Overheard in Boston
During my most recent walkabout day in Boston I heard the following:
1. At Back Bay station I needed to break a $20 bill. I asked a man if he could change it because I had to put some money on the "Charlie Card." He said he couldn't. Then he said he would give me a few dollars if I needed them. I didn't. I should have given him the 20 and said "good for you - we need more of that!"
2. Walking by the doorman at the Copley - biting cold wind, I mean biting cold: I don't break my stride: Me: "Turn the heat up will ya?" Doorman: (Not missing a beat and his face had to be suffering more than mine because he's there for hours) "I tried but it's broken."
3. Some young woman on her cell phone - (Said in a complaining way and probably talking about her boyfriend or her boss) "Nothing is simple!" I wonder what the philosophers would say about that.
4. Later in the day overheard outside South Station: Two men walking at 5 P.M.: "Put all the terrorists on the green line at rush hour - that'll break them."
You gotta love it.
By the way, during the day I walked into the Boston Public Library, partly to really take a look at it and partly to get out of the cold. If you like libraries, you will love this one. Near the 'Pru.
I need to get a good digital camera. I came across some statues in downtown Boston - corner of Washington and School - where there were two breathtaking statues in bronze of a family during and after the time of the Irish Famine.
Start your victory garden, kitchen garden, backyard garden, whatever you want to call it, but start it. And diversify. I'll put something more up about those statues and the famine on St. Patrick's Day.
Additional learning of the day: Being outside for a day in the bitter cold is not easy. By the end of the day, my body and mind were shutting down. My mind was in slow motion. Being able to think and be mentally alive is important for me. To have that slow down is not fun. There may be another factor at play there also. It's around being in unstructured time. I usually do ok with that, but it's usually for a shorter period of time. We are so accustomed to doing, that chillin' can really throw us off our game.
11 comments:
"Real life is better than fiction..." who said that? Strangers sometime bring out the best of us...and we aren't afraid to say what we mean...really mean to say. I love being with strangers sometimes because I can chose interact as I want...It is refreshing to interact with people who don't really know us.
-K
I can't wait to visit Boston one of these days. I like watching shows and movies filmed in Boston so I can checkout the background locations.
Some of us, on the other hand, shut down with too much of the 'doin' and not enough of the 'chillin'!
See The Highly Sensitive Person, by Elaine Aron.
Sorry. That link did not work. I wrote an intro and linked to newsletter articles at
White Light of Peace: The Highly Sensitive Person
Anonymous K: Thanks for visiting and leaving comments. Yes, I've also had memorable conversations and interactions with people on some of my wanderings. I've often thought about what makes for that magic, whether with a friend or acquaintance or a total stranger.
Proxima: At one point I was getting bored with Boston. Now that I'm spending more time in-town and taking my time, I'm enjoying it more than ever. Yes the movies can give you a feel for the city. The movie, The Departed has captured parts of it nicely.
Kristen: The book you reference points to a very important issue for those who are highly sensitive. It has taken me a long time to recognize how truly important the issue of being highly sensitive is. My guess is that there are more people who "have it" than most realize.
To recognize it early on with children and then help them to deal with it would be a major step forward.
Ah, you have hit it right on! Two more books to address the "active" mind: "Beyond ADD" by Thom Hartmann and "The Ancestral Mind" by Gregg D. Jacobs.
Hmmm. I forgot that you are a psychologist.
I do hope you believe that most children do not need to be helped by drugs, but rather helped to understand that their minds are more active, and that this is OK, but that there are protocols to be met in certain situations. At the same time, give these children the extra mental stimulation that they need so they do not explode with mischief simply because they are bored? I am not a psychologist. This is my interpretation from blending together several books which really hit 'home' with me personally.
Kristen: Both of the books you mentioned in your last comment are excellent. If you like reading Thom Hartmann, may I also suggest his book The Last Days of Ancient Sunlight. In it he talks about the issue of peak oil and the wanton waste of one of the most precious resources, i.e., oil which is an end product of ancient sunlight. He was talking about it years before it became a popular topic.
Also from reading your comments here and on your blog, I totally expect that you would be enthralled by one of his earlier books: The Prophet's Way. It is a story which chronicles his spiritual development.
Re the topic of medication...well, just way too big for a lil' 'ol comment section.
How diplomatic of you. (laughing)
-P
A belated laugh from me, too. I have been under the weather with stomach flu since Sunday. It has been a long time since I was ill, and the experience has been humbling.
Yes, I have read "The Last Hours..." and also "The Prophet's Way". Both were big leaps in my awareness.
At the time, I was reading 3 or 4 books at a time, and my companion books for "Prophet's" were "Spirit Song" by Mary Summer Rain, and "Miracles Do Happen" by C. Norman Shealy ("A Physician's Experience with Alternative Healing"... 1995. Some of the medical suggestions are now outdated, but the spiritual observations and practices are timeless.)
The amazing thing was, these three books said the same things all from totally different points of view. It really brought the point home that we are more than our bodies which turn to dust.
"We are all One"
You were on my mind this evening as I was at what I thought was to be an adult volunteer effort to get a newsletter out. Included was a nine-year old who, in the hour I was there, was not silent for more than 8 seconds at a time. The rest of the time, if she could not think of something to say (in the highest-pitched voice she could muster) she would just make nonsense sounds. Very bright! Helping with the project. Being useful. Doing everything. There was no reason to be bored, and I thought ...is she a candidate for a 'calming influence'?
And then it hit me. She was suffering from acute lack of parenting.
I know, too long a topic for the comment section.
This is very interesting.
Thanks.
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