I just finished reading, The Architecture of Happiness, by Alain de Botton.  De Botton is one of my top favorite authors--his other great books are How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, and The Art of Travel.

Here are some inspiring quotes:

Comment From The Observer :  "De Botton wants to encourage his readers, and societies more generally, to pay more attention to the psychological consequences of design in architecture: that architecture should not be treated as an arcane and specialist discipline to be left to professionals, but as something that affects all our lives, our happiness, and our well-being."

On the front flap of the book:

"One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings and streets that surround us.

This book has at its center the large and naive question:  What is a beautiful building?  

De Botton raises the question--What does a building say to us? What does it speak of?

One of his comments (each of his sentences is like an essay of concentrated thought) on page 152 is "What we seek, at the deepest level, is inwardly to resemble, rather than physically to possess, the objects and places that touch us through their beauty."

He posits that we are attracted to and find beautiful those qualities in a building or work of art that we lack in our lives.  Simply put, we love nature the more when we lack enough contact with nature.

I also love the section on page 261

"In medieval Japan, poets and Zen priests directed the Japanese towards aspects of the world to which Westerners have seldom publicly accorded more than negligible or casual attention:  cherry blossoms, deformed pieces of pottery, raked gravel, moss, rain falling on leaves, autumn skies, roof tiles and unvarnished wood.  A word emerged, wahi, of which no Western language, tellingly, has a direct equivalent, which identified beauty with unpretentious, simple, unfinished transient things.  There was wahi to be enjoyed in an evening spent alone in a cottage in the woods, hearing the rain fall.  There was wahi in old ill-matching sets of crockery, in plain buckets, in walls with blemishes, and in rough, weathered stones covered in moss and lichen.  The most wahi colours were grey, black and brown."

I could go on, but I've got to run...I want to see Vicki Cristina Barcelona tonight.  I just wanted to pass along this book, this author.

Saturday, Gunther and Eliza and the boys and I, with some neighbors, went to Point Pinole Beach and participated in the Coastal Clean-up.  We got a few bags of trash and felt good being outside at the beach--sunny--and being able to clean up.  Now, I feel like taking a garbage bag with me whenever I go to the beach!

Yesterday Robert and I went to a neighborhood house party where we made calls for MoveOn.org--for the Obama campaign.  Lots of wrong numbers and answering machines, but I felt good when a few young people said they were willing to go down to the Campaign for Change headquarters in Medford, Oregon next week and help out!   It was nice to meet local people and do something constructive.

Last weekend, Gunther and Eliza nd the boys and I went to Pigeon Point Lighthouse in Pescadero.  There is a hostel there where we stayed, hiked over to view the sea lions, made our own dinner, visited the tide pools, and had a soak in a hot tub overlooking the Pacific.  A nice weekend--and lots of hiking.  Wow, 8 miles altogether--and the boys did very well.   

CLEARING MY MIND 

A cool, overcast morning, and suddenly I'm ready to pull out the weeds I've been looking at in the back yard for weeks.  I began attacking the old, brown, sodden stalks in my tiny papyrus "grove."  Perhaps my zeal was fueled by the thoughts I couldn't express yesterday.

ART 

Yesterday, Robert and I drove over to Ocean Beach in San Francisco.  I wanted to see the 100 wooden Indians by Thom Ross, placed in the sand in front of the ocean. He painted the figures based on a black and white photo of a Wild West show performed in 1902 by Buffalo Bill Cody.  It was neat, but I had forgotten to bring my camera!!

We took a walk on the beach, soaking up the cool fresh air.  Next we drove over to the Asian Art Museum to take in the new Ming Dynasty show and admire all the wonderful objects in the galleries.  My favorite piece was a scroll painting of court ladies.  They were depicted in lovely groups--some playing ball, golf (!), serving refreshments, just like at any backyard party!  Their lovely black hair was decorated with blue ornaments, and the pattern of their heads created the most beautiful flow in the scroll.

