Friday, May 29, 2015

MY PASSION IS MY TRIAL


WHO AM I?
  My inner passion is being tested by the outer world. I can’t make a living doing what I want – what my heart longs to do. I have to so somebody else’s job and live their values which are WRONG! So, I have a gap in my soul – my inner values are so different from the values in my day-job. Huge. I am so stretched it is painful. And every hour I am not working on my passion, is lost! Totally LOST!



WHY AM I HERE?

I was born to live my virtues, wasn’t I? An ideal owns me. The ideas of my employer are okay, but they are not MY ideals. I’m between my idealistic rock and my employer’s hard place. But, I need the money. Why is it that money always is the sticker? It is like money is the SOCIAL GLUE which holds things together. But, it makes the gap more of a risk.



WHAT DO I WANT?

I want to follow my dream. I can’t continue to do things that wastes time from my dream. That goes against my values. Or am I being impulsive. Maybe I’m not ready for my dream. What if my dream is too far for me to go. How do I really know if I’m ready? Maybe I should give up. Why the urgency? But, maybe I SHOULD be tested.

Achieving any genuine Passion worth achieving requires overcoming resistance, trying or failing.



© Copyright 2015, Jean W. Yeager

All Rights Reserved

Saturday, May 23, 2015

READERS' FAVORITE REVIEW - "5-Stars" , "...something to be read slowly and savored"



Completed on: 4/29/15 
Review Rating 5 stars    5
Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite

Th3 Simple Questions: Slice Open Everyday Life is a collection of Jean W. Yaeger's blog entries from January through June, 2014. Each entry revolves around three questions: "Who am I?", "Why am I here?" and "What do I want?" These essays are far-ranging, with topics covering the environment, politics, history and health. Sometimes the "who" is an inanimate object such as a pause button or a historical entity such as Galileo or Machiavelli. Many topics delve into the author's personal life, belief systems and thoughts about the human state.

Jean W. Yaeger's nonfiction spiritual/philosophical text, Th3 Simple Questions: Slice Open Everyday Life, is something to be read slowly and savored. The author states in his preface that those three questions insert fine knives into everyday existence, and indeed, they do exactly that. I found that in reading Yaeger's blogs I began to learn quite a bit about the author and his world-view, and much of what I saw resonated strongly with me. One poignant blog entry related a story of the author and his friend who were fellow baseball card collectors and the author's prize Willie Mays card. Another favorite was the blog entry, "I am Grass", which was a marvelous historical and environmental paean to grasses and the earth. "Why is Big Bird Big and Yellow?" gives a spooky look into the realm of advertising and what control we give over to the tube when we turn it on.

Yaeger's writing is easy and conversational, and I often felt as though he were actually in the room conversing and, sometimes, pontificating, but always in a non-confrontational, honest and wryly humorous way. When I finished the last response to the three simple questions, I realized that I had gotten to know a kindred spirit, someone whose blog seems well worth getting to know a lot better. Th3 Simple Questions: Slice Open Everyday Life is highly recommended.

VISIT THE BOOK'S SITE:
http://www.the-three.com


Friday, May 22, 2015

COLD HARD TRUTH – MONET AND THE DEBACLE OF THE HEART



WHO AM I?
     I always thought that we could work things out. That you and I found some way to eventually agree on certain things. I never thought that I was losing. Now I find out that I was wrong about how serious and important this was to you. That you really didn’t agree with me, but just gave up and gave in. I thought I could just do things my way and it would not make any difference to you. But now after so many years of being together and just presuming that because I was a man that I could win in our disagreements and that it wouldn't make much difference. I now find out that I was wrong. That in fact, those little things that made me feel so big actually made you feel like I was getting ahead by climbing over you.
     It's like my making a joke that put's somebody down. You know it sounds funny unless you are the one who is the one who is made fun of or gets put down. In that case, it's just another example that the other person the self-centered and really doesn't think much about you. When that goes on for years and years that turns into something called a grudge. A grudge is like a rock in the belly. It's like a weight that hold your spirits down. It's like a wall that keeps you from enjoying life with the other person.
     Why is it that we are so unaware of these ways in which we are? It’s distance, isn’t it?  It is only when the other person rips us a good one that we realize just how wrong we have been. And there's no excuse that's valid for creating those hard feelings. How do you apologize for treating another so hard?
     Why is Truth so cold and hard?

WHY AM I HERE?
     I am here because I have been cold and hard.
     There are no words that I can say that make up for years of abuse. The only way I can make this up is to become different. But, I do not know how to be any other way that cold and hard. I can't even say, "I'm going to be different." You can hear that all day long. Egoism is a powerful stimulant Ego says, “I am in control – that I am superior. That I can handle myself.” But, when I drink that cup of egoism, it’s is very heady stuff.
     I once worked with a man who was a former motion picture star. We were making radio commercials and he was the voice talent. He would sit in the studio by himself, alone with a microphone while we writers sat on the other side of the soundproof glass. Frequently he would say to the audio engineer, "Give me more me." Meaning he wanted more volume on his headset so he could hear himself louder. One day things were not going well and he was quite angry. And his ego was inflating larger and larger. And he kept saying to the audio engineer in an increasingly angry voice, "Give me more ME!" And the engineer would say to this man, "If I give you any more volume and you lean in towards the microphone with the headset, you will have a powerful feedback." And the boss said, "Give me more ME!" And the engineer said to us on the side of the glass where the boss could not hear, "Okay-dokey." And he pushed up the slider bar. And in a moment, the boss leaned into the microphone and a giant squeal filled the air and he threw his headphones off as quickly as he could. The engineer simply said to us on the one side of the glass, “Told you.”
     Give me more me.

WHAT DO I WANT?
     I want to change, but I am frozen.
     It seems that we only change our behavior when we meet something we don’t like. Why change if everything is fine?
The truth is that if signal to noise ratio intensifies, and peaks, it causes powerful feedback which can actually destroy eardrums. One or two incidents may eventually change our minds and not want “little more me”. Hard way to discover boundaries.
The truth is that when you treat others with a cold hard heart, you wind up being the one who is treated with hard and cold… and it eventually blows up your life. Things break apart. People drift away.
Rivers freeze over with ice from shore to shore. Claude Monet once spent a winter painting the frozen rivers in Paris. Then he moved to his home in Givenchy, Nord Pas de Calais. Monet was poor and struggling. He could not afford appropriate medical care for his wife. While he was there, his wife died. He despaired. He even painted her after she died. And then, the winter intensified, as the Cold Hard Truth will, at times intensify for us.
In Paris, just upstream from Givenchy that winter, more and more ice formed until the rivers in Paris began to explode! The expansion of ice ruined boats, bridges, and piled out of the rivers onto the shore.  It was called the Debacle – a sudden, disastrous break-up of ice.
Sometimes, when our inner hearts freeze over, we likewise can get a debacle  our lives break apart, people leave, people drift away because we are frozen. Such a debacle is only healed by warmth. The same way the Seine River was healed that winter. Warmth came and the ice began to melt and the disaster subsided.
And, in his grief over the death of his wife, Monet, stood by the river and painted canvas after canvas which are known as the “Ice Floes”. A symbol for us all to cling to in the winters of our despair.

© Copyright 2015, Jean W. Yeager
All Rights Reserved.      

A 20/20 "BOOK LAUNCH" SALES EVENT


If you go to the web site http://www.th3simplequestions.com
between 5/20 and 6/20, you can buy the book and get
20% OFF RETAIL PRICE + FREE SHIPPING!

On that site you can READ BOOK REVIEW, SAMPLE CHAPTERS,
LEAVE ME A MESSAGE, LINK TO THE BLOG. Have an imaginary soda, watch a non-existent video, have fun... sing songs?

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

POST NOW! CALENDAR OF VIRTUES - MAY 21 - JUNE 20 - "Perseverence becomes Faithfulness"


THIS MONTH’S VIRTUE TRANSITION:
Perseverance becomes Faithfulness
Opposite: Giving up – loss of grip

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK AND POST YOUR INSIGHTS 
IN THE COMMENTS SECTION AT THE
CALENDAR OF VIRTUES BLOGSPOT DOT COM


If you have difficulties using "comments" EMAIL YOUR POST to:
3simplequestions@gmail.com

ABOUT THE CALENDAR OF VIRTUES
    The Calendar of Virtues represents a year-round opportunity to practice Virtues while outer nature is going through analogous changes. The hypothesis asks how seasonal changes in the outer world may be reflected in your inner life.

RULES:
    You are invited to follow along with the calendar.
    1) During the specific period of the virtue transformation pay attention to the specific virtue within yourself and within nature at the start of the period and then the transition to the second virtue. Make notes if you like.
    2) Then, when the period is over, I will post the virtue pair and you are welcome to post your brief reflections. (150 to 200 words max.) Practice the virtue of brevity.


PLEASE POST YOUR INSIGHTS, COMMENTS OR EXPERIENCES STARTING JUNE 20

BEGINNING JUNE 21 WE WILL TAKE UP A NEW VIRTUE PAIR:
June 21 – July 20: Selflessness becomes Catharsis
OPPOSITE: Self-absorption, willfulness

July 21 – August 20: Compassion leads to Freedom
OPPOSITE: Heartlessness

August 21 – September 20: Courtesy becomes Tactfulness of Heart
OPPOSITE: Inconsiderateness