ICE ICE BABY

photo by steve p2008

There are harder ways to make New Year's resolutions, than swear off pizza all-nighters after a New Year's Eve binge.   Said "to purify the soul and bring good luck," the Japanese New Year ice bath tradition, is not for the week of heart or anything else.  Way to commit, traditionalist!     news        

Principle in the type:  "Please don't nag yourselves with thoughts of failure.  Do not set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve.  Simply do what you can do in the best way you know how..."      Gordon B. Hinckley

CALLING ALL CLEVERNESS

photo by Neon Tommy

Carol Burnett, who was given a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild in January, would tweak today's television shows if she had her way.  "Some of the sitcoms I see make me feel like they might be being written by teenage boys in the locker room.  I'd like to see cleverness back," said Burnett.   You can't knock good ol'fashioned cleverness.     news 
                  

Principle in the type:  "They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."      Andy Warhol

MIND OVER MATTER

photo by Ali graney

Every year I'm tempted to buy a Goats in Trees calendar.   I mean but really, right?!   It's da'best.    And so, their little goat minds tell them to go climb a tree.  Our little human minds have done worse!  ( ... and better.)



                                  

Principle in the type:  "All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts."      James Lane Allen        

MO

photo by Jason Weinberger

Hey, it was Mozart's birthday yesterday?  You knew?  Mozart wrote hundreds and hundreds of pieces of music.  Some pretty good stuff too.  Of course geniuses had more time on their hands back then.  They weren't endlessly watching Robot Wars, or The Kardashians.    When Mozart moved away to Vienna, it was after he'd been "fired for the third time . . . decided enough was enough," and left to be a freelancer.  Sometimes we gotta do what we gotta do.    story           

Principle in the type:  'That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality--your soul, if you will--is as bright and shining as any that has ever been.  Bright as Shakespeare's, bright as Gandhi's, bright as Mother Teresa's.   Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret, luminous place.  Believe that it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly."    George Saunders       

MAJOR TUTU

 

photo by Angelina Rhode

You've heard the news:  Misty Copeland was named principal dancer at the American ballet Theater recently.  No small feat for any dancer, let alone in her case as she overcame many challenges.  And, Copeland is the first African-American ballerina in the history of the company to achieve principal status.  "She worked hard," said her very first ballet instructor Cindy Bradley.  "You can have all the talent in the world and never achieve this. It just has to come from pure, hard work and determination and really sticking to it.”  (news) 

Principle in the type:  "She dreamed of the kind of woman she wanted to be and patterned her life accordingly."    Gordon B. Hinckley