Filling the empty cup of the heart . . .
Sunday, March 22, 2026. It's Sol's day . . . A breezy, sunny day is in the forecasts for Green Country today with the heat easing a bit in TulseyTown. Moderate Southerlies are to become strong Northerlies in the mid-afternoon with 90's dropping into the low 70's and then 60's in the evening.
So much of our growth on the spiritual path comes not from gaining new knowledge but from remembering what we’ve always known but have forgotten.
In these times, as when Adam Smith wrote, it is important to remind ourselves of the revolutionary notion at the heart of Smith’s opus—that the wealth of a nation is measured not by its accumulated riches, but by the productivity and living standards of all its people. – Robert Reich, On Smith's 250th Anniversary, substack 3.17.26
That said, it's worth noting that the “productivity and living standards” of Americans is taking a big hit due to Trump's war. It's ugly and likely to get uglier. – Heather Cox Richardson, in Letters From An American.
Decency died. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse.
Tyranny cannot succeed where people refuse to submit to it. – Robert Reich, Sunday Thought, 3.22.26
Billy Collins commemorates his 85th turn about the sun today. The U.S. Poet Laureate (2002-2003) was born in 1941 New York City.
Carbon Dating
He tried it once
as a last resort,
but most of the women
were a million years old.
– Billy Collins, “Carbon Dating,” from Musical Tables: Poems. Random House, 2022.
Prayer: there is something about stepping lightly aside and allowing the grace of the present moment to fill the empty cup of the heart. --- Mirabai Starr, How I Pray.
Choosing happiness anyway . . .
Saturday, March 21, 2026. It's the Satyr's day . . . more record heat is in the forecasts for Green Country. Southerlies, sunny and upper 90's. The heat dome is to move out of the area overnight tonight. Low 90's tomorrow.
In the morning mailbox
If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion. --Hildegard of Bingen
Between Us
…I knew when I said
I love you
that I was inventing a new alphabet
for a city where no one could read
that I was saying my poems
in an empty theater
and pouring my wine
for those who could not
taste it...
– Nizar Qabbani, “Between Us,” in translation, publisher unknown.
Today, the multi-laureate awarded actor, Gary Oldman is 67. born in 1958, London, England. multi laureate awarded actor.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on this day in 1685, Eisenach, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies [Germany]. Among the greatest composers in the history of music.
Trump is trapped in Iran and American consumers are up Shit's Creek.-- Robert Reich, “The real reason Trump is trapped,” on substack, 03.20.26
The argument for choosing happiness in this moment:
If to enjoy even an enjoyable present we must have the assurance of a happy future, we are “crying for the moon.” We have no such assurance. The best predictions are still matters of probability rather than certainty, and to the best of our knowledge every one of us is going to suffer and die. If, then, we cannot live happily without an assured future, we are certainly not adapted to living in a finite world where, despite the best plans, accidents will happen, and where death comes at the end. – Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity, Vintage Books edition, 2011.
Anyway
Flowers don't like dodgeball.
They never scream pick me, pick me.
I feel rejected, I guess,
is what I'm saying about beauty.
…
If you are alive, you're
a beautifully foolish revolutonary
throwing bombs at the grave.
…
Sure,we're all going to die,
but most of us aren't going to die
in Philadelphia, or December, or without love.
– Bob Hicok, “Anyway,” The Colorado Review, Spring 2026, p.224.
Spring and the birth of creativity. . .
Friday, March 20, 2026. It's Freya's day . . . a record heat is settling over Green Country. TuleyTown forecasts indicate mid 90's, easy Southerlies, clear sunny skies.
Love is an alchemy with high stakes.
The latest on Fulton County. – Joyce Vance, in Civil Discourse today.
March 28, No Kings! – Robert Reich, “Get Ready.”
Yesterday was the birthday of laureate actor Glenn Close. She turned 79 having been born in 1947, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Creatives' birthdays continued to spill over from the mailbox today . . .
Laureate film producer/director Spike Lee is 69, born in 1957, Atlanta, Georgia; laureate actor William Hurt is 71, born in 1950, Washington, D.C.; children's television Fred Rogers in 1928, Latrobe,Pennsylvania; revolutionary playwriter Henrik Ibsen in 1828, Skien, Norway; psychologist B.F. Skinner in 1904, Susquehanna,Pennsylvania; and the Roman poet Ovid was born in 43BCE in what is now Sulmona, Italy.
Oh, and ... yers trooley celebrates his 84th, having been born on this date in 1942 Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This group has at least one other unifying fact: Today is the Spring/Vernal Equinox. It crossed into TulsyTown at 9:45 a.m. while this post was being written
Speaking of Ovid . . .
Life seems to ask us to fall in love in many different ways … taking the path of love always has its costs and its vulnerabilities but refusing the path of love also has its steep costs … The transactions in deep love and intimacy are not transactions at all, but a form of alchemy, of melding and of a unification that make moveable and even erase our previous boundaries … Whether we refuse love or risk ourselves in love there is actually no sincere path a person can take without having their hearts broken. – David Whyte, “The Cost Of Love” (an invitation to an online series).