Quote of the Day

“One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows. Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn; the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time, or alien in language, or diverse in interest.

-T. S. Eliot

Quote Of the Day

 

 

 

"Please teach me mindfulness," I would implore. "Focus on today's class, and don't be distracted," Dr. Winter would always reply. One of the greatest teachers faced my incessant requests. He had been a monk in Tibet, under a vow of silence for eight years, before he went on to the University of Vienna to teach philosophy.

When the semester ended for Summer break, my professor finally conceded to my insistence, and offered for me to stay with him for 3 months at his farm. Each day, I anxiously awaited to learn his insight, and each day he'd hand me a shovel and a broom to clean the horse stables. He would shovel and sweep next to me, but seemed so pleased with himself to have me cutting the task in half for him. He'd say, "WAKE UP, Mr. Sonnon! You're missing all this crap!" And then he'd laugh to himself.

After an entire day of indentured servitude - tired, hungry and fatigued - I would shower, eat and attempt to keep my head from collapsing into my bowl awaiting a glimmer of wisdom from the frustratingly vibrant, old professor.

Days and weeks passed with the same routine. Finally, out of the deafening silence, I exploded while shoveling manure out of the horse stable stalls, “All I’ve been doing is shoveling CRAP for months, and I haven’t yet learned a thing about flow!” He shook his head at me smiled, and said, “You’re absolutely correct, Mr. Sonnon.” He walked away saying, "Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. The secret lies inside the 'crap' in your life."

In class the next semester, my professor told us, "Before Enlightenment, you shovel crap and clean stalls, after Enlightenment, shovel crap and clean stalls." What’s the difference? The tasks are the same. Though the practical necessity remains, your attitude differs.

Last night I took my son out for guys' night: Muay Thai, Sashimi and a movie (The Croods). During the movie, in the warm room, in the dark, alone with no one else in the theater, I dozed off. My son elbowed me in the ribs, "DAD! Wake up, you're missing guy's night!" Laughing, and recalling my lesson from Dr. Winter, I sat up straight, at my little man's chiding.

When you do anything, stay awake. What frame of mind you bring to your work? Do you approach it as if it were a nuisance? Do you remove your awareness from it so that you fill with regret, resentment or worry? What 'ordinary moments' are you missing in your lack of mindfulness? What would you need to do to be more fully present?

Practice mindfulness in even the most insignificant things, my professor and my son taught me. It does little good to attain clarity of mind in martial arts competition, if you lose it as soon as you leave the mat. Pay attention to the interrupting emotions and distracting thoughts that enter your mind when you do ANY task. See if you can let them go and just focus on where you are RIGHT NOW.

The only discernible difference between enlightened teachers with whom I've studied, and myself, is they do the exact same task as me, but "lighter." Be lighter. Life is much too serious to be taken seriously.

very respectfully,
Scott Sonnon

HOMEMADE MOSQUITO TRAP

 

 

 

Modern technology has brought us many benefits, including mosquito traps that cost hundreds of dollars, but sometimes we overlook simple solutions to difficult challenges such as mosquito control. When it comes to controlling pests, research tends to focus on chemicals or concepts that can be patented. Unless someone can make a profit from an idea, the public may never become aware of it.

HOMEMADE MOSQUITO TRAP.

Items needed:

200 ml water
50 grams of brown sugar
1 gram of yeast
2-liter plastic bottle

Or US conversion:
1 cup of water
1/4 cup of brown sugar

HOW:
1. Cut the plastic bottle in half.
2. Mix brown sugar with hot water. Let cool. When cold, pour in the bottom half of the bottle.
3. Add the yeast. No need to mix. It creates carbon dioxide, which attracts mosquitoes.
4. Place the funnel part, upside down, into the other half of the bottle, taping them together if desired.
5. Wrap the bottle with something black, leaving the top uncovered, and place it outside in an area away from your normal gathering area. (Mosquitoes are also drawn to the color black.)

Change the solution every 2 weeks for continuous control.

Quote of the Day

                     ''The expression of strength (life) is different through each one of us.''

Freezing Lemons

         

 

 FREEZING LEMONS - WHO KNEW

Amazing frozen lemons. All it is.....is a frozen lemon.

Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming
the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole
lemon without waste?

Simple.. place the washed lemon in the freezer section of your
refrigerator. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater, and shred
the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your
foods.

Sprinkle it to your vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, cereals,
noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes, whisky.... the
list is endless.

All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something
that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of
lemon juice and vitamin C. Not anymore.

Now that you've learned this lemon secret, you can use lemon even in
instant cup noodles.

What's the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than
preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes?

Well, you see lemon peels contain as much as 5 to 10 times more
vitamins than the lemon juice itself. And yes, that's what you've
been wasting.

But from now on, by following this simple procedure of freezing the
whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, you can consume
all of those nutrients and get even healthier.

It's also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating
toxic elements in the body.

So place your washed lemon in your freezer, and then grate it on your
meal every day. It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to
live healthier and longer! That's the lemon secret! Better late than
never, right? The surprising benefits of lemon! Lemon (Citrus) is a
miraculous product to kill cancer cells. It is 10,000 times stronger
than chemotherapy.

Why do we not know about that? Because there are laboratories
interested in making a synthetic version that will bring them huge
profits.

You can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon
juice is beneficial in preventing the disease. Its taste is pleasant
and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.

How many people will die while this closely guarded secret is kept, so
as not to jeopardize the beneficial multimillionaires large
corporations?

As you know, the lemon tree is known for its varieties of lemons and limes.

You can eat the fruit in different ways: you can eat the pulp, juice
press, prepare drinks, sorbets, pastries, etc. It is credited with
many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it produces on
cysts and tumors.

This plant is a proven remedy against cancers of all types. Some say
it is very useful in all variants of cancer. It is considered also as
an anti microbial spectrum against bacterial infections and fungi,
effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood
pressure which is too high and an antidepressant, combats stress and
nervous disorders.
The source of this information is fascinating: it comes from one of
the largest drug manufacturers in the world, says that after more than
20 laboratory tests since 1970, the extracts revealed that It destroys
the malignant cells in 12 cancers, including colon, breast, prostate,
lung and pancreas. The compounds of this tree showed 10,000 times
better than the product Adriamycin, a drug normally used
chemotherapeutic in the world, slowing the growth of cancer cells.

And what is even more astonishing: this type of therapy with lemon
extract only destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect
healthy cells.

So, give those lemons a good wash, freeze them and grate them. Your
whole body will love you for it!!!!!

Quote Of the Day

"Scientific societies are as yet in their infancy. . . . It is to be expected that advances in physiology and psychology will give governments much more control over individual mentality than they now have even in totalitarian countries. Fitche laid it down that education should aim at destroying free will, so that, after pupils have left school, they shall be incapable, throughout the rest of their lives, of thinking or acting otherwise than as their schoolmasters would have wished. . . . Diet, injections, and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and the sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable, and any serious criticism of the powers that be will become psychologically impossible. . . .”----Bertrand Russell,1953