Sharing my Daily Om

Sharing my Daily Om
I wanted to share this with you...


credit: syzenart.com

This is the text version of DailyOM
To see it with graphics, click:
http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2005/640.html

October 10, 2005

Overcoming Obstacles
Nothing Is Insurmountable

When our next best course of action seems unclear, any dilemmas we face can appear insurmountable. Yet there is nothing we cannot overcome with time, persistence, focused thought, help, and faith. Whatever the situation or problem, there is always a solution. And if you remember to look within, even as you search around you for the "right" course of action, you will be able to center yourself, clear your mind, and see that nothing has to be impossible.

The first step in overcoming any obstacle is to believe that it can be overcome. Doing so will give you the strength and courage to move through any crisis. The second step is to make a resolution that you can prevail over any chaos. Enlist your support network of family and friends if necessary. The more minds there are to consider a problem, the more solutions can be found. Don't discount ideas just because they seem impractical or "unrealistic," and don't keep searching for the "best" alternative. Often there is no "best" choice, there is only a choice to make so we can begin moving beyond whatever is obstructing our path. At the very least, making a choice, even if isn't the ideal one, can give you a sense of peace before you have to figure out what your next course of action will be.

If you feel overwhelmed by the scope of your troubles, you may want to think of other people who have turned adversity into triumph. We often gain a fresh perspective when we remember others who have overcome larger obstacles. It can be inspiring to hear of their victories, helping us remember that there is always light at the end of every tunnel. It is during our darkest hours that we sometimes need to remind ourselves that we don't have to feel helpless. You have within and around you the resources to find a solution to any problem. And remember that if a solution or choice you make doesn't work, you are always free to try another. Believe that you can get through anything, and you will always prevail.

The Lulu Blooker Prize

The Lulu Blooker Prize

Have you heard about the Lulu Blooker Prize?
What is a "blook," you ask?
A "blook" is defined as a bound and printed book based on either a blog or website — that has been published to date. It's a new stage in the life-cycle of content, if not a new category of content and a new dawn for the book itself.

Here are the rules.
The judges are three wondrous bloggers - (The Real) Paul Jones, Cory Doctorow, and Robin Miller.

The global prize marks the 450th anniversary of Gutenberg's invention of moveable type.

Examples Of Blooks

Like the Internet itself, blooks cover an unlimited subject-range: from 'Salam Pax: The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi' (Grove Press), the eye-witness accounts of the Iraq war by the blogger known as Salam
Pax, and 'Small Pieces Loosely Joined' (Perseus Books), David Weinberger's spiritual interpretation of the Internet, to actor Wil Wheaton's
memoir 'Just a Geek' (O'Reilly), and Jessica Cutler's 'The Washingtonienne' (Hyperion), a novel based on her scandalous blog of the same name. More scandalous still is 'Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl, by Anon' (Phoenix), which started life as an infamous blog, describing the life of a north London prostitute, and read by 15,000 a day.

How Blooks Differ From Books

"Blooks differ from books in several ways", says Doctorow.

Blooks, are, for example:

• More Collaborative
Some blooks are written as the product of multiple voices and perspectives, filtered through discussions and feedback from online communities. Chris Anderson (longtail.typepad.com), editor of Wired magazine, is working on a much discussed book called 'The Long Tail' (Hyperion 2006), which he is developing through a series of blog postings, feedback and online discussions.

• Faster
Some books are written and published at great speed. An example is "Katrina and the Lost City of New Orleans" (www.lulu.com/content/167324), a blook just published with the help of Lulu itself. Written in less than ten days by Rod Amis, a journalist and (now former) New Orleans resident, it is the first blook to give an insider account of the New Orleans disaster. It draws heavily on a daily blog written by Amis as the disaster unfolded.

• More Likely To Take A Serial Form
Some blooks, especially those based on online journals or diaries, take a serial form, which harks back to the Victorian heyday of the novel when Dickens and others first published their novels as serials. 'Belle de Jour' is a goodexample.

*After blooks will come flooks - films based on blooks!

The winners will be announced on Monday, April 3, 2006.

The "anawin" and America

The "anawin" and America
by Marvin Read

Anawim is the plural form of an Old Testament Hebrew word which is variously translated as "poor", "afflicted", "humble", or "meek". It is the anawim, "the lost and the forgotten ones", to whom Jesus referred in the beatitudes on The Sermon on the Mount. In both The Great Commandment, and throughout Matthew 25, we are commanded by Jesus to aid our neighbors - to constantly strive to redress the grievances of those who are abandoned or alone, alienated and marginalized, to protect the dignity of the poor and to stand with the oppressed as they attempt to become free of that which oppresses them.

Marvin Read of the Pueblo Chieftain believes that, in a so-called Christian nation, we have shown that our values are "shallow at best; fraudulent at worst" :

We are happy to give tax breaks to those who don't need them and withhold whatever we can from the needy, who, we often assert, "largely have brought this condition on themselves" or "who are too lazy to make it like I did."....

.....It was the anawim who, uncovered by flood waters, were revealed as the forgotten and ignored of New Orleans and the hamlets and towns of the Gulf Coast....

....It's time to ask: "What can I do for those whom Christians ignore, for whom there is so little hope?”

We can start small and effectively.

When we worry about the world's hungry, feed one.

When the homeless poor on our streets discomfort and shame us, shelter one.

When we are aware of people wracked by pain, sorrow and despair, comfort one.

When we are depressed by the lonely, the abused and the imprisoned, love one.

Loving the anawim was the message of one man, 2,000 years ago; it ought be carried forward by an entire "Christian" nation that hopes eventually to have its head and soul screwed on correctly.

These are excerpts - you can read the full text here.