Do not regret what has happened. Recognize that what has happened cannot now be changed. To desire change, to have regret is a waste of energy, a waste of life. Practice gratitude for everything that happens. You cannot see reality without gratitude.
For a very long time (since I started this blog) I have avoided letting it devolve into a “personal clearing house” for grievance or a forum for “over-emoting,”
I’ve decided it’s time to modify that perspective — just a bit.
What is the point of publishing a blog if not to allow yourself to be honest with the world, and give the world a chance to better understand who you are.
I’m not talking about bitching or complaining, I’m talking about expressing yourself. That is a notion that does not come easily to me, but I have decided that it is time.
None of us live forever. There comes a time when we naturally should begin facing what the end of our existence looks like. To put it another way, we begin to face not only what we want to take into the next life, but what we would like other people to take away from our existence in this life.
That is something that is up to both of us. My goal is live the best life that I can. I am going to continue to grow and develop as best I can. The rest is up to you. No pressure. If I have offended you or you don’t want anything to do with me, I respect that. Stoic thought has taught me that we all have our own agency, our own reality. That means that I can only be concerned with my actions and not your actions or perceptions.
Where does that leave us?
Quite simply, this blog is shifting ever so slightly. Where I would have said to myself in the past, “I can’t share that,” it’s probable that now I will go ahead and share. Please don’t think I’m in this to change minds, I’m not. I’m responsible for me and you are responsible for you. It’s that simple. I’m taking agency for myself when it comes to sharing my journey on this blog. I’m not going to “emote” unnecessarily, but I am going to allow myself to speak to you from my heart where before I might have said to myself, “that is too personal to put out there.”
Why am I doing this? I am doing this for me. Please keep that in mind if you dip in here and read something that leaves you bewildered or confused, or you simply disagree with. Think of it as my attempt to open up a deeper understanding of myself, and share with you at the same time.
Do you believe in God? It doesn’t matter.
At times I’m not sure that I do, yet I believe that God resides in everything. It is our job to learn to recognize that reality and appreciate that truth. Appreciation is not about religion or any form of worship, it is simply about recognition and what you hold in your heart every moment. If you can appreciate God in all that you see, you will be incapable of harming your fellow man, your fellow beast, or your planet. If you can stand on this ground and look out at all that is around you and see God in it, you will see with clarity what is right and what is opposed to that which is right.
Here is a Baul song which provides a beautiful example of what it means to see God in everything. The Bauls are the roaming minstrels of India, they do not practice their belief in temples, they practice it on the street, in song.
My soul cries out,
Caught in the snare of beauty,
Of the formless one.
As I cry by myself,
Night and day,
Beauty amassed before my eyes,
Surpasses moons and suns.
If I look at the clouds in the sky,
I see his beauty afloat.
And I see him walk on the stars,
Blazing within my heart.
“If you are in a conversation with yourself you can be in conversation with the world.” —Suleika Jaouad
Always be asking yourself questions. Always be seeking new answers from within. If you can do this honestly and with intent, you will form the capacity to listen and ask questions of those around you. You will have the ability to listen and ask questions in a way that brings you closer to others and at the same time closer to yourself.
I just listened to the most amazing inauguration speech I think I have ever heard. Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivered an eloquent and inspirational address to the people of New York. He seemed to be speaking unprompted off the top of his head, but it was beautifully composed and delivered. Only 34 years old, he exhibits the wisdom of a much older man. The brilliant part of his speech was the leadership he promised he would deliver. I can’t wait to see what he can do for the people of New York. He may just be the future of politics in America, a refreshing departure from the cynicism we have been enduring of late.
Welcome to 2026
Everything does not happen as we would like. Stop trying to change what has happened, or wish something different had happened, simply say to yourself what happened was what was meant to be. You cannot change the past, all you can do is change how you look at it. Doing so will allow your life to flow much more smoothly.
Be prepared for failure. Do everything you can to ensure success in your endeavors, But in the final analysis, success or failure can be in the hands of others, not yours. Have a plan if failure is your reward. That plan should be focused on how you can more closely focus on the goal with Gods guidance. Recognize that failure is often part of a higher power or plan that is sending you a message telling you that you didn’t have it all figured out.
It’s time to welcome 2026. Here are my goals for the coming year…
I want to… Ride across the country one more time. I want to say that I have completed the cross-country trifecta. I want to feel that accomplishment. More importantly, I want to fee the joy that experience will bring to me.
