Word of the decade

 

dys·to·pi·an

/disˈtōpēən/

Learn to pronounce

adjective

1. relating to or denoting an imagined state or society where there is great suffering or injustice.

   "the dystopian future of a society bereft of reason"

   Similar:

   nightmarish

   terrifying

   gloomy

   hellish

   Orwellian

   dystopic

   despotic

   tyrannical

   oppressive

   repressive

   dictatorial

   totalitarian

   authoritarian

   autocratic

   futuristic

   science fiction

   grimdark

   sci-fi

   Opposite:

   utopian

noun

1. a person who imagines or foresees a state or society where there is great suffering or injustice.

   "a lot of things those dystopians feared did not come true"

(daily ex., morning dog walk 2.3 miles, pm jog 2.2 miles, rest day)

Common sense...I love this description.

 But where did the crowd get these “common sense” beliefs? Most were handed down to them by parents and grandparents in a generational game of telephone that leaves all players ill-informed.

      Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

     This reminded me of the following quote, also one of my favorites:

“Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people,”

― Laura Greenwood, Fangs For Nothing

(daily ex., morning dog WOG 4.3 miles, pm tm jog 3 miles) 

"To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to always be in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh." Pema Chödrön

 (daily ex. update, a gorgeous day, morning WOG w dog, 3.2 miles, pm tm jog 3.5 miles, while outside I chatted with lots of neighbors who were out also, so nice)

Her life changed the day she learned that she was just as valuable as everyone else. - Esther the Wonder Pig

 "He who saves a life, saves the world entire." --The Talmud

(daily ex. update, morning walk 4 miles, plus 20 min. of yoga, pm slow jog 2.5 miles)

Darling, you have outgrown the circus......S.C. Lourie

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.1 miles, pm jog 3 miles)

 I wonder if you know,

the work your body has done today.

And every day.

How much disease it has fought off.

How many times it could have failed but battled on,

how many ways it could have broken but did not.

I wonder if you know,

the work your body has done today.

And every day.

And each day it has done this amazing job,

without your help,

without your approval,

your acceptance,

your kindness.

Each day it has soldiered on,

regardless of the constant stream of negativity,

pulsing its way from your brain to your cells.

Not good enough.

Not attractive enough.

Not the right shape.

Perhaps it’s time to see your body for what is truly is,

An amazing and mind-blowingly competent machine.

To get your soul to where it needs to be in this life.

To let you live.

I wonder if you know,

how much better you would be as a team.

I wonder.

Donna Ashworth

From ‘I wish I Knew

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1 icy, cold dog-paw freezing mile, 25 min. of light snow shoveling, pm 4.2 miles of slow jogging)

 

Like Others

In the end,
I was like others.
A person.

Sometimes embarrassed,
sometimes afraid.

When “Fire!” was shouted,
some ran toward it,
some away—

I neck-deep among them.

     (by Jane Hirshfield)

(very cold, snowy, icy day.  Daily ex. update, morning dog walk only 0.5 miles, pm tm 4.6 miles.  Tomorrow's weather will be no better)

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." ~ Voltaire

 I just read "The Happiest Man on Earth, the Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz  Survivor," by Eddie Jaku.  I do recommend it.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk this morning 3.6 miles, pm slow jog 2.5 miles, very tired today)

"My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who and how you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness. Continue to allow humor to lighten the burden of your tender heart."--Maya Angelou

 (daily ex., morning dog walk and jog, 2.1 mi walked, 2 mi jogged slowly.  pm run 2.2 miles)

“There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.” ―Samwise Gamgee

 I just finished watching the Hobbit trilogy while on the treadmill.  Next I'm onto the Lord of the Rings series. I need distraction while treadmilling.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3 miles with a slow 0.5 mile jog thrown in.  pm tm run 5.5 miles)

“You had to laugh. Otherwise you’d go mad.” ― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

 “What the gods said was heard by each combatant in his own language, and according to his own understanding. It boiled down to: I. This is Not a Game. II. Here and Now, You are Alive.”

― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

“History has to be observed. Otherwise it’s not history. It’s just … well, things happening one after another.”
― Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

(daily ex. update, morning group Fleet Feet walk 3.5 miles, pm jog 2.5 miles)

“Messieurs, c'est les microbes qui auront le dernier mot." (Gentlemen, it is the microbes who will have the last word.)” ― Louis Pasteur

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2 miles on a beautiful day, pm tm run 4.4 miles)

“Change is freedom, change is life. It's always easier not to think for oneself. Find a nice safe hierarchy and settle in. Don't make changes, don't risk disapproval, don't upset your syndics. It's always easiest to let yourself be governed. There's a point, around age twenty, when you have to choose whether to be like everybody else the rest of your life, or to make a virtue of your peculiarities. Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I'm going to go fulfil my proper function in the social organism. I'm going to go unbuild walls.” ― Ursula Le Guin, The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia

 (daily ex. update, morning cold slushy dog walk 1.1 miles, pm tm run 4.6 miles, Just crossed 300 miles towards my 2023 mile run and walk goal)

“Nothing had just happened to her, she had made a choice, and then she had made another and another after that. Taken together, the small choices anyone made added up to a life.” ― J. Courtney Sullivan, Saints for All Occasions

 (daily ex. update, no dog walk today but spent 50 min. shoveling snow which I did too early, will have to shovel again tomorrow.  pm tm run 5.1 miles)

“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?” —Tennessee Williams, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

 (daily ex, morning dog walk 2.1 miles, pm jog streaksaving 1.5 miles, there's a storm rolling in)

Always remember, you get to do this.

 Motion is lotion.

Movement is medicine.

Things take time.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3 miles, pm tm run 3.5 miles)

Word of the day, its a good one.

 ses·qui·pe·da·li·an

/ˌseskwəpəˈdālyən/

Learn to pronounce

adjective

FORMAL

1. (of a word) polysyllabic; long.

   "sesquipedalian surnames"

   • characterized by long words; long-winded.

     "the sesquipedalian prose of scientific journals"

Happy Superbowl Day.

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.7 miles.  Taking advantage of the nice weather while we have it.  pm tm run 6.5 miles, long run)

You don't always have to be doing something. You can just be, and that's plenty.....Alice Walker

 (daily ex. update, morning group walk 3.7 miles, pm tm jog 4.5 miles)

"When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it." Boris Pasternak

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3 miles, pm tm run 3.5 miles)

“To be true to myself, to be the person that was on the inside of me, and not play games. That’s what I’m trying to do mostly in the whole world, is to not bullshit myself and not bullshit anybody else.” —Janis Joplin

 (daily ex. update, morning freezing walk with dog 1.6 miles, pm tm run 4.2 miles)

You keep putting one foot in front of the other, and then one day you look back and you've climbed a mountain. ― Tom Hiddleston

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 1 mile, pm tm run 3.2 miles)

Even towards the end of his long life, the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo is quoted as saying Ancora Imparo - I am still learning - a testament both to his humilty and his commitment to life-long learning.

 (daily ex. update, morning walk and jog with dog, walk 2 miles, jog 2.6 miles.  pm tm run 5 miles)

Luck is not chance— It's Toil— —Emily Dickinson

 (daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.2 miles, pm tm run 2.5 miles, tired today)

The birds they sang at the break of day "Start again", I heard them say. Leonard Cohen, Anthem

(daily ex. update,morning dog walk 4 miles, pm tm run 5 miles, a beautiful day)

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ― E.E. Cummings

 (daily ex. update, cold morning turned into beautiful day, morning walk 3.7 miles, pm tm jog 3.7 miles)

“In some Native languages the term for plants translates to “those who take care of us.” ― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

 (daily ex update, morning dog walk 2 miles with 1.5 miles of slow jog, pm tm run 3.3 miles)

You have to find satisfaction with yourself on your average day.

 “The love from success is always temporary. You have to find satisfaction with yourself on your average day.”

—Lauren Fleshman

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 2 miles w 1.1 mile jog, pm tm jog 4.6 miles)

Concentrate on the long game, the big picture. Don't get discouraged.

What is your big picture, resolution wise?  It's a new month.

 “Nothing had just happened to her, she had made a choice, and then she had made another and another after that. Taken together, the small choices anyone made added up to a life.”

― J. Courtney Sullivan, Saints for All Occasions

... play the long game. Instant gratification cannot build a legacy.” ― Andrena Sawyer

(daily ex. update, morning dog walk 3.7 miles, pm tm run 4.5 miles.  Today was a much nicer day, weather-wise.)