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it is what it is

I’m thinking that Charlie Sheen should be allowed to have a private meltdown without all the media fuss. And that includes all the other “celebrities” who are in the same boat.

Doesn’t it strike you as puzzling that with everything going on in the world, and with all the many fascinating things there are for us to learn about and write about and think about and talk about that – day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, we’re fed a steady diet of nonsense.

Unless we put blinders on, it’s impossible to not see the big headlines and the calling-for-attention photos popping up at every turn. Click on to aol “news” and there’s Charlie Sheen a good part of the time these past few weeks, pass magazines hanging all around sidewalk newstands, next to store registers, and in major book stores having the same silly articles month after month, and then we have what’s called “news” on tv.

In any event, it’s all part of the world we live in. Along with beauty, love, compassion, harmony, there’s a part of life that’s bewildering, and leaves one at a loss for words. It’s not good and it’s not bad; it is what it is.

An email is going around and it would be hilarious if real people were not involved. It takes place at Walmart, and they’re all photos of Walmart customers in an assortment of – how to put this . . . I have to think about that. I’m glad I saw the email because, well, I just don’t know the reason yet. After that particular email though, I had to pull myself together and so I started thinking about those people caught in a lens and a camera’s click, and harshly exposed for the world to snicker at. The uninspiring photos say that these people are struggling in a way that an outsider can’t understand, and in a kinder world no one would have thought to expose them to ridicule.

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” . . . and I love them unconditionally, which is the only kind of love worth bothering with.” – Go Gentle Into That Good Night, by Roger Ebert

“When we give ourselves the knowledge of who we truly are and the permission to express it – wholeness and healing burst through us as peace, joy . . . and love for self and others.” – Jerry Thomas

“We are raised on comparison, our education is based on it, so is our culture. So we struggle to be someone other than who we are. – J. Krishnamurti

“May I always be in the right place at the right time to do as much good as possible.” – Raymon Grace

“Wherever you are, whatever your condition is, always try to be a lover.” – Rumi

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?” – Jean Jacques Rousseau

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” – Leonardo da Vinci

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having what it takes

Millions of people watched the academy awards this past week and some got caught up in the glamour of it all, and maybe were a little envious. It’s easy to see how this can happen since in today’s world celebrities seem to reign supreme. The media report, without let up, on the lives of celebrities – their grand homes, clothes, elaborate parties, travels, private planes, plastic surgery, personal trainers, political views, and, unless your own life is lacking, a lot of the time it’s all so tiresome.

On the other hand, those who envy celebrities perhaps don’t realize the amount of discipline involved in being one. Among other things, celebrities have to acquire the ability to feel comfortable in this kind of setting without always feeling breathed upon, they have to develop thick skin, and also figure out what it takes to have staying power because it can all unravel if they can’t handle it. And, along the way, they realize that the media are your friends, or not, depending.

Living life as a celebrity being on display, having to nod to photographers lest you look less than your best in tomorrow’s magazines, newspapers, and tv reports, being judged for having or not having, is a balancing act. Have you noticed that the celebrities who manage to live their lives powerfully and graciously, appreciating what they have and giving back in some way, have a feeling about them that’s relaxed, that says they’re happy, and those who haven’t figured it out look forlorn and employ drastic measures to be noticed.

Before envying a celebrity, or the lifestyle of one, let’s dig deeper. Really succeeding is having the insight to enjoy life at the top, to give back, and to not take it all so seriously. And hats off to a celebrity who has learned what it takes to happily pull that off.

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“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” – Carl Jung

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tom cruise and a video

I saw the Tom Cruise video. Someone forwarded a website. I watched it, and noticed there’s something not quite right. The interviewer is cut out, and TC seems to be rambling on and on, looking slightly crazed because the whole of it is missing. That said, what I want to ask is: Why do many people find so much pleasure in defaming “public figures”? When adults make fun of other people, criticize, joke after joke at someone else’s expense, they’re not really adults. They just look as if they are. You would think that once someone reaches adulthood, they have far better things to do with their lives than to focus on the lives of others. Not only focus, but to try to take them down – people they don’t even know – who have every right to their personal views without being slandered and made fun of by the silly ones who can’t find other things to do in this fascinating world.

Tom Cruise belongs to an organization called Scientology. So what? Is he going around killing people? Is he going around slandering anyone? Is he starting a war? Is he making life difficult for anyone? It would seem that what he does with his personal life IS HIS BUSINESS. Those that slander say, well, he’s a public figure. In their minds, this means a public figure is theirs to prey on without limits. Hmm! Something’s not quite right here.

Will someone please tell all those slanderers to get on with their own lives. Perhaps concentrating on another somehow relinquishes them from working on themselves, improving themselves, and maybe in the process bringing a little more love and harmony into the world.

We have so much to learn about ourselves, the world, the universe. Wouldn’t it be more important to concentrate on those things than to put our attention on causing disharmony? It’s not humor when the joke is biting someone. Humor is fun and is not done at the expense of another unless it’s with their approval, and they’re laughing, too. It seems the train has gotten off the track and we’re sliding down into the muck.

“. . . He took all the time needed to bring fo

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where’s the mystery?

I went to a magazine shop to purchase a few magazines for a friend who was not feeling well. And there they were, many monthly magazines with pictures of movie celebrities on their covers — the too many stories about celebrities, including the gossip. And I ask myself, Why oh why do we need to know this stuff?

How does it enrich one’s life to know: what celebrities wear, the shampoo they use, their weight, their fashion designer, the color of their lipstick, the food they eat, the cars they drive, the design of their homes, the cologne they wear, the names of their family members (and ages), when they had plastic surgery, why they had plastic surgery, who their new heartthrob is, where they vacation, etc. etc. etc. The media want us to live our lives through so-called celebrities, and what I’d like to know is why do we? – Why do some of us need to spend so much time collecting all this meaningless information? Why can’t we simply stick to the subject of what makes them great actors (or not), and continue on with making our own lives as wonderful as can be.

A bit of mystery makes life interesting; that might be especially true in the acting world.