Browse: Page 10
By J. Timothy King on October 2, 2012
Between Jewish holidays (currently in the season of Sukkot) and family emergencies (currently preparing to take my cat to the vet), I’m reading Steve Pavlina’s book, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth.
I’ve been following Steve Pavlina’s blog on and off for years. His views are sometimes (what I would consider) wacky, but other-times profound, and always thought-provoking. This book is all fresh material (not recycled from his blog), but it definitely reads with his voice.
Today’s teaser, from page 7 of the Kindle Edition of Personal Development for Smart People: Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays: Personal Development for Smart People”
Posted in Books, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged Personal Development for Smart People, Steve Pavlina
By J. Timothy King on September 28, 2012
In the beginning, there was primordial ooze. And the ooze turned into life. And the life developed, and was fruitful and multiplied.
The world changed. Great dinosaurs ruled the Earth, along with a plethora of diverse species of reptiles and other creatures.
Until a great meteor impacted the surface of the earth, throwing shards of molten rock through the atmosphere, blanketing the Earth with hot ash. And almost all of the creatures on the Earth died, and most of the species.
But life still survived on the Earth, and in time it again developed, and was fruitful and multiplied.
The world changed. Great birds and huge, hairy beasts ruled the Earth, each in turn, and roamed its surface, along with diverse species of mammals and other creatures. Continue reading “The Story of the World”
Posted in Fun, Humor, Stories
By J. Timothy King on September 25, 2012
Tomorrow is Yom Kippur. (Next week will start Sukkot, then Simchat Torah, and then the holidays will be done… Until Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and so forth.)
Yom Kippur is the Jewish Day of Atonement, “because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins.” (Leviticus 16:30). A solemn and hallowed day, we spend it in worship, in prayer, in meditation, and in study, knowing that God “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Sometimes, questions of forgiveness make me feel like a little kid. Why do you say, “I’m sorry”? Because your mother told you to, and you know that if you don’t recite those words, you won’t get any dessert? Sometimes, I wonder whether we’ve gotten so good at saying it “like you mean it” that we’ve forgotten how to mean it anymore?
Yet, “say ‘I’m sorry’; say it like you mean it” holds a bit of truth. As adults, we apologize for the sake of the relationship, such as it is, even if that relationship remains rocky. But even if I can’t apologize (e.g., because the person I wronged has died), or even he won’t accept my apology, I still need to realize the wrong I’ve done and set my life on a better course. And if I am wronged, even if the person who wronged me won’t apologize, I still need to forgive him. Continue reading “The Power of Forgiveness”
Posted in Judaism, Love and Relationships, Religion | Tagged forgiveness, The Power of Forgiveness
By J. Timothy King on September 21, 2012
Our Consumer Equity (as of today)
A happy thought on which to end the week.
As you may know, we’ve been working Dave Ramsey’s system to stop paying debt interest to big banks and improve our standard of living. Well, this past week, I finally got paid for some contract work I did last year (yup—more on that in a bit), and this check will finally put us over the top. We’re not out of debt yet, as we still need to pay off Sallie Mae, but this will eradicate that last credit card payment, for the cards we cut up in June. Behold the power of extra work!
And just as significantly, we now are no longer worth less than $0. Continue reading “How Deep Is Your Sinkhole?”
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged Dave Ramsey, encouragement, finances |
By J. Timothy King on September 20, 2012
Links and things that I’ve run across recently.
Warp 21—35—17, Hut!
This is too cool.
The other day I was gushing to my kids that by the 24th century, life will probably be just like it is in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Well, maybe not the warp drive, because that’s just a plot device they have to include to make a space opera work. But a lot of the other stuff, like ordering dinner from a talking computer and just having it zap! appear there before your eyes.
As it turns out, though, I was wrong. Warp drive may actually be possible. Continue reading “Bits & Pieces 2012-09-20”
Posted in Bits & Pieces, Politics | Tagged Curiosity, Elizabeth Warren, Harold White, Miguel Alcubierre, Scott Brown, Star Trek, warp drive |
By J. Timothy King on September 19, 2012
We make life more complicated than it needs to be. In the most vibrant and optimistic time in human history, we live without hope. And I’m including myself in that “we.”
Last week, my Beloved and I celebrated our 19’th wedding anniversary. And you might think after 19 years, it’s getting a little old… and maybe in some ways, it is— comfortable, that is. And I’m good with that. I hated dating, hated life before marriage, never want to go back to that life. Because there is a lesson—if I had learned it from the start—that would have made those years a little more bearable, a lesson that finally allowed me to meet and marry Margaret, my wife.
Unfortunately, I’m still learning that lesson, even though I wrote about it in Love through the Eyes of an Idiot. That’s right: I don’t follow my own advice, even when it’s good advice, many years after I supposedly learned it. Continue reading “News Flash! This Is NOT a Big Deal”
Posted in Love and Relationships, Personal Improvement | Tagged emotion, relationships |
By J. Timothy King on September 16, 2012
Monday is Rosh Hashanah, so no blogging then. (I don’t expect to be online.) However, I wanted to mention a brief but important thought before the holiday begins.
Rosh Hashanah, one of the major Jewish holidays, kicks off the 10 Days of Repentance (also called the Days of Awe). During this time, from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur, one focuses on how he has been selfish and self-seeking, how he has hurt others, how he has manipulated and coerced in order to benefit at others’ expense. And he acts to seek forgiveness and to right these wrongs. We search our souls during this time, and on Yom Kippur lay them bare before God, because as Rabbi Hama ben Hanina taught, “Great is repentance, for it brings healing to the world.”
During this time of soul-introspection, I want to ask: What are you selling? Continue reading “What Are You Selling?”
Posted in Fear and Love, Judaism, Religion | Tagged anger, Days of Awe, encouragement, forgiveness, hurt, peace, repentance, sorrow |
By J. Timothy King on September 12, 2012
Shared recently by a friend of mine (on one of those social networking sites), a heartbreaking story, but not for the reasons you might expect.
A pretty, young woman is riding the train, reading a book. The entire car is empty, except for her and a quiet, elderly gentleman near the back. A young man enters, his bicycle in tow, and sits down directly opposite the young woman, leans over and says, “What’ch’ya readin’?”
She glares at him, voice piercing, “Look!”
Shock. Continue reading “The View from Someone Else’s Eyes”
Posted in Love and Relationships | Tagged communication, empathy, psychology, relationships |
By J. Timothy King on September 11, 2012
As of today, I have been married to Margaret, My Beloved, for 19 years.
(Remember to wish us a happy anniversary!)
So today, just a quick snippet from one of my own books, a memoir in which I tell the story of meeting My Beloved.
Today’s teaser, from chapter 11 of Love through the Eyes of an Idiot: Continue reading “Teaser Tuesdays on My Wedding Anniversary”
Posted in Books, Love through the Eyes of an Idiot, Teaser Tuesdays | Tagged anniversary |
By J. Timothy King on September 10, 2012
I don’t know what I’d do without Google. What did people do before Google? How did they do research? They actually went to a library and looked up stuff and copied it into thick binders full of paper.
That was less than 20 years ago, and I remember a bit from those times. But I was never very good at the research thing, not until Google showed up on the scene. My kids, they’ve never known a world without the Internet and without Google and without every bit of information they could ever want at their fingertips. To them, the library is the place you go to get a community Wifi connection.
And how many years will it be before Wifi hotspots are a thing of the past? We’ll all be on, all the time, connected to unlimited, low-cost, high-speed broadband from our wireless devices. That day may not be too far off.
I’m talking, of course, about the day when Star Trek becomes reality. Continue reading “The Greatest Story Ever Told (and the Star Trek Universe)”
Posted in Economics, Inspiration, Politics | Tagged economy, future, hope, prosperity, Star Trek, Steven Landsburg |
