Book Nook Cafe discussion

Wishing us all many Good Reads !

If you have a thread topic that you would like me to put up for the new year just let me know.

Happy New Year :)

My gosh! I cannot believe this month is half finished. I'm having a busy 2019 thus far but still feel as though i'm getting nothing accomplished! Soon...

madrano wrote: "My gosh! I cannot believe this month is half finished. I'm having a busy 2019 thus far but still feel as though i'm getting nothing accomplished! Soon..."

I just took note of the halfway point in my journal. As I posted in another thread I am trying to Bullet Journal and do a Habit Tracker.

So far so good. I think it will be productive as long as I am flexible and tweak the project the first few months to see what in the long run (rest of my life) will work for me.

Our library where I work and which is also my home library is undergoing 2 major renovations. Wow, what a dirty mess this is but it is looking better with new paint. We have finished with part one and are re-opening tomorrow. I have been catching up with processing the periodicals but we moved them all down to tech services so our office is packed. I think I have caught up with most of them- some will go back to shelves in their departments but we are getting new display cases so many will be in our office till the cases come in. I will be glad when it will all be done.

Julie wrote: "Our library where I work and which is also my home library is undergoing 2 major renovations. Wow, what a dirty mess this is but it is looking better with new paint. We have finished with part one ..."

That's terrific that you town see the worth of libraries and their upkeep. Sadly this is not so everywhere.

It's neat that your system is working, Alias. I imagine you will find it rewarding on days when it's hard to start. Continued success.

Julie, i empathize with your mess. Would this be the time to suggest Susan Orlean's The Library Book if you haven't already read it? It will make your project and crammed space seem manageable, i believe. Living & working while such reconstructions are ongoing must be a special challenge. With luck, you'll find the results rewarding, at least!

madrano wrote: "It's neat that your system is working, Alias. I imagine you will find it rewarding on days when it's hard to start. Continued success...."

Thank you, Deb. So far it is working well.

madrano wrote: "It's neat that your system is working, Alias. I imagine you will find it rewarding on days when it's hard to start. Continued success.

Julie, i empathize with your mess. Would this be the time to ..."

That book is definitely on my list!

hey, could you put up a topic for podcasts?
They're one of my favourite media forms and I'd love to hear what podcasts other people listen to and I'd love to share what ones I like as well.

Interesting idea, seasons. I don't think i've listened to many and have been stunned by how many are out there. It would be neat to see what others here are listening to and whether they like them or not.

madrano wrote: "It's neat that your system is working, Alias. I imagine you will find it rewarding on days when it's hard to start. Continued success.

Julie, i empathize with your mess. Would this be the time to ..."

That book is definitely on my list!

"

I am working a combo of two books.

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future--Ryder Carroll
and just the inspiration/motivation of
Spartan Up!: A Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Peak Performance in Life-- Joe De Sena

If you Google - YouTube both authors you can get a good idea what they are about.

Note- if you google Bullet journal you will see hundreds of very artsy journals. He notes his is not that at all. His is a minimalist approach that helped him with his ADD. So don't be put off if you don't have the time or talent for drawing. That is not what he is about. If you do have the time/talent and find that makes you more likely to journal, go for it. That is what is nice about the BuJu, it's adaptable to your needs and lifestyle.

Bullet Journal
https://www.youtube.com/user/bulletjo...

The item I am having the most success with is the simple daily Habit Tracker. You can set these up anyway that works for you.
I write the days of one month across the top of the page.
Down the left side the habits I want to acquire.
Then under each day I color in the box if I did it.
Here are a few YouTube on Habit tracking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He0BK...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsqZk...


I find it best to keep the goals here simple. You just want to acquire the habit. So I may write drink water, not 8 glasses.
Do push-up, not do 100.

His TED Talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym6OY...

Spartan Up

Website
https://www.spartan.com/en

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3Eu...

What a beneficial support system. And i like that there seems negativity is not a part of it in any way. You make the decisions for yourself and decide what works for you. Some of those Bullet Journals are very creative, so i can see why he mentions his isn't as elaborate but all methods work.

Martin Luther King - I Have A Dream Speech - August 28, 1963

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqn...

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

What a remarkable speech. It's almost poetry. When i was younger, the speech sent chills down my spine, it was so inspirational. In my later years, tears. Alias, i'm glad you shared this in celebration.

You're welcome.

That's pretty, Alias.

Gung hay fat choy, everyone. Wishing all prosperity, health and good fortune.

Lovely graphic, Alias. Petra, thanks for that phrase, too. I'm making a note of it for next year!

It's Random Act of Kindness Week !

Since first hearing of this idea (well, a name given to the action), i've really liked it and doing it. A whole week to enjoy it!

I started a bullet journal at the beginning of last year. That didn't last long. The first item in my habit tracker should have been "Open bullet journal"!
I hope it is working better for you than me.

I did not know that was an event/ celebration. I like the idea. Last week we were in a museum which featured desert critter and we were amazed. One, a "vinegaroon", i think it was spelled, is so named because it emits a vinegar-like smell at times. We talked to a woman (this was in Roswell, NM) who had some in her home. She said she preferred them because she could at least smell them, as opposed to friends who have scorpions in their homes but don't know 'til they run into them.

Julie wrote: "I started a bullet journal at the beginning of last year. That didn't last long. The first item in my habit tracker should have been "Open bullet journal"!
I hope it is working better for you than..."

