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I really like the "do the thing in front of you" approach. But I think it comes with a corollary. Arrange your life so that the things you want to accomplish end up in front of you.With food, I have found it best to eat "around the clock" of my plate showing no favoritism to either the portion nor, by derivation, the preparer of same.
With life in general...and over 50 years as an adult?
Easy! Do that thing in front of me that I will regret NOT doing as I gather my final breaths...
So far, so good.
B
Not Twain!With food, I eat my favourites last.
For life however, it's a risky strategy; we never know what's around the corner or how long we've got.
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Maybe that is the reason that dessert is always served last in a meal.With food, I eat my favourites last.
Hmmmm... I take your point, and have respect for your thinking, but I either disagree or misunderstand your point.I really like the "do the thing in front of you" approach. But I think it comes with a corollary. Arrange your life so that the things you want to accomplish end up in front of you.
Ahhh...delayed gratification!Maybe that is the reason that dessert is always served last in a meal.
What is lost, anyway?Allow me to paraphrase Tolkien a wee bit... "Just because you are wandering, it would be a mistaken corollary to believe that you are lost."
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.
We are of one mind on this... "failed" and "lost" are but by-ways in the process of exploration.What is lost, anyway?
We have the hubris to think where we're going, and then think we're lost.
It might be the best thing that ever happened.
This is tangential to JP's original post, but right in the middle of it at the same time.
Who knows what we'll encounter along the way, and how it will change us? Our small selves probably wouldn't start if we knew. And it changes everything.
TS Eliot's closing of the Four Quartets describes it perfectly.
It's a widely known quote. So perhaps it can sit there in the same way as no-one needs to attribute "To be or not to be, that is the question." People know who wrote that.I have always been curious however about how he (Eliot) could quote Julian of Norwich without attribution.
And who knows in a given moment if something's a failure, or whether being 'lost' is a loss. The best day I've ever spent on any camino was one where I got 'lost' twice. Now I keep trying to get people to go that way because it was a stupendous walk. Had I not gotten lost I would have missed the best parts of the day. At the time I was too wiped out at the end of a long and foodless day to appreciate just how glorious it was. But in retrospect..."failed" and "lost" are but by-ways in the process of exploration.
Didn’t know, but it was clearly among what’s best, in the extraordinary poetry of the moment
VN,And who knows in a given moment if something's a failure, or whether being 'lost' is a loss. The best day I've ever spent on any camino was one where I got 'lost' twice. Now I keep trying to get people to go that way because it was a stupendous walk. Had I not gotten lost I would have missed the best parts of the day. At the time I was too wiped out at the end of a long and foodless day to appreciate just how glorious it was. But in retrospect...
....
I guess what I was thinking that I like "do the thing in front of you" because it seems to align with my philosophy of taking the path that the universe has prepared for you, of going with the flow of the universe. But I wanted to acknowledge as well that we are not just passive recipients of what the universe offers us. That what we do affects things. So that was why I tacked on "arrange your life so that the things you want to accomplish end up in front of you".Hmmmm... I take your point, and have respect for your thinking, but I either disagree or misunderstand your point.
Corollary: a proposition logically inferred from a proved concept... (Best definition that I can do from memory at the spur of the moment as I am cooking. I am open to correction.)
It is probably just me but I never had any idea what I was supposed to accomplish until it was just staring me in the face, snarling, with big fangs, and a spiked collar...and was also desperately in need of a bath. Had I told counselors of my distant past how my long-in-the-future resume'/curriculum vitae should read? Well, they would have needed therapy.
"Camino-ing" is a case in point.
There is no "reasonable/logical" way that I could have placed my first steps down that path in front of me. While I was well aware of it during my tenure as a history minor in college (aka "years when I still had hair"), it never, ever, occupied a place on my "to do" list.
Allow me to paraphrase Tolkien a wee bit... "Just because you are wandering, it would be a mistaken corollary to believe that you are lost."
B
Sorry to be so practical; am (re)planning my first Camino am curious to know what menu del Dia is.Jabba, I very nearly ignored your thread because I have seen already too many discussions on whether to take the Menu del Dia or Menu del Peregrino (always the former where available!).
I'm glad I read your post!
I relate strongly to the choice between eating the best on the plate firstly or lastly. For me, the extension to choices in life more broadly follows the same rule: eat the best first if it may become less tasty or succulent by being left until last!
As I approach the end of my 6th decade, mercifully still healthy and reasonably fit, I am conscious that some parts of life's extensive menu (like the sizzling steak or ice cream sundae) won't keep well, so those which are most appealing I will consume while I am able. In particular, while heart and limbs are still capable and my home and caring responsibilities permit, I want to walk and cycle historic ways, encountering fellow pilgrims, caminantes and hosts.
There are other attractive options for my free time such as improving my chess or writing my memoirs which (like the Greek salad or Christmas cake), will keep for a while without spoiling!
While it is almost a truism that life itself is a pilgrimage journey, the metaphor of the meal definitely merits further exploration!
Bon appetit et bon chemin!
Menu of the Day - or the set meal, often with a couple of choices for each course. It can be a bit more expensive than the Pilgrim's menu, but usually changes frequently according to what's fresh.Sorry to be so practical; am (re)planning my first Camino am curious to know what menu del Dia is.
Thank you. This is very good to know. Enjoying local cuisine is going to be a priority.Menu of the Day - or the set meal, often with a couple of choices for each course. It can be a bit more expensive than the Pilgrim's menu, but usually changes frequently according to what's fresh.
I learned too late last year that it's normal to pick and choose like that in Spain, and so was defeated temporarily by ill-adapted foods. On previous Caminos I had not such problems, but now I do.Firstly you have me very hungry , secondly I have never thought about swapping courses on a pilgrim's menu.
Where did you get the nice menu in the photo the fry eggs are to die for.My blog is very moribund, and I have no desire nor need to promote it.
If I post something once in any given year, it's a good year for it !!
But I have posted something that I like enough to want to share with fellow pilgrims :
The Pilgrim’s Menu
When I was a small child, once when a friend or colleague or relative of my father’s ate with us, cannot remember if it were at home or in a restaurant or in a pub, or on holiday, as we were …jabbapapa.wordpress.com
Now, howsoever you may consider the blog, or myself, it is not a place for polemic, nor debate, nor the culture wars.
But mostly, please do not expect me to contribute into it at all. It is not monetized, and it never will be.
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