Busily getting ready for a hearing this morning, arguing a motion that will almost surely draw a rebuke from the court. I didn't draft it; the lawyer who did is so afraid of the judge she's asked me to make the argument. It's not much of an argument, but I'll dress it up. I have trouble feeling fear for the last three decades or so. I'm much better at shame.
Made it to the gym this morning. BP 131/81, which shocked me so I measured it again with an even lower result. And this was after losing a couple hours of sleep fretting over a blown deadline that will now lead to a rather nasty employee meeting after this nasty hearing. Weight's down to 187.5, not much of a change but at least the right direction.
My morning readings struck me as on point, so I'll share one of them. The one you'll have to read for yourself was this morning's lectionary reading from the Hebrew Bible, Daniel 1: 1-21. It's all about going on a water and vegetarian diet, and finding oneself every bit as healthy as the guys who feast at the king's buffet.
And this one, from my long-dead but newly acquainted friend Elbert Hubbard:
Work, Health, Study
Happiness hinges on habits; because habits rule our lives. Our habits put us to bed and they get us up in the morning. They seat us at the table, and they set us to work.
There are three habits which, with but one condition added, will give you everything in the world worth having, and beyond which the imagination cannot conjure forth a single addition or improvement. These habits are the Work Habit, the Health Habit, and the Study Habit.
If you have these habits, and also have the love of a partner who has the same habits, you are in Paradise now and here, and so are they.
Work, Health, and Study, with Love added, are a solace for all the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune--a defense against all the storms that blow; for through their use you transmute sadness into mirth, trouble into ballast, pain into joy.
Do you still say that religion is needed?
Then I answer that Work, Health, Study, and Love constitute religion. Moreover, that any religion that leaves any of these out is not religion, but fetish.
Yet most religions, over the centuries, have pronounced sexual love an evil thing. They have proclaimed labor a curse. They have said that sickness is sent from God; and they have whipped and scorned the human body as something despicable, and thus have placed a handicap on health, and made the doctor a necessity. And they have said that mental attainment is a vain and frivolous thing, and that our reason is a lure to lead us on to the eternal loss of our soul's salvation.
Now we deny it all, and proclaim that these will bring you all the good there is: Work, Health, Study--Love!
Work means safety for yourself and service to humankind. Health means much happiness and potential power. Study means knowledge, equanimity, and the evolving mind. Love means all the rest!
Couldn't have said it better, so I won't even try.
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