Right speech

Some of you may recall that a couple of years ago, I decided to give up complaining for Lent. Tom finally pointed out that this resolution was destroying our dinner conversation, because apparently I had nothing to say if I couldn't complain.

It's not that funny!

Anyway, the last few days I have been giving some more thought to how much my habits of speech are far from what some traditions call right speech. So even though it's not Lent -- and what difference does that make? -- I though I could start working on doing better. So I started adding to my morning meditations:

Today may I be free from gossiping.
Today may I be free from lying.
Today may I be free from complaining.
Today my I be free from criticizing.
Today may I be free from speaking unkindly.

Today may my words be gentle.
Today may my words be kind.
Today may my words be peaceful.
Today may my words be calm.
Today may my words be encouraging.

One day at a time, as they say ...

Let's keep this thing simple.

On this date in 1879, Robert Holbrook Smith was born in St. Johnsbury, VT.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Bob.  And thanks.

The Mystery of the Cat and the Basement

Whenever I go downstairs to the [still unfinished, thanks for asking, but quite usable] work/office to put in some time on my editing project, Sundance comes down and begins to whine. She prowls around, muttering and meowing despite my efforts to quiet her. I thought maybe she just wanted company, so I put a cushion down on the rug for her and tried to get her to settle down on it. No dice. Instead, she hops up onto my chair behind my back and rubs against me or jumps up on the table and tries to walk across the keyboard. She is a very vocal and distracting companion.

Tom tells me that ever since he set up the shop in the basement -- in its previous iteration -- the cats come down and complain when he is working in "their" basement. We don't know why they are convinced this is theirs and only to be invaded when I come and do necessary cat-related chores, like cleaning the litter box.

Any suggestions?

Tom says he would sometimes run the electric saw until they ran away. I am thinking of getting a small vacuum cleaner to turn on to get the same effect.

Ponderables

What does it benefit me to not like another human being?

One of the elders used to say: In the beginning when we got together we used to talk about something that was good for our souls, and we went up and up, and ascended even to heaven. But now we get together and spend our time in criticizing everything, and we drag one another down into the abyss. 

— A Desert Father in The Wisdom of the Desert translated by Thomas Merton