg after seeing a re-enactment of a Patrick Henry speech. Read the book. Then thank and honor Patrick Henry’s contributions to your liberty.

DSC_1816, originally uploaded by Zeus Ocean Storm.

Allegedly, an inspirational component in JKRowling’s creation. That and the rest of the Edinburgh skyline and culture. But this post is not a comparitive analysis. Why not?

While I have seen several of the Harry Potter films, I have yet to read any, yes – any, of the Harry Potter books. Most likely because I generally do not respond well with populist and pulp productions. That goes for books, movies and television – the three most prevalent presentations. Case in point, the book that I am reading right now, A Son of Thunder by Henry Mayer, was copyrighted in 1991. But I digress.

I am going to read them. Why now?

I have been on the fence, wife and both adult children have read the series and are are quivering with impatience for the next movie. (I have seen several of the movies, staying awake through most of them.) Adult daugher has even authored a fan fiction book using the HP character set.

Also, a passing interest generated from being in Edinburgh last year. The tour director pointed out the places where JKR started writing the series and the place that influenced the architecture of Hogwarts.

But I have so many other books in the round to it pile.

I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It’s totally for myself.
J. K. Rowling
British fantasy author

Primal Leadership includes the best model that I have seen for self-directed learning. It takes and continues you the learner on a sustainable and circular path of life long learning. To get started, make these five discoveries.

1. My ideal self: Who do I want to be?

2. My real self: Who am I?

Pause to discern the strengths and gaps.

3. My learning agenda: Building on my strengths while reducing gaps.

4. Experimenting with new behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.

Practicing the new behavior, building new neural pathways through to mastery.

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