#365Gratitude Day 205: Boona Calumny & Mental Springboards

Okay, so right about now you're thinking, "Boona what? What the heck is a Boona anyhow?"

Boona isn't a what. It's a who. He's a character in David Brin's novel The Practice Effect. ​

The book was published in 1984, when I was 13 years old.  I remember reading it and really loving it as a kid. ​

Its been about 30 years since I read it. Boona, as I recall, isn't even a major character. But he's got a funny, interesting name. ​

As it turns out, Calumny isn't made up​ at all. It's an archaic word from Middle English:

—noun, plural cal·um·nies.

1. a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: The speech was considered a calumny of the administration. 
2. the act of uttering calumnies; slander; defamation. 

Origin: 1400–50; late Middle English < Latin calumnia, equivalent to calumn-,perhaps originally a middle participle ofcalvī to deceive + -ia -y3)

​I stumbled across the word yesterday as I was listening to another blast-from-the-past, an audiobook version of Christopher Stasheff's The Warlock In Spite of Himself.  It's also a great book, and has a lot of Renaissance culture and antiquated language in it, including use of, you guessed it, the word Calumny. 

This morning on the train, I was thinking about the warlock book, just sort of turning it over in my brain.

Out of nowhere the phrase Boona Calumny just popped into my head​.

After I thought about it for a while, I realized it was the name of the character, but I couldn't recall from where​.

A quick search on Google later, and I had my answer, and was reunited with my old friend The Practice Effect. 

This whole experience boggles my mind. First, I'm amazed that a tiny piece of information from a book I read 30 years lingers in my brain just waiting for me to fish it out of my mental soup.​

Second I'm blown away by how technology enabled me to make this connection happen.  ​

In a very real way, what I just did is just like being a character in one of these novels.​

I enhanced my own mental abilities with a network of information that's available almost planetwide. ​

Which was only possible because the brain is so amazing to begin with. 

I just downloaded the audiobook version of The Practice Effect, and ​I'm going to enjoy experiencing it in this new way. 

I'm grateful for what the human brain is, and does.  We really are amazing creatures. ​

#365Gratitude Day 204: Pema Chödrön

Pema Chödrön is a Buddhist monk, author, and speaker.  She wrote this amazing book, When Things Fall Apart.  

The book is about the all too common mistakes we make in the west, dealing with pain and suffering.   She offers another way.

It's not a religious book, but a book about thinking.  It's about how we think, what we think, and how we can approach it differently.  

It's brilliant.  

I'll warn you that it can be a very upsetting book. When I first read it, I realized I had been needlessly torturing myself for about 20 years over some aspects of how I see myself, who I think I am.   

When I realized it, I locked myself in a bathroom and sobbed into my hands for about half an hour.  

Then I realized I was still torturing myself.  I laughed, washed my face, and felt much better.  

I won't tell you that since then I never torture myself. That would be nonsense.  Often are the times when I condemn myself for eating poorly, making bad choices, being lazy or selfish.  

Then I remember. I do as Pema teaches, turn into the pain, really look at it, and myself, with compassion and brutal, unflinching honesty. 

It's not easy. But it is worthwhile. Afterward, I feel like I've scrubbed myself raw, like I'm new, smooth, and unblemished.  

In those moments, I see the truth. Being alive is beautiful. 

I'm so grateful for Pema and what her book has taught me.  

#365Gratitude Day 203: Andrea

Andrea is one of my closest friends.  I've known her for a decade now.

Andrea and I have many things in common. We're both ageplayers, switches, educators, advocates, and thinky people. She's one of the kindest, most giving people I know. 

We also are almost spiritually, philosophically identical.  She's had an interest in eastern spiritualities and philosophies since I've known her. I'm not sure she'd call herself a Taoist, or maybe more of a Buddhist.  She's fascinated with Quan-yin, the bodhisattva of compassion. 

See how awesome she is? 

My friendship with Andrea is perennial and evergreen. Sometimes we go months without speaking, only to magically reconnect seemingly at random, and feel the same strong, connecting love & affection we always do. 

The funny, almost spooky thing that happens to us periodically is that we seem to call or reach out to one another in times of need or unhappiness to lovingly call one another on our mutual shit.  

We even have a term/phrase for this. "How's that working for you?"  Just today Andrea texted me and we got on the phone. I was describing to her my recent dissatisfaction with myself at my lack of meaningful progress on getting back in shape, and letting a side project of mine languish.  She pointed out to me, good-naturedly, how what I chalk up to "being rather hard on myself", I would consider abusive, if it came from someone else. 

Similarly, I pointed out to her that an expectation of mistreatment she had which hadn't come to pass was her mistreating herself.  

Kind of the same issue, right? Go ahead, say it with us,

"How's that working for you?"

We had a good laugh together about it. 

I'm so very grateful for Andrea. She makes my life better.  

#365Gratitude Day 202: Missy's passions

I'm a passionate person, and love witnessing passion in others, especially my wife, Missy.

Missy loves a lot of things, but there are some she's especially passionate about.

Two in particular are in this great picture she took this morning.  

She LOVES anything to do with weather, storms, and clouds.  She's had a dream for a long time of going on a storm-chasing vacation. One day I'm going to take her on one, no doubt.

The other passion is photography itself. She's a GREAT photographer. Every year when the cherry blossoms come in she gets up MANY days before sunrise so she can get to the tidal basin in DC, to photograph the cherry blossoms before and as the sun comes up.  

My wife is MANY things, but a morning person is NOT one of them.  

Just goes to show you how passionate she is.  

I love that about her. We're both passionate people, and each have our own individual obsessions, but it's part of the reason, I think, that we get each other.  

Every time she pursues a passion with vigor, I light up inside. I'm grateful she's driven that way. 

#365Gratitude Day 201: Dealing with Cat Hairballs (really)

I love my cats, Yin & Yang.  I've had them almost a decade.  They're a huge part of my life.  They're really brother and sister - they were the last two cats in their litter.

There are plenty of wonderful and equally terrible things about them.  One of those not-so-great-things about Yin is that she's prone to hairballs.  On a fairly regular basis I find them around the house.  

They just come with the territory.  I don't really mind them though.

I remember back when I first got them, and was living in a high-rise apartment, and was cleaning their litter box and accidentally spilled it ALL OVER A CARPETED FLOOR.  It was horrible.

But I vacuumed it up, and bought this POWERFUL carpet cleaning goop, and got through it.

When you love someone, you deal with their disgusting stuff.  In a way, that's part of the joy of a holistic love for another living being.  

So why is it my gratitude today?  Because often, you come up with life hacks and workarounds which make gross things a lot less gross.

I found one for Yin's hairballs this morning.  Salt!

Seriously!  Here's the link to the article about it.

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Cat-Hairball-Stains-from-Carpet

I'm so grateful I found it.