Tag Archives: change

Is Time Like A River?

Deep Thoughts and Musings, , , ,

 

Have you ever had the experience of doing something so wonderful you wanted to share it with someone.  So you took them there, did it again with them, and were disappointed with their reaction?  And/Or…..you were not able to recreate that wonderful feeling yourself?

Perhaps the spontaneity, the serendipity, of the first experience provided a magic that couldn’t be replicated.  Perhaps  your expectations were just too high.  Or, perhaps, you were just not the same person you were then.

imagesHeraclitus is quoted as saying:  “No man steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

Is he saying that the water is not the same?  Is he referring to seasonal changes, higher water levels, etc.  Time has passed, the man has matured? changed?  Or was he talking about the flow of energy….. How everything has a different vibration and perhaps we are responsible for constant change and movement.

Through the years, I’ve heard quotes about how time flows like a river.  Well, I’ve observed rivers.  They ebb.  They stagnate and putrefy.  They flow.  They plunge down rapids and waterfalls.  They aerate and purify.  And…..they carry us with them.

On the other hand, I’ve been reading lately that time doesn’t exist.

Lost Art of the Thank You Note

Deep Thoughts and Musings, , ,

It had been my habit, when I received a thank you note, to put it in the cookbook I was reading as a bookmark and there it would stay.  Well, yes, I read cookbooks like novels.  I figure the author has a unique  philosophy he/she wants to share and a story about the restaurant, the education, the culture or the mentor that inspired the book.  I want to know this story.

This morning while looking for a recipe, I opened a cookbook and there was a note.  In fact, there were four notes in that book.  I reread each one.  They brought back so many memories:  two new babies, moving into a new house, and a birthday gift.  It’s fun to run into these notes occasionally and reminisce.

thank yous 001

And right then, an aha moment:  It’s been ??? how many years since I received an actual physical, paper, thank you note?  In the three or four year range anyway.  Thank you notes  and letters have gradually faded from consciousness.  Today we email and text.

When was the last time you bundled your emails  and texts with a red satin ribbon and carefully placed them in a special box stored on the top shelf of your closet?   When was the last time you stopped by a neighbor’s unannounced and spent the afternoon visiting?  I remember my Mother lamenting about the disappearance of meat markets as the supermarkets came on the scene.  Change.  Day to day things seem the same…..but look back over just the past year and yikes! so much has changed.

Today we share news on facebook and twitter.    Yes, everything is always in flux…..ebbing and flowing.  The average American moves every five years.   Our neighborhoods are expanding to include the whole continent.  We have friends all over the world.  This is an exciting time to be alive.

Socrates is quoted:  “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new”.  So…..I’m not going to throw out those thank you notes.  I’ll still enjoy running into them at odd moments and having them trigger memories.  But…..I am going to enjoy blogging, facebook, twitter, etc. and try to remember to express my gratitude more.