Pick Me Ups

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friendlypickerupper — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:34:58 +0000

I haven’t been much of a friendly picker upper lately. I’m sorry. I feel the need to explain.

I have been having a really hard time dealing with expectations that others have for me and the expectations I have for myself. I feel that these stresses have hindered my ability to see things in as positive a light as before. Not being as positive, it’s been difficult to write notes that are supposed to bring happiness to others.

But I’ve realized that this blog is more than just me writing about pleasant thoughts. This blog is a way for me to share the amazing things that I encounter in life. Like I’ve said before, this blog and the notes are almost like my field notes about life. It’s a way for me to document where I am in life and what I think people need to see. So maybe, not all of the notes I leave have to be happy. Maybe some of them can be melancholy or just observations. Whatever it is that I decide to do, I cannot stop writing these notes.

So readers, thank you for sticking with me the past few months. I’m going to bring back those notes and start sharing again. For you and for me.

Happiness – Aristotle

friendlypickerupper — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:11:39 +0000

One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.
- Aristotle

Inner Peace – Dalai Lama

friendlypickerupper — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:31:18 +0000

We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

Seven Blunders of the World

friendlypickerupper — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:17:49 +0000

Location: Thode Library balcony cubicle (McMaster University)

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

There are many things that we as people have found to be wrong with our society. Non-violence activist and freedom fighter, Mahatma Gandhi, came up with a comprehensive list of these things called “Seven Blunders of the World”. What he came up with follows.

1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship with sacrifice

7. Politics without principle

I think those seven mistakes cover just about ever situation which we as a society find unfair. What do you think? Would you add anything to that list? Have you seen yourself affected by any of these blunders?

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

The World As I See It – Albert Einstein

friendlypickerupper — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:26:00 +0000

An excerpt from the essay “The World As I See It” by Albert Einstein.

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people — first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and still receiving…”

A condensed version of the rest of this essay can be found here: An Essay By Einstein

A Wolf Fight

friendlypickerupper — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 17:57:32 +0000

Location: 1280 booth

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you doing? While surfing the web, I came across this great story.

An elderly Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life…

He said to them “A fight is going on inside me, it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil – he is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, competition, superiority and ego.

The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, and insider every other person too.”

They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”

The elder simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Which wolf do you feed?

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Conversation – William Shakespeare

friendlypickerupper — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:43:33 +0000

Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affection, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without falsehood.

- William Shakespeare

Impressions – Dalai Lama

friendlypickerupper — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:29:23 +0000

Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.

- Dalai Lama

Insignificant

friendlypickerupper — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:17:19 +0000

Location: University of Waterloo Tim Horton’s

Note:

Dear Perfect Stranger,

How are you doing today? I hope that you are doing well and if not, I hope that this note serves as a little pick me up during your day.

I have a question for you. Have you ever thought about the world and our lives as segments of time? I mean have you ever noticed how insignificant our time on Earth is? The Earth is something like 4.5 billion years old. Of that, about 1 billion years have had multicellular life with humans only appearing in the last 200,000 years. The average human life span in Canada is 80.2 years. By any measure that’s nothing in comparison to Earth’s 4.5 billion years. Even if we compare how long humans have been on Earth to say fish (505 million years) or even birds (208 million years) we make up such an insignificant amount of time. So if we’re only around for an insignificant fraction of the world’s history, do our lives even matter?

Well here’s the thing, in the small amount of time humans have been on Earth, they’ve completely changed it. So who’s to say that you can’t be part of that change? Who’s to say that you don’t have the drive to make your life significant in some way. We all have the same opportunity to leave some sort of impact. Will your life be significant? I sure hope so. I hope I can make mine significant too.

Sincerely,

Your friendly picker upper

Entertaining a Notion – Lemony Snicket

friendlypickerupper — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:07:08 +0000

“Entertaining a notion, like entertaining a baby cousin or entertaining a pack of hyenas, is a dangerous thing to refuse to do. If you refuse to entertain a baby cousin, the baby cousin may get bored and entertain itself by wandering off and falling down a well. If you refuse to entertain a pack of hyenas, they may become restless and entertain themselves by devouring you. But if you refuse to entertain a notion – which is just a fancy way of saying that you refuse to think about a certain idea – you have to be much braver than someone who is merely facing some blood-thirsty animals, or some parents who are upset to find their little darling at the bottom of a well, because nobody knows what an idea will do when it goes off to entertain itself.”

- Lemony Snicket, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid