http://cheerfulmonk.com Happiness As a Spiritual Practice Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:02:45 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en cheerfulmonk/uEHwhttp://feedburner.google.com Doing the best we can with what we have left. Tundra is a great role model for that. He arrived at the shelter with his rear right leg so smashed that it had to be amputated. But he loves people, so he had no trouble getting adopted after he ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/07/06/doing-the-best-we-can-with-what-we-have-left/ cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license.   Last week we talked about Terry Starbucker's article on the power of putting our goals/philosophy in writing. I quoted the whole article except for three paragraphs: The last line of my letter said this - “The Best is yet to come - Believe!!” I ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/06/29/storms-happen/   cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license.   I do love the internet. I was cleaning out some old files a couple of weeks ago when I came across a piece of writing that moved me. I had saved the content but not the source. So I Googled the first few ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/06/22/put-it-in-writing/ cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license.   cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license.   Last week over at Transforming Stress we talked about "mountain-top" experiences, where our viewpoint suddenly expanded and we looked at life differently. Mike commented that his memories of real mountains were more vivid. In particular he remembers ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/06/15/the-joy-of-climbing/   Recently I told our friend rummuser I would like to know more about him. I asked if he could send some pictures or else tell us about his daily life. This was his response: My everyday life is incredibly dull. It is mostly, extending care for my ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/06/08/a-dull-life-i-dont-believe-it/ point-shoot-edit. Creative Commons license. I received the above e-mail message last Monday, along with the English translation: Dear friends,       For the last several months I have received a lot of your e-mails. I highly appreciate your interest in my sculpture in ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/06/01/why-dont-we-just-say-thank-you/ cheerfulmonk. Creative Commons license. I've been pondering a comment Evan made on I've Been Thinking: One of the paradoxes I confront repeatedly is that there is a skill of being present and getting out of the way. Focusing on skill I think is a great place ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/05/25/ive-been-thinkingagain/ I created the above graphic to remind myself of how I used to prepare my speeches years ago when I was in Toastmasters International. It may seem strange to start by writing the conclusion, but that's why the method is so powerful. Mike's comments about PowerPoint in last ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/05/18/beginning-with-the-end-in-mind/ I've been thinking about the picture in last week's post: billbalance - busy. Used with permission. All rights reserved.   At the time it seemed to capture the feeling of the previous week--a precarious balance. But after thinking about it more, that was only a part of what ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/05/11/ive-been-thinking/ billbalance - busy. Used with permission. All rights reserved.   (To see a video of how pictures like this are taken click here.) It's been a busy two weeks: I finally switched my video editing over to the Mac, which meant learning Final Cut Express, I ... http://cheerfulmonk.com/2009/05/04/the-art-of-keeping-balanced/