Last night, a number of family members met to watch another one of Shakespeare’s plays, “Othello.” My wonderful niece from Louisiana was visiting and hadn’t ever seen a Shakespeare play before. I wish she would have been here for “All’s Well and Ends Well” last weekend because it was a much more cheerful play. Although it was an excellent performance by a cast of incredible actors, to me, Othello just wasn’t near as good as last weekend’s play. I am that I liked last weekend’s play because it was a comedy (and a really good one at that) and this was a tragedy.
We knew Vince, the actor who played Othello, and sat in a special reserved section. It was perfect because it had a cover over it while the others in the audience got a few rain drops through the performance. I can tell you that Vince is an unbelievable actor. He was just as flawless as he was in “A Raisin in the Sun” that we saw a while back. Vince, great, great job!
Seeing Shakespeare in the park for the first time last week and a second time this weekend, I am hooked. I will definitely make this a regular activity.
Peace and gratitude,
Bill
New Roof :-)
Yesterday we had our roof replaced on our house. I tell you, if you ever get your roof replaced make sure you work from home that day. It is a true test of character. Those guys hammered all morning and all day and didn’t stop until early evening. They did a GREAT job!
During the day, I brought out some chilled bottled water to the men. I was told I didn’t need to but I believe they were very appreciative of the jester. Heck, it was the least I could do. They worked over 7 hours straight before taking a short lunch break. If you are not from Texas, you may not understand what a feat that is. The temperature was hovering around 100-101 all day which meant it was probably near 120 to 130 on that hot black asphalt roof. I still don’t know how they stayed up there that whole time.
Thank you Lon Smith Roofing! You guys Rock! Thank you for sending an excellent, courteous crew to take care of our needs. Thank you!
Peace and Gratitude,
Bill
Comic Strip [#4]
Say What You Need To Say
Earlier today I was in my car listening to a song by John Mayer. That song was “Say What You Need to Say” and it got me thinking. First off, that song has some well written lyrics. The ones that caught my attention were, “You better know that in the end – It’s better to say too much, than never to say what you need to say again.” I think all too often we really do not speak our truths. We were brought up with the old saying, “It’s better not to say anything at all than to say something hurtful.” Well, to me, that is just not true. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advocating to go out and say some hurtful things to people. What I am saying is that sometimes those tough conversations (Saying what you need to say) rather than silence is really the right thing to do. It might be hurtful at first, but I truly believe that you need to say what needs to be said. One method I use when I am faced with tough conversations is to begin with, “(name), it is because I love you that I say this to you. If I didn’t love you so much, I wouldn’t say anything.” When I do that, it seems to change the tone of the conversation and the message is heard.
So, say what you need to say but do so in a loving and compassionate way.
Peace and compassion,
Bill
Comic Strip [#3]
Sunset Tonight
T + V + A = R
Thoughts + Visualization + Action = Results – This is what I was thinking about last night when my wife and I went for a walk. It started out pretty hot (in the 90’s at 9PM here in Dallas) but quickly got cooler as a storm started rolling in. As the lightning was lighting up the sky in the distance, I started thinking about T+V+A=R. I thought back to a lot of stress I chose to experience when dealing with getting my son’s car fixed. I spent weeks letting it bother me because it just wasn’t right the way they were treating me by not covering the A/C under warranty. Once I realized that I was giving so much negative energy to the situation, I decided to change my mind and try T+V+A=R.
I decided to think only positive thoughts about the car situation (the R). Before doing it, I was only fixated on the fact that it would be about an $1100 repair. I then decided to visualize the car being picked up with a fixed A/C AND not having to pay (the V). The action step for me was two fold. The first was to actively change my thoughts through meditation. The second step was to call the dealer and “kill ’em with kindness” even more than I had done before. Well, what do you know? After well over 4 weeks of stress, the very day I practiced this I got a call from the dealer. Within two hours they told me, “We have good news for you. The A/C is working perfectly AND there is no charge…” 2 hours! Hmmm. 2 Hours! Incredible!
So, the next time you are dealt with something that is bugging you, try T+V+A to get the results you want.
Peace and gratitude,
Bill
Comic Strip [#2]
Comic Strip [#1]
Shakespeare in the Park II
Last night, a number of family members met to watch another one of Shakespeare’s plays, “Othello.” My wonderful niece from Louisiana was visiting and hadn’t ever seen a Shakespeare play before. I wish she would have been here for “All’s Well and Ends Well” last weekend because it was a much more cheerful play. Although it was an excellent performance by a cast of incredible actors, to me, Othello just wasn’t near as good as last weekend’s play. I am that I liked last weekend’s play because it was a comedy (and a really good one at that) and this was a tragedy.
We knew Vince, the actor who played Othello, and sat in a special reserved section. It was perfect because it had a cover over it while the others in the audience got a few rain drops through the performance. I can tell you that Vince is an unbelievable actor. He was just as flawless as he was in “A Raisin in the Sun” that we saw a while back. Vince, great, great job!
Seeing Shakespeare in the park for the first time last week and a second time this weekend, I am hooked. I will definitely make this a regular activity.
Peace and gratitude,
Bill
Shakespeare in the Park
Last weekend my wife and I went to Shakespeare in the Park and saw “All’s Well and Ends Well.” Before going, I was kind of dreading it because I never liked Shakespeare’s work because I struggled with understanding the language. Knowing this, my wife pulled her notes from high school and college and tutored me on the story. What a great idea. Knowing the story, I could understand what was going on and I really enjoyed it.
Tomorrow, we are going to another play in the park, Othello. One of my wife’s staff is playing Othello so it will be really neat to watch him in the play. For the first time, I am actually looking forward to a Shakespeare play.
If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend you attending any Shakespeare in the Park in a town close to you. But be sure to read up on the story if you have any struggles with understanding the language.
Peace, love, and joy,
Bill