Vows: Deborah Jacobs and Michael McPhearson

"He shows good manners to everyone," Ms. Jacobs said. "He puts toilet seats down, but not people."

Mr. McPhearson, 45, said he liked the fact that Ms. Jacobs was confident enough to cut her hair very short and go out some Saturday nights without him.

The couple made a pact not to argue about things like who did the dishes or made more money. "You don't need to deal with put-downs or whispers of failure at home," Mr. McPhearson said. "You need to come home to someone who believes in you."

--L.S. Brady (May 21, 2010). Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/fashion/weddings/23VOWS.html?ref=weddings

One-liners

A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.

A smoking section in a restaurant is like a peeing section in a pool.

Unknown

When you don't know what to do next, do any damn thing.

Albert Einstein

Three Rules of Work:
1. Out of clutter, find simplicity.
2. From discord, find harmony.
3. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Metta Meditation

May you be safe from internal and external harm.
May you have a calm, clear mind and a peaceful, loving heart.
May you be physically strong, healthy, and vital.
May you experience love, joy, wonder, and wisdom in this life, just as it is.

Eknath Easwaran

Simply by slowing down the mind - the first purpose of meditation - much tension can be removed. Then we are free to respond to life's difficulties not as sources of stress by as challenges, which will draw out of us deeper resources than we ever suspected we had. A one-pointed mind is slow and sound, which gives it immense resilience under stress.

With a mind like this, we always have a choice in how we respond to life around us.

(Words to Live By, May 18)

Dae Haeng

Go forward with steps that never leave any trace.
Accept everything that confronts you with a positive attitude. ...Just make sure you aren't trying to avoid the things that are coming, and don't try to cling to the things that are leaving.
Become a brave person who is never stained by anything or attached to anything.
Become a true human being, a person who is both the most normal and the most extraordinary.

"No River to Cross"
Zen Master Dae Haeng

Peace Pilgrim, Activist

If your life is in harmony... then your life is full and good, but not overcrowded. If it is overcrowded, you are doing more than is right for you, more than is your job to do in the total scheme of things.

Thomas Paine

It is the direction and not the magnitude which is to be taken into consideration.

Eknath Easwaran

[I]f a negative wave whispers to you one morning, "Just five minutes more...let's make it five after six," send a contrary wave back. Leap out of bed, and the next morning get up at five *to* six. Tell your mind, "If you like, you can even suggest six thirty. I will get up at five thirty and have my meditation." After a few mornings of this, I can assure you that your mind will have nothing more to say on the subject.