Paid Gig

I’m still on semi-blogging break, but I wanted to let you in on a few announcements.

First, I got a job writing a weekly column for The Good Men Project! The column is on raising compassionate boys. My first article goes up on Wednesday 7/16 at 9:30 am EST. Come on by and say hello.

Second, I’m curating Stories That Must Not Die for the next two weeks. If you have a story that needs to be told, even if you need to tell it anonymously, please email me at everydaygurus@gmail.com and you can guest-blog at STMND. By the time you read this, I will have a post up there. Come on by and say hello.

Lastly, thank you for coming by here and saying hello during the blog break. May you know peace and joy.

{{{Hugs}}} Kozo

Wabi-Sabi–Beauty in Impermanence

A different kind of Grasshopper

When I was in junior high school, we had an assignment to write a poem that I completely forgot about. When the teacher asked for the poem, I took out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled down a haiku. A few weeks later, I was called in front of the class and given a poetry award. My poem was later published in an anthology.

Running through the fields
I see a green grasshopper
Dead under my feet

Prison Awakening

I originally wrote this fictional epistolary piece for the DPChallenge: Shift Your Perspective, until I re-read the challenge and found out that you had to write about blogging. I decided to post this story anyway after reading Professions for Peace’s posts about forgiveness and stumbling and Tracy’s post about letting go. I also think it applies to Mirth and Motivation’s post FOCUS: PEACE. I apologize for any offensive language; I was trying to portray the character as realistically as possible. 

Dear Edward,

I hope this letter finds you well. I know we haven’t spoken in sometime now, but I recently heard about your incarceration and I wanted to reach out to you. I know everything about the case, and I wanted you to know that I still love you. I will help watch over your kids until you get out.

If you want to write back, here is my new address:

Grace Osborne-Dufresne
199 E. Pearl Ave Gate #7
Harmony, Ca 93435

Hoping to hear from you,
Grace

WordPress: The Final Frontier

Shift Your Perspective

Coming out of cyber-sleep always feels like a bad case of food poisoning. Lt. Kozo sat in the sanitizer chamber for the better part of an hour as every orifice convulsed and expelled whatever liquid was left in his body.

“I know this is just a ploy of the GenCorp. For all I know, I was only sleeping for five minutes,” thought the lone explorer hoping that the thought scanners were not activated yet.

Ever since the Toxic Meltdown, all exploration was executed remotely by lone explorers in 3D simulation chambers. Kozo knew that the reason they isolated the explorers was so the GenCorp would have full control of anything of value found by the “expendable” explorers.

The Animated GIF: The Antithesis of Mindfulness

People who like GIFs (a series of images that create the impression of movement) are the same folks who slow down on the freeway to try to catch a glimpse of something gruesome after a car wreck. Ok, that’s a bit of an over-generalization taken out of context meant to be incendiary, which is a pretty good definition of an animated GIF.

International Label Day

The incredibly creative mind of Rarasaur came up with a new holiday called International Label Day:

“I’d love to see people wearing their subcultures proudly!  So the holiday is simple– just label yourself and wear it all day.  Use a piece of masking tape, or a Hello My Name Is sticker, or whatever– but let people know!  You are what you are, and you are glorious.”

November 21st is officially International Label Day. I know this is late notice, but it is not too late. Put on a label and see what happens. If you want, you can take a picture, post, and pingback to Rarasaur’s blog to join the party.

Mr. Rogers: The First American Guru?

dogwelder / Foter / CC BY-NC

When I really think about it, Mr. Rogers was the first guru I ever encountered. He walked like a guru, talked like a guru, and even his opening song espoused many of the teachings of well-known gurus:

“It is a beautiful day in this neighborhood”–be here, now

“I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you”–“when the student is ready, the master will appear”

“So let’s make the most of this beautiful day”–Carpe Diem

“Since we’re together, we might as well say..Won’t you be my neighbor”–equanimity, interdependence, unconditional love and acceptance

Spare the Child

He popped into our lives like a bee sting on the foot while running barefoot in the park: sudden, unexpected, and painful.

His name was Richard, but Mum said to call him “Dad.”

I was only 5 at the time.

My first memories of him consist of me yelling, “You’re not me Dad,” over and over. Maybe this defiance started the beatings; I don’t remember.

World Peace, Marital Bliss, and Blogging Fame–Not necessarily in that order

Eryn Vorn / Foter / CC BY

“Through compassion, through love, we can solve many problems, we can have true happiness, real disarmament.”–Dalai Lama

I wish I were a superhero who could step into the body and mind of others and force others to step into someone else’s body and mind.

I could have gotten my power after being bitten by a radioactive Tibetan Lama.

You could call me Empathico.

I would use my power for world peace, marital bliss, and blogging fame.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign–“Tako” Bell Then and Now

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
—T.S. Eliot

When I was a kid, my Hawaiian grandfather used to take me octopus fishing. After we cleaned our catch, my grandfather would always force me to eat a piece of octopus. Being a good suburban boy, I retched at the thought of eating a slice of slimy steamed octopus tentacle with the suckers hanging off. Having watched my grandfather routinely rip the back off living crabs and suck the meat out while the crab’s legs clawed at the empty air had already given me reason to distrust my grandfather’s palate.