Julie, did you read the book by James Clear or listen to his YouTube videos on BuJu ?

I use "Habit Stacking" to remember to do the things on my Habit Tracker. For example, one habit is to read the daily page from Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day and listen to the selection. Since I go online every morning, I made it a rule I can't go on FB until I listen to the daily selection.
Some other things I stack on to other daily tasks. Like drinking coffee, brushing teeth etc.

I also keep the BuJu right on my kitchen table, so I look at the list and know which ones are my morning tasks. For example, meditate before I have morning coffee. First thing I do is drink a glass of water. Then I check that off my habit list. That gets the ball rolling.

I also record info in my exercise journal: weight, exercises of the previous day and by Fitbit stats. I've been doing that for a few years and now I don't even have to think about it. It's just something I do when I wake up.

So far the Bullet Journal idea is working for me. Though I am tweaking it as the months go on. I think for me, I prefer a loose leaf binder so I can remove or add pages. I also am tweaking the habits I track.

Also having someone to buddy up with helps. It makes me accountable. My accountability buddy is a friend from the gym. Once a month we go out for coffee and discuss what is working for us and what's not. And how we can fix it.

Another book I would recommend is
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business---Charles Duhigg

My gym buddy follows the podcasts and the books of Gretchen Rubin. So I read her book
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives and have her on my podcast list.

I am on my library list for her new book
Outer Order, Inner Calm

For my gym buddy and myself, decluttering and organizing is on our Habit Tracker. Also because of Gretchen Rubin we are also doing the 19 for 2019. :)

So between the 19 resolutions, BuJo and Habit Tracker
I sure hope I can look back at the end of the year and say
I am "better than before." :)

Madrano wrote: "I did not know that was an event/ celebration. I like the idea. Last week we were in a museum which featured desert critter and we were amazed. One, a "vinegaroon", i think it was spelled, is so na..."

Yikes !

AND they are 3" or so long! Pass!

Alias, i appreciate that you share your experiences with your habit goals. It's instructive and useful.

Alias Reader wrote: " Since I go online every morning, I made it a rule I can't go on FB until I listen to the daily selection. ..."

My problem is that if I didn't REALLY want to listen to it on a particular day, I would just ignore my rule. The very fact that I have to force myself to do certain things by writing them down and keeping track of them means that I don't really want to do them, it only means that I think I should. And thinking I should is not enough to motivate me.

I understand what you mean, Julie. It could be the thought behind it that matters. For instance, am i just being lazy today or will i honestly resume tomorrow? This is where i find myself failing myself, so to speak.

There is a "rule" from people who do Habit Trackers. Never miss two days in a row or if it is something you do say Monday, Wednesday & Saturday, don't miss two scheduled days in a row.

If you do your sort of starting a new habit. For example, if you only exercise on Monday but skip your next two scheduled exercise appointments, it's much more likely you will fail to keep the exercise habit. You are now a person who doesn't exercise. That is your habit.

It's also important how you speak about yourself. If you say, I could never lift weights or run a mile, whatever, Then you will see your self as a non exerciser. You have to fake it until you make it. Speak of yourself as an exerciser. Don't skip two scheduled workouts in a row.

There are a lot more tips in Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones and you can just watch the author on YouTube.

Another tip is make the habits very easy until you have formed the habit of just showing up or as the author says putting in your reps. Say you want to read daily. On your Habit Tracker you get to color in the box if you read a book for 5 minutes. Next week maybe make it 7 minutes until you reach whatever your daily goal is. It's the trajectory that matters. As the saying goes, The Trend is your friend. :)

Alias, you put it perfectly when you wrote that if you don't exercise, that is your habit. I hadn't thought of it that way.

Madrano wrote: "Alias, you put it perfectly when you wrote that if you don't exercise, that is your habit. I hadn't thought of it that way."

You have to credit James Clear of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones fame. :)

It’s that time of year again. Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday morning and we all lose an hour of sleep in exchange for the longer daylight hours of spring.

While not every state in the U.S. observes Daylight Saving Time—Arizona and Hawaii take a pass—the rest of us will spring forward this weekend.
http://fortune.com/2019/03/09/dayligh...

Friday March 15


Julius Caesar~William Shakespeare

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Time to drink some green beer. 😎🍀🌺

No green beer here--i felt lucky enough just being alive! But a pint o' Guinness sounds good about now.

We've been resetting clocks for over a week now. First at most of the motels where we stayed. Then, that was the first request from my mother-in-law when we arrived. Fortunately they were all easy, unlike our car's!

The Bluebonnets are out in force here in Texas. The drive back to Dallas was lovely thanks to them--they are the state flower. Parents stop their cars to get photos of their kids sitting in the midst of them.

'Volunteer' daffodils have been springing up in a tiny cemetery down my street. So pretty. 🙂

Barbara wrote: "Happy St. Patrick's Day. Time to drink some green beer. 😎🍀🌺"

Green tea for me. :-)

Alias Reader wrote: "This is my first day of Spring dance"

Ha! I just posted this on facebook.

Julie wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "This is my first day of Spring dance"

Ha! I just posted this on facebook."

😊

:) Great minds and all that jazz, Julie.

Green tea--great idea.

I enjoy finding volunteer bulbs flowering, as it shows such love from years past.

Finally have had a chance to post- I am a new grandmother and have just spent 2 weeks with my daughter and her husband helping with their first baby. So sweet- they live about a hour flight away and I am already missing my sweet grandson though I am glad to be home.