THE NEW GREAT GAME: BLOOD AND OIL IN CENTRAL ASIA,
Lutz Kleveman

PEAK OIL PRODUCTION AND ITS GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES. A Very Unpleasant Truth
Co-authors, W.D. Lyle Jr. Ph.D. and  L. Scott Allen, Ph.d 

While we drove, Robert played a program he had recorded from the Internet from an interview from a site he often reads: http://www.Financialsense.com.  The guest was journalist and photographer, Lutz Kleveman.  He has written a new book:  The New Great Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia.  What he had to say was tremendously eye-opening about geo-politics.

We have to really dig to get this kind of IMPORTANT information that is shaping our present and future.  I found Kleveman (a native German) to be extremely articulate and compelling about the oil situation, and the major players in who gets the pipelines in Central Asia.  Following that, we listened to another program of two engineer/scientists/physicists who understand the fragile state of our oil dependency--rightly, referred to as our addiction to oil. 

For the first time, I really got a clear understanding of what the stakes are with our lack of an energy policy.  The Saudis are not going to increase the flow on the their "spigot."  They really don't have unlimited resources there, and are already planning to conserve for the future. The oil fields in Central Asia are going to be the next battleground for power, and this of course, becomes the core issue in our future national security.  These land-locked areas require a thousand miles of steel, and, as Kleveman pointed out, pipelines are basically indefensible structures.

Most of our current fields were discovered thirty, forty years ago, and no new big reserves have been found, and those in development won't even be ready for perhaps ten years.  Mexico's oil field is rapidly diminishing, and will perhaps be running out in two to three years. The size of deposits and the feasibility of getting oil from off-shore areas--if undertaken--is by no means fully known at this point, and could prove extremely difficult.

Bio-fuel simply can't provide the amount of oil we have come to depend on.  Other sources aren't really ready yet or even easily distributed.  Common-sense points to conservation and public transportation, but no major programs are being proposed at this point. 

How long can we keep turning a blind eye to our most serious national problem, hoping that some miracle will "fix" it, so we can continue our present consumption.

Sorry if I sound like I'm on a bandwagon, but I'm tired of the political platitudes about this great world the candidates are promising.  Do they listen to programs like these to educate themselves? 

I will be speaking with the "Common-sense Psychic" Phyllis King todayon her Internet radio show on TalkZone.

Our topic is

7 Techniques for Creating Your Own Luck

I like the following two quotes:

 “Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.”  Oprah Winfrey

“You must always be open to your luck.  You cannot force it, but you can recognize it.” 

Henry Moore

I have found these 7 points to be helpful in creating a more synchronistic and happy life:

When looking for a positive change:

1. Ask for what you want.  Get clear about your real question and true objective.
2. Look for any message in delays or inner resistance.
3. Identify the specific nature of your fears.  Take measures to handle them one at a time.
4. Make a decision to increase positive experiences in general in your life--whether they are large (changing jobs) or small (getting more relaxation on the weekend.)  Be happy and happiness flows toward you.
5. Express gratitude daily for what you already have.
6. Choose the most positive option.
7. Participate with what's in front of you to the best of your ability, and act when the time feels right. 

Anders and I attended the Legend of the Stars program at Chabot Space Center last week.  It was fun, but the week passed too quickly!

Today Robert and I drove out to the Mosquito Abatement office and picked up some mosquito larvae-eating fish.  I hope they survive!  I  did see some wriggling larvae the other day, which motivated me.

Wednesday evening, Debbie Gilman, my yoga instructor announced that she will not be teaching this class in the Fall since her schedule is changing.  She is a wonderful teacher, and I had a very emotional reaction to the thought that I won't be able to experience her presence on Wed evenings--a class I don't often miss.  I told her I would miss her and we realized that she started teaching at the Y about the same time I joined--ten years ago.  It's hard when good things change! 

Yesterday I picked up some chicken feet and bones and made homemade chicken broth.  I was suddenly gripped recently by the urge to make chicken soup.

It's a lazy summer.  I feel like getting in the car and driving across country.