I want to… Take care of my loved ones. Especially the one closest to me. She deserves that best and I am going to try my utmost to give her all that she deserves.
I want to… Honor my body and thank it for carrying me through this life. I want to give it the gift of good health. I plan to do that through the practice of Tai Chi for a healthy body and mind.
I want to… Meditate daily. To do that I plan to adopt TM as a daily practice. I think that is the right form of meditation for me. If that turns out not to be the case, then I will find the form of meditation that is best suited to me.
I want to… Write just for me. Write daily. The introspection gained by this practice is helping me become a better person.
I want to… Continue writing here. Building this Blog provides me tremendous satisfaction, not to mention the gift of self-awareness.
Mirriam-Webster Defines Naivete’ as
The quality or state of being simple and sincere.
I define Naivete’ as
Only listening to yourself or only listening to those people you’ve been told to listen to.
I think my definition can easily be applied to many of the elected representatives currently sitting in Washington D.C.
I recently wore this tie tac and ring to a memorial service. There were a lot of attendees of my generation. I did not observe anyone else wearing a tie tac. I guess tie tacs have gone out of style.
I recently started documenting some of my Father’s memorabilia that have been in storage since his passing a few years ago. The tie tac and the ring were among the items I retrieved. I was happy to give them a public viewing. Wearing them made me feel a connection to my dad. He would have loved to have been there. (The service was for someone he admired.) I was glad I could be there, and in a small way, have him there with me.
The tie tac is a replica of an ANA Airlines 747. The ring was one my Father picked up in Indonesia on a business trip. The back story on these pieces has been lost to time, but I’m still glad I have them to remind me of dad.
Adding your name to a memorial named after a great man does not make you a great man. It makes you a small man. Not only small, but vain. Vain beyond the normal bounds of what could reasonably expected of a vain person. The only person that would do such a thing is someone that, in their heart, knows they have done nothing to deserve such an honor, but desire it anyway. Recognition of greatness can only be granted by others, not self-awarded. The honor can only be granted after serious evaluation of a person’s actual accomplishments.
When WWII broke out, Jack was of draft age but he was deferred from service initially because he worked at the Boeing Aircraft Company in Seattle, Washington. At that time, Boeing was building the B-17 and Jack was working on the assembly line. The B-17 was instrumental in winning the war in Europe, later the B-29 would play a major role in winning the war in the Pacific. As soon as the war ended, Jack was drafted to allow active-duty soldiers to return home as quickly as possible. Jack was stationed in Japan and served in the U.S. Army Occupation Force. He was assigned was to a cryptography unit. His duty was to encrypt outgoing messages and decrypt incoming messages.
After his tour he returned to Seattle and the Boeing Company. His military training helped him get a job off the assembly line as a tooling inspector. Jack went on to serve the Boeing Company for the rest of his working life. He ended up managing Boeing’s Commercial Contracts Administration department. Jack enjoyed entertaining company guests in the family home. Jack was a gracious host as was Helen. Growing up, all of the children were privileged to meet a variety of people from different countries and backgrounds.
Helen was an excellent cook. She was ahead of her generation when it came to the skill of preparing healthy and nutritious meals for her family. I recall that the only way to get an illicit treat after school was to eat toast or breakfast cereal, which I did in large quantities (when no one was looking). I’m sure she knew what was happening because she did all the shopping, but she looked the other way because it was better than other options. She was a gracious hostess and a tidy homemaker. When her children got a bit older she was able to start working outside the home to fulfill her desire for a career. This was not until the two oldest children, Noralee and Christine, were old enough to watch over their little brother — which they did occasionally but not too often… Helen worked as a secretary and was very good at that profession. Later, she became a Real Estate Agent and enjoyed the opportunity that gave her to meet people and help them into a home.
Be careful not to overshare. Whether it be with a partner or a friend, oversharing can hurt a relationship. Never delve in to details of a past relationship unless there is a clear path and purpose to doing so. Make sure the person you are sharing with has given you express permission to go on that journey. Oversharing makes you appear needy. No one has time for those who constantly project needy.
Once you learn to restrain your desire, anything becomes possible.
Unrestrained desire clouds the mind and confuses reality. We are unable to look at the world around us and see possibility because we are focused inward, on ourselves alone.
“Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us. Your warmth, kindness, and joy have made this experience so much more special. With so much gratitude to you…”
One could not ask for a higher compliment. I’m humbled. Of course, we can’t always be in a place that allows us to exhibit this kind of persona. In all honesty, it was the people around me on the journey in question that helped to bring out these traits that were so kindly attributed to me…
Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya
One of the most popular Hindu mantras and the most important mantra in Shaivism. Namah Shivaya means “O salutations to the auspicious one!”, or “adoration to Lord Shiva”. This is a powerful mantra for healing. Shiva is my personal Hindu deity according to the Birth Chart reading.
These rules of respect are given by Mahakatha. The comments in parenthesis are mine.
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya
One of the most popular Hindu mantras and the most important mantra in Shaivism. Namah Shivaya means “O salutations to the auspicious one!”, or “adoration to Lord Shiva”. This is a powerful mantra for healing. Shiva is my personal Hindu deity according to the Birth Chart reading I received earlier this month.
My dear friends all. Thank you for making my journey through India better than I could have dreamed. You have helped me take the many threads of this journey and weave them into a tapestry I will treasure for the rest of my life. I have written about my experience each day in my journal. I humbly offer it to you as my expression of thanks.
Punar Milamah…
Until we meet again!
You’ve got a friend in me, you’ve got a friend in me. When your miles and miles from your nice warm bed, you’ve got a friend in me.
Rabindranath Tagore
Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.
Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.
Rabindranathe was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913.
The following is a prayer acknowledging god’s gifts to us, it can also be interpreted as a prayer acknowledging India’s gifts to us. The poem is written by the famous Indian poet Rabindranth Tagore…
Thou hast made me endless, such is thy pleasure. This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life.
This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new.
At the immortal touch of thy hands my little heart loses its limits in joy and gives birth to utterance ineffable.
Thy infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill.
The English version shown above is a prose translation written by the author. The original poem, first published in 1911, was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913. Tagore was the first non-European to receive that honor.
This mantra is one of the most popular in India. It asks for the blessing of happiness from Lord Shiva. (You can find a beautiful musical version of this mantra on Spotify by Mahakatha.)
Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya, Om Namah Shivaya
Punar Milamah… May we meet again…_
This is our last day in India. It will be sad to see this journey end tomorrow, but while this journey is ending, there is no doubt that a new journey is beginning. What I have learned on my visit to India will provide me with food for growth for the rest of my life.
Our journey today took us to the Bhootnath Temple. This is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. I found out in my Astrology Reading that Lord Shive is my personal deity. I’m thrilled to be able to visit this temple on our last day in India.
The temple priest performed the Abhishekham Puja ceremony. This is a ritual ceremony dedicated to Lord Shiva The ceremony asks Lord Shiva for a blessing to help support a special intention. After the ceremony I shared my intention with a very special friend that I have met on this trip. He shared his intention with me. We now have Lord Shiva’s blessing, but just as important, we no have each other’s mutual support.
After our temple blessing we went down to the Ganga for a special gathering to celebrate the lives of three people that recently passed. The three celebrated were close to three of our group. It was a beautiful remembrance.
On the lighter side, here is today’s front page. Also, I couldn’t help capturing a line crew stringing new power line… we’re not in Wichita any more!
This has been an amazing trip. More precious than any other memory will be the memory of the bonds that I was fortunate to have made with my fellow travelers. You now live in my heart.
We only have two days left in this magical place. It will be difficult to leave despite the fact that I want to get back to my loved one. Life is a journey and the path forward is not always clear, but if I have the opportunity to return here in the future I would not hesitate. That is especially true if I could return here with this same group of people.
Today we are going to visit…
While not technically “the Beatles ashram,” they along with a few other famous singer song writers of the 70’s put the ashram on the map.
This is actually the ashram founded by Maharishi Mehesh Yogi, the founder of Transcendental Meditation. At one point the Beatles spent a month in the ashram writing the music that became their “White” album.
The ashram sits inside a national tiger preserve and is no longer an ashram. The buildings are showing the signs of aging but the grounds are now under extensive renovation to preserve all that is there. There is graffiti in many buildings, some of it is very beautiful.
There is a gallery onsite with terrific photos of the Beatles taken during their stay at the ashram.
The site contains 84 man made meditation “caves” like the ones pictured above.
Some of the onsite housing and the beauty of the site.
If there is a message to toke away from my visit to the ashram perhaps it is this…
Visiting “The Beatles Ashram” has been a marvelous blessing. Rishikesh is a place of wild beauty and truly unexpected discovery.