The Dalai Lama shares wisdom on the meaning of life

Sometimes it's not so hard to comprehend...

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2014/02/dalai_lama_at_a_santa_fe_ski_resort_tells_waitress_the_meaning_of_life.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

post Nostalgia and Swimmer aphorisms

• The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten…

• The past is interesting only if you have a rich present.

• And suddenly you’ve got this huge new territory inside you, which is the past—which wasn’t there before.  A new source of strength…

More on Hemingway--from Liesl Schillinger

Hemingway’s sensibility struck my teenage self as inarticulate and sexist.

                  The first time I encountered a reputedly great novel that I could not stand was in my senior year of high school. My A.P. English teacher had assigned “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” by Ernest Hemingway, and as I read it, I felt boredom, then anger, then incredulity. The main characters — the macho Robert Jordan; his compliant love interest, Maria; and his friend, the “ugly” virago Pilar — seemed to have been slapped like paper dolls against the background of the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway’s sensibility struck my teenage self as inarticulate and sexist. Stunned that this book and its author had earned such acclaim, I went to the library to hunt for clues to Hemingway’s psyche, hoping to understand his motivations, if not his fame.

Pablo Neruda

You start dying slowly      

You start dying slowly

 if you do not travel,

if you do not read,

If you do not listen to the sounds of life,

 If you do not appreciate yourself.

You start dying slowly

When you kill your self-esteem;

When you do not let others help you.

 You start dying slowly

 If you become a slave of your habits,

Walking everyday on the same paths…

 If you do not change your routine,

If you do not wear different colours

Or you do not speak to those you don’t know.

 You start dying slowly

If you avoid to feel passion

And their turbulent emotions;

Those which make your eyes glisten

 And your heart beat fast.

You start dying slowly

If you do not change your life

 when you are not satisfied with your job,

 or with your love,

If you do not risk what is safe for the uncertain,

 If you do not go after a dream,

If you do not allow yourself, At least once in your lifetime,

To run away from sensible advice…

It's never too late

An 89-year-old guitar maker is proof that age isn't a barrier when it comes to self discovery.                

               Watch this:
               http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/421509/the-joy-of-a-never-ending-search-for-hobbies/