Lunch Today in Laguna Beach

Have you ever been in one of your favorite restaurants, happily munching, when you hear a loud voice incessantly talking negative about other people? Today was that day. I should have moved, but I did not notice “the voice” until my food was delivered. I must have heard the word “narcissist” 25 times, loudly repeated in the course of one conversation. Everyone this person talked about had a problem and this person had all the answers. I almost fell to the ground in gratitude that I have been reading Eckhart Tolle’s new book “A New Earth”, as it saved me from wanting to turn around and scream “are you freaking kidding me with this crap”. I took a big breath, noticing a woman at the next table having similar thoughts. After I tried singing along to the song being played in the restaurant and sticking my fingers in my ears, I stopped myself, quit judging, labeling or placing any importance on this person. I know better. I realize that people come across our path and are brought to our attention for a reason. What we do with it, is entirely up to us. I decided to ask for the highest and greatest good for this person, blessed them, and went on chewing fast, leaving as soon as possible.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle could not have arrived on the scene at a more perfect time. I applaud Oprah in presenting this book and the author, every Monday night on her website for 10 weeks. This is the world’s largest online classroom of around 700,000 people and over 1.5 million listening to the link after the Monday classes. If you are interested in the planet earth, all relationships, finances, physical health, mental health and happiness, politics, any belief system of any kind, this is the book for you. Most of the people I know are reading it or participating in the online classroom. What is great, is if you miss the Monday night class, you can go to www.oprah.com and listen to the whole class the next day. I love seeing people from all over the world involved.

Debra

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The Gift of Giving

I have been noticing that people are much more receptive to giving lately. I enjoy watching Extreme Home Makeover and Oprah’s Big Give. This may be a trend, hopefully one that is here to stay. I came across a video of Bill Clinton talking about the empowerment of giving, the gift of forgiveness, people who refuse to be defeated against all odds. The stories are powerful. I particularly liked what he said about making the world a better place and by giving we broaden the reach of those who we bless with our gifts even beyond the direct recipients.

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The Amazing Last Lecture of Randy Pausch

Dr. Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Last September (2007) he gave his last lecture. This is a tradition among College Professors - giving your last lecture as though you were dying.The rub is, Dr Randy Pausch, is in all likelihood dying. He is battling pancreatic cancer. Diagnosed with the cancer on August 15, 2007 and given 3-6 months to live, today he is still going. Here is what he wrote on his own blog on February 15, 2008:

Feb 15: Six months later …. and still alive & healthy Today is a pretty important day. It was August 15th, 2007, when I was told I likely had “three to six months of good health left.”Today is six months from that day. Just to prove I’m still alive, here I am, holding today’s New York Times! I rode my bike today; the cumulative effects of the chemotherapy are hurting my stamina some, but I bet I can still run a quarter mile faster than most Americans.The doctors weren’t wrong; they always said that if the palliative chemo worked, I’d buy more time, but that it was a long shot. And the doctors have done a brilliant job of tweaking my regimen to help my odds. How much longer this will work is hard to know, but I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left, no matter how many or how few of them I get.

This is Randy on Oprah giving an abridged version of his “last lecture”. This is what we mean when we say courage.Read Randy’s blog here

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