Greetings Peaceful Warriors Worldwide:
I recently returned from a speaking tour in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. Great to be home, now looking back to new friends and memories, looking forward to new writing — all while balancing in the eternal present. (The past and future are nice places to visit, but we don’t want to live there)
In the present: Despite the challenges in our ever-changing world, it helps to stay grounded in the present — in the sights and sounds and life all around — in family, and friends and the quiet gems and simple delights of daily life.
Here’s a poem by Wendell Berry you might enjoy:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free.
This is a good time to consider the wisdom of taking a holiday, a chance to regain perspective, to step out of the usual business, to change our environment. Vacations are a luxury, but a necessity.
There are times to sit quietly and witness our inner world (see my blog on Meditation, below) — and there are times to glory in the beauty around us in the world (see notes and updates on the Alaska Cruise, below).
So now we turn to:
NEW BLOGS
Only one new blog since our last News and Notes, but it’s a significant one:
Let me know what you think about this provocative (and I hope informative) commentary about this fundamental form of “inner exercise.”
ALASKA CRUISE – TAKE ACTION NOW!
This awe-inspiring cruise and life-clarifying seminars doesn’t sail until September 14th. However, we urge you to ACT NOW for best rates and cabin selection. Click here for more information. http://www.ronoyer.com/Millman/Alaska_2008/
The cruise includes 14+ hours of in-depth seminar time on “The Four Purposes of Life,” as well as informal time with Dan.
If you haven’t yet read The Life You Were Born to Live — one of the four purposes to be covered in depth — you may find it an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience.
QUOTATIONS
In this and future News and Notes, rather than giving a list of quotations (which can be a bit much to take in) I’m going to sprinkle some quotations throughout the material, beginning with:
* * *
If one does not know to which port
one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
– Seneca
* * *
THE LAST LECTURE
If you haven’t yet heard of Dr. Randy Pausch and his now-famous “Last Lecture”: He’s a 47-year old college professor, husband and father of two young children — and he’s dying of pancreatic cancer. But what a life he is living until then! This may be old news to many of you, since the lecture has had millions of people viewing it on You Tube (and many people, including Joy and me, have read the book). It’s important enough to note here. A reminder of how to die, and live, well. Check out the web site and view the video: http://thelastlecture.com/
SPANISH (and other) LANGUAGE SITES
If you haven’t noticed, our home page also offers pages for those who speak Spanish, French, German, and Russian.
* * *
Security is mostly superstition.
It does not exist in nature . . .
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run
than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
– Helen Keller
* * *
NEW STORE ITEMS
If you haven’t dropped by our Peaceful Warrior Store (with practical gifts for any occasion – even unbirthdays) please do. Two new items include:
- New (black) ‘Peaceful Warrior’ Sports Cap – a high quality cap made in USA
- Beautiful new Peaceful Warrior Bumper Sticker — $3.00 each or FREE with any other order!
Please note that our products serve as reminders that we are all “peaceful warriors in training.” A fun way to meet others who’ve read one of my books or seen the movie.
* * *
No life ever grows great
until it is focused, dedicated
and disciplined.
– Harry Emerson Fosdick
* * *
SPACE LITTER
Well, not exactly litter — each satellite has a constructive purpose of some sort. But as to the density, the following graphic representation (not actual photo) gives some idea. You can google more information, but a picture, as they say, is worth a thousand . . . satellites:
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/spacecraft-operations/space_debris/Bee-Hive-6_H1.jpg
* * *
I do not believe that we can put
into people ideas which are not
in them already.
– Albert Schweitzer
* * *
THE LAWS OF SPIRIT — LEARNING PROGRAM
Because a number of people have expressed interest in teaching a course based on The Laws of Spirit, I’ve commissioned a Study Guide.
Now or in the future, if anyone wants to teach a course or lead small group meetings to study application of the laws outlined in my book, you can request a free PDF copy of the Study Guide. It includes thought-provoking questions and exercises to get the most from the book.
* * *
Don’t aim for success if you want it;
just do what you love and believe in,
and it will come naturally,
in its own way.
– David Frost
* * *
WHAT IN THE WORLD — AND WHEN IN YOUR LIFE
For a review of what events were happening in the world at different ages of your life, click on:
Click Here: Check out “Boy the Bear’s Age Gauge”
http://www.frontiernet.net/%7Ecdm/age1.html
* * *
The future belongs to the things that can grow,
whether they are trees or democracies.
– Kenneth Johnson
* * *
PEACEFUL WARRIOR EVENTS
If you haven’t checked for a while, here are some upcoming events around the U.S. and abroad.
* * *
We must dare to be ourselves,
no matter how odd
that self may prove to be.
– May Sarton
* * *
TEST AND SHARPEN YOUR SENSES
This is a cool site where you can test your senses –
BBC – Science & Nature – Human Body and Mind – Body – Senses Challenge
* * *
A proverb is no proverb to you
until your life has illustrated it.
– John Keats
* * *
MOVIE PREVIEW
Preview of an upcoming film for humanity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-tbQ8Lof7A
Until our next time together, I wish you —
Good health and good journeys,
Dan