jimwdollar

January 14-B, 2023

We make what we can of it– do what we can with it– and pass on back to what we were doing before life and consciousness interfered and put us to work. If you wait long enough, everything changes, which makes each moment precious beyond evaluating. Time alive and conscious is of highest value. WeContinue reading “January 14-B, 2023”

January 14-A, 2023

I invented Sweet Chili Sauce Pineapple and Pintos tonight. Drain a can of pineapple tidbits and a can of pintos, rinsing the pintos, dump them in a sauce pan with 3/4 cup +/- Sweet Chili Sauce simmer 15-20 min. stirring occasionally. The situation called for it and I complied. I wasn’t trying to force anythingContinue reading “January 14-A, 2023”

January 13-C, 2023

We have to trust ourselves to respond appropriately to each situation as it arises, spontaneously, in the moment, without thinking through all the implications and possibilities, looking for the best chance of a favorable outcome with the most potential gain and the lowest likely loss. Listen to your initial inclination and decide Yes or NoContinue reading “January 13-C, 2023”

January 13-B, 2023

Growing up is shifting our perspective examining our perceptions, evaluating what’s important and changing our mind about a lot of things. When was the last time you changed your mind about what’s important? If being alive doesn’t do that for you, try being alive with your eyes open. Enlightenment is nothing more than seeing what’sContinue reading “January 13-B, 2023”

January 13-A, 2023

The influence of art, music and nature connects us with transcendent, ineffable, numinous reality, and restores, revitalizes, nurtures, nourishes our soul in ways we do not understand. We experience it without being able to explain it. And talking about it breaks the spell and snaps us back into the world of normal, apparent, reality. But,Continue reading “January 13-A, 2023”

January 12-B, 2023

Having faith is having an opinion and believing in it. I have faith in the Cajun Queen’s (A restaurant in Charlotte, NC) ability to deliver a plate of crawfish etouffee to perfection. In other words, in my opinion the crawfish etouffee at the Cajun Queen is perfect. Faith is always in an opinion, if itContinue reading “January 12-B, 2023”

January 12-A, 2023

We are at play with our circumstances to see what can happen. The challenge is to live in ways that make things better for all people. It is tricky because we get very little cooperation, and a lot of opposition. The challenge remains in place in spite of the odds. It cannot matter to usContinue reading “January 12-A, 2023”

January 11-B, 2023

Rodney King’s question, “Why can’t we just get along?” remains unanswered as an unacknowledged burden of every generation, and will remain so as long as there are “People like you who make people like me hate people like you.” Because you are black, or Mexican, or gay, or poor, or … whatever it is thatContinue reading “January 11-B, 2023”

January 11-A, 2023

Trust yourself to know what is called for and listen to your heart, listen to your body, in each situation as it arises. Without plans, agendas, expectations, desires, will, judgment and opinion. Just doing what needs to be done when, where and how it needs to be done, time after time. If you don’t knowContinue reading “January 11-A, 2023”

January 10-C, 2023

“Empty your mind as you step to the line” is an old adage regarding shooting free-throws in basketball. It flows from an older adage about archery in the Taoist canon: “The ability of the archer to hit the bullseye varies in inverse proportion to the size of the prize for doing so.” Or, the shorterContinue reading “January 10-C, 2023”

January 10-B, 2023

We cannot come to ourselves without leaving the culture behind. The return to Eden meant death to those entering the Land of Promise. That would be the death Jesus died before his death on the cross– the metaphorical/symbolic death in Gethsemane, with “Thy will, not mine, be done.” We, like Jesus, have to die toContinue reading “January 10-B, 2023”

January 10-A, 2023

Getting/having, going/doing, ignores/discounts/dismisses/disregards what arises spontaneously within in response to what is happening, or needs to happen, in each situation as it arises. Living in response to the moment leaves a lot of time between actions. What needs to happen is usually not quick on the heels of what just happened, but waits for circumstancesContinue reading “January 10-A, 2023”