Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

I heard about Randy Pausch's "last lecture" a while back when he was still alive. I finally watched it and am so glad I did. It was inspirational to hear his story of how various childhood dreams manifested in his life... some did and some didn't... and those that did often manifested in ways that he couldn't even have imagined.

Dance video of the day: Korr by sara galan, dancehall workshop ryshuset

Afro-dancehall in Stockholm, Sweden

Anish Kapoor Ascension in São Paulo, Brazil 2007

This video is very evocative and "put together"... I recently saw the current Anish Kapoor exhibit at the Institute for Contemporary Art (www.icaboston.org) and am fascinated by his work. I found this video especially interesting as it pulled in images from the city of Sao Paulo, and the video at times focused just as much on people's responses to the work as the work itself.

Effortlessness

This has been my word for the week. I've been paying attention to when things are effortless rather than feeling like I have to struggle to figure things out. I really don't believe in struggle and so if this is my truth, I realize that rather than adding more and more action to my daily routine I "add" inaction. Do less. Think less. Figure out less. Be effortless. Just be.

What reminds me to just "be"?

Paying attention to my breath. Taking deep breaths mindfully.

Dancing.

Any form of movement because it brings me back into my body and literally grounds me.

Smiling.

Who Am I?

It's one of those existential questions... I was pondering this question as I was walking the other day. I was trying to do a walking meditation only I wasn't meditating... I was *thinking*... I know the mind continues thinking even during meditation and you watch your thoughts and gently pull your attention back to the breath... well, I made no such effort. I walked and thought myself into a pretzel. Later that day my friend sent me a link and it went right back to the question I was thinking about.

I'm not going to say any more. Just one word: Puppetji.

What is Puppetji, you ask. You just have to watch. Go to: http://www.puppetji.com/ and laugh your head off. Have fun, and no thinking!

Overheard

There is a magazine (or maybe it's Craigslist?) that publishes some things overheard. Well this is definitely common these days with people walking around with cell phones attached to hands and ears (or those martian-like ear pieces that make a person appear to be talking to no one)... so this was my overheard piece for the day when I was walking in the Longwood medical area.

I overheard a young woman on her cell phone saying, "I set all these transition points as a time when life would change..."

My interpretation of her tone was that she was surprised that nothing had changed at these points - what were they? (I can only imagine without hearing the other side of the conversation or the full conversation) College graduation? Entering graduate school? Medical school? New job? A move?

I can definitely relate to this sense of imminent change in direction as I made different choices throughout my life. Only to then find that it actually takes a whole lot of time to see the result of this change. So my constant reminder to myself is that life and making decisions and seeing dreams and goals realized actually takes longer than I imagine... which demands a lot of patience on my part! Patience I have to keep practicing in order to actually develop.

Human connections

"Walk a Mile." Thanks Craig Project




I came across an article on wbur.org that described artist projects revolving around users of craigslist. The idea was that here are all these anonymous people connecting with each other on a daily basis to get stuff, or get stuff done, using this web tool. The home page of the website - http://www.thankscraig.net/ - says "WANTED: a human connection in an anonymous megalopolis." I can't think of any better way of putting this myself. I'm fascinated by the projects that the artists came up with to further explore how people have connected with each other using Craigslist or as a tool to connect with people and engage them in a community project.

Check out the website!