followup, birthdays, kith/kin: My whole kith/kin family gets kudos for making me feel special …
- John planned a wonderful gathering with very special friends and my favorite comfort food … pork chops …
- Jack called and talked a long time … even recommended a book … The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist … anybody read it?
- ET does not often remember things like his mother’s birthday … I woke up to this IM “Happy birthday on my time zone haha sorry if I woke you up” 2:00 am. Well, 2 am EST is midnight MT … He timed it exactly right … I smiled all day thinking about that.
- Molly made me a divine chocolate/coffee infused cake with cream cheese icing AND gave me the most adorable pair of bright yellow plastic J Crew shoes and party headband (my tiara) … made me feel young!
- And all my extended family called or sent me notes.
- I am blessed … thank you, thank you …
bookshelf, spirituality and faith, kith/kin: As i mentioned above, Jack, my son who is an anthropology major, recommended this book. Anybody read it? It will be interesting to me to watch his spirituality/faith walk as he relates his major to his faith.
“Esteemed primatologist de Waal strikes another blow against human uniqueness as he asserts that other animals also possess culture.” — –Science News [3/10/01]
blogposts, favorites, Tolostoy, writers, lists: Interesting list of Tolstoy included in Gretchen Rubin‘s post. I like her question … What are your rules?
In Henri Troyat’s biography, Tolstoy, which I haven’t been able to finish yet, because I find Tolstoy so maddening, Troyat includes an excerpt from Tolstoy’s “Rules of Life” (I’m still trying to get my hands on the whole list). Tolstoy wrote these rules when he was eighteen years old:
Get up early (five o’clock)
Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
Eat little and avoid sweets
Try to do everything by yourself
Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for evry minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
Keep away from women
Kill desire by work
Be good, but try to let no one know it
Always live less expensively than you might
Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer
Apart from the specifics of this particular list, I’m always interested to see when great minds take this approach. Taking the time to write your resolutions, or your personal manifesto, is an endeavor that can help us be more aware of the elements of a happy life. Everyone’s list of rules would be different; certainly Tolstoy’s list reflects him.
via 10 “Rules of Life” from Tolstoy. What Are Your Rules? (1).
