This nonsensical Deepak Chopra quote generator will make as much sense as many of the quotes of Chopra himself. And yet you won't wince when you read these because you'll know that they are supposed to be random strings of words.
Sam Harris will soon be writing a book to argue for a legitimate secular use of the word "spiritual." In this article, he points out that many atheists have used the term, pointing out some distinctions along the way.
As Lee Camp says, the sheep have good excuses for falling in line. People allow TV commercials tell them how to live their lives. It's not that the commercials directly tell you what to do, but that when you think that you need to buy things you don't need, you have committed yourself to a series of bad choices, often including a job you work for the money only. http://leecamp.net/moc-295-you-dont-even-know-youre-being-manipulated/
Excellent story by NPR. It's a long way from the Republican scare stories about "death panels":
People in La Crosse, Wisconsin are used to talking about death. In fact, 96 percent of people who die in this small, Midwestern city have specific directions laid out for when they pass. That number is astounding. Nationwide, it's more like 50 percent. In today's episode, we'll take you to a place where dying has become acceptable dinner conversation for teenagers and senior citizens alike. A place that also happens to have the lowest healthcare spending of any region in the country.This piece reminds me that one of the main problems with the United States is that we cannot have meaningful conversations. This is refreshingly different. And important: One-quarter of health care spending occurs in the last year of life.
At the NYT, Pamela Druckerman tells us some of the lessons we finally pick up in mid-life. Many of these are easier to state than to put into practice, but it's a worthy list.
If you worry less about what people think of you, you can pick up an astonishing amount of information about them. You no longer leave conversations wondering what just happened. Other people’s minds and motives are finally revealed. People are constantly trying to shape how you view them. In certain extreme cases, they seem to be transmitting a personal motto, such as “I have a relaxed parenting style!”; “I earn in the low six figures!”; “I’m authentic and don’t try to project an image!” Eight hours of continuous, unmedicated sleep is one of life’s great pleasures. Actually, scratch “unmedicated.”I posted this at Facebook, and a friend posted an article titled, "What you Learn when You're 60." It contains a lot more good advice, including the following:
Death is not distant, it’s inevitable, and ever-closer. No one knows anything. Confidence is a front. Everybody is insecure. No one cares about your SAT scores unless they aced the test. We’re all lonely looking to be connected. . . . You’re never going to recover from some physical ills, aches and pains are part of the process of dying, and that’s what you’re doing, every day.