A few Haiku Thoughts . . .

A few months ago I decided that I would practice writing daily.  If nothing else, I would write a haiku.


A haiku is a Haiku is a contemplative, unrhymed Japanese-style poem that consists of 17 syllables, contained usually within three lines.

"The primary purpose of reading and writing haiku," writes William J. Higginson, "is sharing moments of our lives that have moved us, pieces of experience and perception that we offer or receive as gifts. At the deepest level, this is one of the great purposes of all art, and especially of literature."

I write haiku poems when I don't have anything else that I can think of to write-- which is most days.  Most were inspired by something I had been reading at the time; or some experience.  So, without further ado, I present a few haikus out of my collection:

The greatest feat of Man

The pursuit of happiness

How to accomplish?

A message fro Psalms

The joyfulness of a man

Prolongeth his days

My lingering cold

The first cold of the season

It is just snot fair! 

This is life! Enjoy it!

Happiness hates the timid

Human life is play!

The question for me

Do I prefer to be right

or live happily?

Let my boat be light

Packed only with what I need

Live simplicity

Manifest plainness

and embrace simplicity

Reduce selfishness 

Happiness is not

found in our circumstances

But found in ourselves

When we hold a torch

to lighten another's patch

We brighten our own

Skating away on

The thin ice of the new day

Thank you Jethro Tull

A scarlet sunset

Intro to the longest night

The Winter Solstice

Clogged drains like clogged minds

Restrict the positive flow

Causing backed up shit!

I awake and write

I have practiced my haiku

Now, brewed black coffee

Carpe Diem Life

I hope you enjoyed the show

Good Day, David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com

Smile?

Do a quick Google search for "The Importance of Smiling" and you'll come up with something like
26,300,000 results in under a second.






Must be pretty important, right?

Working in customer service (retail), I know the importance of smiles-- both giving and receiving.  I try to greet each customer with a genuine smile (certainly not a 100% success rate).  And I've witnessed first hand the tone of "How may I help you" change to a customer who walks through the door with a frown.  My co-worker has been known to grumble, "This looks like fun!" when he sees someone walk in looking pissy.

But, do workers have a right to be grumpy?

According to a New York Times article early this year, maybe they do.

Trader Joe's has gained popularity among grocery shoppers in large part by having relentlessly sunny employees, but now that the firm has expanded from mellower California to more brusque New York City, it is learning that cheerfulness is harder to find. The company fired Thomas Nagle recently because, though he said he frequently smiled, he was told his smile was insufficiently "genuine," and, backed by several colleagues, he has filed an unfair labor practice charge (and union organizers have taken notice). The National Labor Relations Board has already ruled (against another employer) that workers cannot be forced to convey that all-important "positive work environment" because they are entitled to have grievances. 

 I'll admit, for me smiling is not easy.  But, today I'll try to see the miracle in life.

Carpe Diem Smile,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com

 

Wind Chimes

I was awakened from a deep sleep by 

The clang of wind chimes outside my window.

Mom!?

The heavy chimes are from my Mother's Funeral

Several years ago.

It takes a lot of energy to move them;

To wake them up!

I am awake, listening to   

 The clang of wind chimes outside my window.

The shame of realizing that sometimes

It takes a lot of energy to remember

Those who have gone before me.

Carpe Diem Life
David Kuhn
CarpeDiem-Life.com

image from: Woodstock Magical Mystery Space Odyssey Wind Chime - Wind Chimes at Hayneedle

Never Give Up

Winston Churchill probably said it simplest and best, "Never, never, never give up!"

In recent history we've seen historic examples of great comebacks:

The Cubs (100+ years and down 3-1)
The Cavs (down 3-1)
Donald J. Trump
"So a thought crossed your mind?  Must have been a long and lonely journey!" (oops, wrong kind of comeback)
The New England Patriots (down 28-3)

No team in Super Bowl history had ever come back from more than 10 points down.

And whether or not you like Tom Brady, you've got to love his reply to the question, "How did you do it?":

"We brought each other back. We never felt out of it!"

We and hope.  That's a lesson we can all live by.

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying. Bear Grylls
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/never_give_up.html

A Book Asks Me A Question

Last night a book asked me to pick it up and directed me, like a magician flipping a deck of cards, “Pick a page.  Any page!” 

STOP!

“Are you sure?” asked the book, “You may select a different page if you would like.”

I went with my first instinct and elected to stay on the selected page, not knowing what mystery the book was about to reveal.

The book continued, “As you can see, my pages are full, but your next page is blank.  You are the author of every next moment!”

?

“May I ask you a question?”

Yes.

The book asked me to first answer truthfully if I wanted this to be true: 
“Every event that befalls me is absolutely the best possible event that could occur.”

The second, more difficult question, the book went on to ask:
“Will I give that a chance to be true?”

I closed the book and smiled, knowing that what just happened was absolutely the best possible event that could occur.  Even if I don’t yet understand it.

I do wonder what would happen if I believed that every event that befalls me is absolutely the best possible event that could occur.

Something to think about this weekend.

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com

A "Word" About What The World Needs More Of!

Yesterday I wrote about the “birthday” of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).  In 1884, the first portion, or fascicle, of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, was published.

Photo by Daniel White

 
Turn the page 137 years and meet Ted Utchen, a.k.a. “The Dictionary Man.”  Mr. Utchen has been giving youngsters in DuPage County, Illinois, free dictionaries— nearly 12,000 pocketbook dictionaries to third-grade students since 2002.

According to an AP report:  ”The Dictionary Man" brings little shtick to the vocabulary lesson he repeats every year for students in schools across DuPage County. Just the usual corny jokes and some worn-out index cards -- all with an eye toward selling kids on the virtues of proper spelling.
"It's the most worthwhile thing I've ever done," the Wheaton father of two said. "If we can get kids started with dictionaries while they're young in third grade, they'll start to use it, and when they grow up, they'll spell words right.”

"It's good to start learning how to do things early in your life while you're still young and before you get older," he recently told Park View students. "If you learn how to do something while you're still just a kid, you become real good at it."

The first word Utchen tells them to look up? "Slovenly," for no particular reason.

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Ted Utchen, but his story has taught me some valuable lessons.  First, it'ss not too late to learn.  Second,  one of the most important words in the dictionary:  GENEROSITY!

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com

The Words We Use

Yesterday I wrote about "comfort food" and The Oxford English Dictionary adding the definition for "comfort food" only in 1997. 

  Image from Oxford University Press

Synchronicity:  On this day in 1884, the first portion, or fascicle, of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the most comprehensive and accurate dictionary of the English language, was published. Today, the OED is the definitive authority on the meaning, pronunciation, and etymology of over half a million words, past and present

According to History.com:  Plans for the dictionary began in 1857 when members of London’s Philological Society, who believed there were no up-to-date, error-free English dictionaries available, decided to produce one that would cover all vocabulary from the Anglo-Saxon period (1150 A.D.) to the present. Conceived of as a four-volume, 6,400-page work, it was estimated the project would take 10 years to finish. In fact, it took over 40 years until the 125th and final fascicle was published in April 1928 and the full dictionary was complete–at over 400,000 words and phrases in 10 volumes–and published under the title A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.

Today, at a whopping 20 volumes weighing over 137 pounds, it would reportedly take one person 120 years to type all 59 million words in the OED

Which reminds me of the Steven Wright observation, "If a work in the dictionary was misspelled, how would we know?"

Carpe Diem Life,
David Kuhn

CarpeDiem-Life.com