Thursday Before

It is thursday night. The boys are fantastically wired and are calling each other ickle Amanikins and ickle Isaiahkins and giggling hysterically. They were tickling each other and laughing to tears... Now they are both perched on the office chair behind me as I write this pushing and pulling on my shirt as they navigate around the room. We are packing up getting ready for a needed two week visit to Costa Rica to visit family and they are very excited to say the least. All the siblings on that side of the family will be there except one... and this is our first family reunion of sorts in a long while... Here are some recent pics of a river hike we took last weekend. The water picture was me trying to capture the amazing shadow of water skimmers, those little bugs that sit on top of the water and run around. I have fascinated with the shape of that shadow for a while.

New England Summertime

Summer fun means just getting out... and when the lazies are visiting and you feel like a sloth and don't want to do anything we just need to remember that we are going to be cooped up inside mostly all winter and to take advantage of the wonderful out doors. We have really needed to tell ourselves that often lately. Our lives have seemed so incredibly full and it feels like we are running on reserves. So much day to day stuff to do and not enough time starting at around 6 am and continuing until about 1030-1100 pm... run run run... but then we get out and do amazing romps sweat out lots of toxins and wash it off in cool rivers and breath fresh air and meet new people and make up new silly songs etc and the energy comes rushing back... We went kayaking/canoeing last weekend on the swift river. That sunday I got sooooo sick with some bug and was out for the next 4 days. I am still blowing my nose among other things but my energy is back. This weekend we went to Plum Island north of Boston with Anna and the Pyburns. They had most of the peninsula closed off due to nesting Plovers (what the heck is a plover?) which as disappointing but the beach was delicious even though the water temp froze the extremities quickly. The boys were fearless though in the waves while they lasted and I can't wait to play in the waves in CR in a couple of weeks. It was nice catching up with Anna and the Pyburns. The boys have been in some cool summer camps this year and Grandma Irene has picked them up a few times after camp and hung with them. They really connect with her at moments and it is wonderful to see. Anyway, I should find my list of poop to do before I can fall asleep. I am really jonesing right now for our old copy of the unabridged version of Les Miserables that uncle Doug gave me for my birthday many years ago (I think we left it in CR). Speaking of books, Josh recommended a book called The Cosmic Serpent by Jeremy Narby. I just finished it and it is an amazing book about how the cosmic serpent is found in most indigenous cultures in their stories about the how the world was created. He also goes on to explore how the description of these intertwined cosmic serpents in all these cultures are very closely related to DNA and the description of how it works and what it does! Check it out if you can and if you want to order it try to do it through Josh's network site and amazon (http://joshuahomnick.ning.com/). Alright I have rambled enough.

Choices... Happiness

My friend Federico Bolanos from Costa Rica sent me this link to a 21 min talk given by a guy named Dan Gilbert who wrote some book on happiness. He is a very energetic speaker who presents some really startling results from some studies done at Harvard with regards to happiness. I will try to boil it down here for you but you should really see this thing for your self http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/97

Humans are able to make up different futures based on our data in the present. This is one of the many things make us different than any other animal.

We also are able to be happy in two different ways: The natural one that comes externally (winning the lottery maybe) and a synthesized one that comes from within each of us (being truly happy with the situation we find ourselves in (survival through a tragedy maybe or just a general contentment with ones present situation no matter what).

There was a study done at harvard where a beginners photography class was set up and the students had to produce 12 pictures of things of meaning around campus. They were then told to pick 2 of their most favorite and were shown how to make postersized enlargements of the images. Then 1/2 were told that they had to choose one to keep but could only make their choice once. The other half had to also choose one to keep but could change their minds as many times as they needed over the next 4-5 days. The ones with the one time choice were always happy with their choice. The other group invariably were not happy with their final choice no matter how many times they changed their minds! A second class with different students was set up and this time the students were told before the class started that they could choose between choosing at the end or not being able to choose… and of course 66% chose to choose… choosing the path with which they would be least likely to be happy with the outcome.

Freedom is the friend of natural happiness because it allows you to choose. But the enemy of synthetic happiness.

I find this interesting. According to this study WE can CHOOSE to be happy about things. The source of this happiness comes from within (synthetic happiness). But if we let the source of our happiness primarily come from the outside (a natural happiness) and we are allowed to many choices then we don’t arrive at happiness as easily because… well maybe because we are letting the primary source of our happiness be outside of our control. …it has to be a surprise, something random, unexpected, external...

This reminded Britt how the Baha’i Writings are full of exhortations for us continually strive to be detached from the world and always push to be “content with His holy Will and Pleasure”.

Anyway, watch the video… I’d love to hear any comments anyone might have.

Here is part of Gilbert’s summary: When preferences drive us too fast we tend to overate the differences between the futures we can see in front of us… All of our longings and worries tend to be overblown because we have the capacity within us to manufacture the commodity we so desperately seek (happiness).

Belated Father's Day Gig

Britt, as I mentioned earlier sent 15 yellow roses to my work for our anniversary and then that friday let Isaiah and I go to NY to hang with Dad and Janet for the weekend. Dad and I have been trying to keep up a tradition of a Father's day jaunt started last year with a phenomenal mt. bike ride at lake Minnewaska. This year we did the same 9 mile loop around lake Minnewaska and lake Owasting but Isaiah came along this time. It was again breath-taking with all the mountain laurel in full bloom still. Isaiah and I went swimming in the Awosting lake which was clear and warm but the winds made us freezing. At midday before driving up to Minnewaska we went with Dad to his peace vigil. This is a group of people who believe strongly in the concept of peace, standing on a busy street corner just below the big shopping malls of Poughkeepsie holding peace signs. They have been doing it every saturday for over 4 years now. Isaiah held up a sign that said honk for peace and I held up a similar one together with an american flag. It was all very exciting considering we had some thing that helped us see the level of support peace got. Diagonally, across the street 7 pro war folks with american flags and "peace thru strength" signs were looking for support from the cars passing by. IT was interesting because 95% of the honks seemed like they were for peace and a few toots were for the war. Isaiah did learn a few new swear words and I had to explain what the middle finger meant as a few people drove right by us and said some pretty gross things... but for the most part it was amazing to see how many people cheered, whistled, or honked for peace. We also saw Isaiah's great grandma and great uncle Doug for a few minutes before driving back to go to a rare afternoon Baha'i Feast in Amherst.