where are we going?

last night the freedom institute invited me to a screening of a 'race to nowhere'.

the documentary opens with a photo of an adorable 13-year-old who committed suicide after getting a B on a math test.

the movie talks about the pressures all of our kids are under. they are feeling it everywhere. school. at home. at after school activities. it's all about getting straight A's and being all around amazing so they can get into the right college (think harvard) so upon graduation they wind up in some job that will result in wealth and success.

meanwhile this pressure not only results in rampant cheating but is literally making our kids sick leading to adulthood diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and on and on.

this movie is a giant wake-up call. there are so many questions that need to be asked: first and foremost: what exactly are we teaching our kids? and in all the hours they spend at school and doing homework are they learning anything about how to be happy?

i hope so.

go get em, Sammy...

It's 7:30 in the morning and my daughter Sammy just left to take her ACT's.

We've been up since 3:45 am--a combination of nerves and excitement. She left extremely pumped and ready.

Good luck Sammy---we're rooting for you...

it's amazing what we have to remind ourselves to do...

sometimes the thing we really need to do is nothing.

it's hard because of all the blah, blah, blah in our lives.

years ago i was with a friend on a busy subway. at one point i turned to say something to him and saw that he was deep
in meditation. i was pretty impressed that he could drop out like that with all the noise. but he did. and 15 minutes later, mentally,
and physically he was in a completely different place.

doing nothing, disconnecting...there's a lot to be said for that.

for the to do list.

my state of being...in card form...

the kids are back to school and i am back to figuring things out.
geez, is this a lifelong process or what?

what are you doing today...

i've been spending a lot of time on the internet looking at other card designs.
while a great visual is always catchy
i am always drawn to the cards that are simple,
pared down,
lots of white space,
pithy thoughts.
that's just me and my brain lint.

i was sorting of thinking the same thing....

The Sum Total of Our Choices

“We’re all faced throughout our lives with agonizing decisions, moral choices. Some are on a grand scale, most of these choices are on lesser points. But we define ourselves by the choices we have made. We are, in fact, the sum total of our choices. Events unfold so unpredictably, so unfairly, Human happiness does not seem to be included in the design of creation. it is only we, with our capacity to love that give meaning to the indifferent universe. And yet, most human beings seem to have the ability to keep trying and even try to find joy from simple things, like their family, their work, and from the hope that future generations might understand more.”

— Professor Levy played by Martin S. Bergmann, a New York University clinical professor in psychology, in the movie Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) by Woody Allen.

via swiss-miss