Accepting the way things are

I am on my second read-through of the book "The Art of Possibilities" by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. I seldom read a book a second time! The subtitle is "Transforming professional and personal life" but I cannot bring myself to categorize it simply as another book in the self-improvement genre.

Now I have to agree with one book review that the husband-wife authors have simple examples, and that the husband's life examples COULD be seen as egotistical, where he did amazing things. Yes, the examples are simple, but not EASY. We humans survive by repeating what has been successful for us, and breaking the repetition (to see new possibilities) is hard work; it is our nature to fall back on old patterns when times get tough. Which leads to an argument against the 'egotistical' review: the husband cites his own failings, and in those cases he went to his wife for help in changing what he saw as the problem, and yes, there were amazing results.

My only wish is that each chapter ended with a practice to apply in our own lives. Some chapters do, most don't. But that's also why the re-read is important, so I can design my own practices.

I also bought a copy for my boss. Of course this could be dangerous, but I did not approach her with an attitude of, "You really need to read chapter 6." Instead, my message was: I am very excited, got a lot out of it, and the book has something for everybody. (Admittedly, my dear readers, I pictured her in chapter 6 immediately ~ "Don't take yourself so damn seriously.")

One of my many lessons is around the "world of measurement:" central positions of assessments, scales, standards, grades, and comparisons. This leads to winning versus losing, hoping to get to a better place than where we are, but struggling with raised hopes and dashed hopes, seeing others as competition rather than as comrades.

There is much, much, more. My hope is to live it!

Travels and travails

Lovely daughter suggested I post about our trip. What should I highlight for week One?

• 1,400 miles to get here. The daily hours traveling: 6, 6, 0 (two nights in Sparks/Reno), 6, 3, 0 (two nights Yuma), 3.
• Got to visit Ralph (Medford), Mike and Mary Ann Reinecke (Lake Havasu City AZ), and met up with friends Tom/Mary, Tom, and Del/Sandy.
• Three casino visits; my start/finish amounts on the slot machines were $10/25, $4/25, and $10/$25. And I only played 10-15 minutes each time.
• We didn't exactly track the price of diesel, but I believe it ranged from $3.62 to $4.17.
• Did I mention Mike's grand entrance into Yuma? I was setting up (preparing to unhook the trailer) and he tripped over a hose bib. Resulted in a major hematoma / blood blister thing, plus gravel dents/scrapes through his pants.
• AND the next morning his Aunt Marilyn passed out in her home, falling and gashing her head. It took a while for me to clean it up before I could see that it needed stitches. Her friend Tom took her in, and the ended up in emergency all day. Of course they wanted to find out why she had passed out ~ Tom said it was the second time in two weeks she had fallen ~ but they didn't find anything. She got eight staples in her scalp!
• After a week of travel, today was laundry! So tomorrow the vacation starts?