Up early after heavy sleep — besides which the arborist is coming at 7:30 AM (!) to estimate the cost of removing a couple trees from the property line — and three quotes from this morning’s devotional have decided to move in with me — uncomfortably, which of course is the value of meditation:
1) From Baltasar Gracián’s The Art of Worldly Wisdom, number 197: “Never stumble over fools. A fool is someone who doesn’t recognize a fool, and, even more, someone who does, but doesn’t get rid of him [emphasis mine]. Fools are dangerous to deal with, even superficially, and do much harm if you confide in them. For a while they are held back by their own caution or that of others, but the delay serves only to deepen their foolishness. Someone who has no reputation can do only harm to yours . . . “
2) From Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: “No matter how wonderful things used to be, we cannot live in the past. The joy and excitement we feel here and now are more important.”
3) From Paul Arden’s It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be: “Experience is the opposite of being creative.” Also, “If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.”