“The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on it, and the perseverance to follow it. Wishing you a great journey! “
(Powerful words of motivation from Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-American astronaut who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy, doing a job she loved the most.)
A something in a summer’s Day by Emily Dickinson
A something in a summer’s Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.
A something in a summer’s noon —
A depth — an Azure — a perfume —
Transcending ecstasy.
And still within a summer’s night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see —
Then veil my too inspecting face
Lets such a subtle — shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me —
The wizard fingers never rest —
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes it narrow bed —
Still rears the East her amber Flag —
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red —
So looking on — the night — the morn
Conclude the wonder gay —
And I meet, coming thro’ the dews
Another summer’s Day!
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
One-Legged King Pigeon Pose II
Eka Pada Rajakapotasana II
(A-kah pah-dah rah-jah-kah-poh-tahs-anna)
eka = one
pada = foot
raja = king
kapota = pigeon (or dove)
Step by Step
Sit in Dandasana (Staff Pose). Bend your right knee and place the foot on the floor just in front of the right sitting bone. The shin will be approximately perpendicular to the floor.
Then shift slightly to the right and swing your left leg straight back behind the torso. Lay it on the floor fully extended, with the front of the leg (and top of the foot) on the floor.
Bend your left knee and raise the shin approximately perpendicular to the floor. Your body weight will balance on the right foot and left knee (and thigh if you’re very flexible). To stabilize your position, push your right knee forward until it protrudes out slightly beyond the right toes.
Inhale as you lift your right arm up and, bending the elbow, exhale and take the left foot. Then do the same with your left arm. Holding the foot firmly, lift your chest and drop your head back toward the sole of your left foot. Press your elbows toward the ceiling. Hold for about 15 to 30 seconds, breathing as smoothly as possible.
Exhale and release the left foot and bring the leg back to the floor. Repeat steps 1 through 4 on the left side for the same length of time.
July 2, 2012
“You’re worried about how you’re going to feel at the end of your life? What about right now? Live. Right in this minute. That’s where the joy’s at.”
— Abigail Thomas
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18) by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
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UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand
“I’m very much a believer in knowing what it is that you love doing so you can do a great deal of it.”
— Nora Ephron