quite a list

i was recently gifted a buncha books.
i never got so many treasures at once.
it's been quite a thrill.

i've been trying to share them here and there and not be
a book hog. but....i gotta say, i've been a big ol' hog.
i feel like a kid at ten christmases!

so last nite i went to the book shelf wondering which treasure
i should check out. grabbing 'facing the lion, being the lion'
by mark nepo, i snuggled in.

i didn't start at the beginning, i just flipped it open.
oh wow.

it was awesome.
'i gotta put this in the blog.' i thought.
thing is...i'd have to type out an entire page....

still, it's worth it, i thought.
and then i flipped somewhere else.

if i wasn't already flat on my back in bed,
i woulda fallen flat on my back.

oh wow.

no, i gotta put THIS in the blog.
problem was, i'd have to type out TWO pages.

still....it's worth it.

now i was rollin'. this book grabbed me.
everywhere i turned.
'who is this guy? he's awesome.' i thought as i read thru.
i wondered what he was like. cool stuff.

and then i bumped into this.
and THIS is what i decided to share......

one, because i loved it and wanted to share it with my sons.
and two, cause it's from cicero.
now, i  knew cicero was one of the old guys....but he had
his dates in the book. i read them and shook my head.
106-43 b.c.

that really is one of the old guys.

and i just couldn't get over how we haven't changed.......

and i thought this was something everyone could use no matter
where you are in life -

"six mistakes of man"

'The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others;
The tendency to worry about things that cannot be change or corrected:
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it:
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind,
and not acquiring the habit of reading and study;
And attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.'

that's quite a list.

something to remember.
maybe something to print out on my arm.

so, okay, maybe i'm not real big into the crushing of others...
but man, the rest of it all totally speaks to me.......

and i have yet to meet a person who couldn't benefit from this list.
i've met quite a few who think they don't need it, that they already do this.
if you're nodding and think that's you.....
well, that's prolly a pretty good sign it's not.

just sayin'.