I'M DEAD, INTERESTING COFFEE, IGLOO, AWARD WINNING GYMNAST

The great Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, told the story of the time he was arrested by the czar and sentenced to die. When the day of his execution arrived, it was if his senses were more alive than ever before. As he ate his last meals, he savored every bite. Every breath of air was taken with an awareness of how precious it was. He studied every face that he saw with added intensity.

He wanted every experience etched on his mind. As the guards marched him into the courtyard where he would face a firing squad, Dostoevsky felt the sun beating down on him and he appreciated its warmth as never before. Everything around him seemed to have a magical quality to it. He was seeing the world as he had never seen it before. All of his senses were heightened. He had become fully alive.

Dostoevsky was marched in front of the firing squad and blindfolded. He heard the gunshots go off, but felt nothing. Gradually it dawned on him that the guns were loaded with blanks. Turned out the czar took more pleasure in playing cruel mind games than in killing those who’d rebelled against him.

This experience had an incredible effect on him.  Instead of being psychologically broken, Dostoevsky was transformed. He became grateful to people he had previously hated. He became thankful for everything about life, especially the gift of life itself. Dostoevsky believed that it was this experience that made him into a novelist and raised his sensitivities so that he could perceive dimensions of reality never known to him before.

PERSONAL NOTE: When you retire it is natural spend some time reflecting on your life; the good and bad times, successes and failures. It is clear to me now that there have been times in my life when I've lived only partially. My senses weren't fully opened and my life purpose was sometimes fuzzy.  And oh, by the way, did I miss some important things because I simply wasn't paying attention?  Guilty!

I guess if we're honest, all of us can take a little more time to be grateful for all that’s good in our lives.  That may take some subtraction....that is, getting rid of distractions or clutter that are blocking what is best for us.  My posting on this blog about an "AH-HA" moment expresses this thought in a different way.  Click HERE.

POOP COFFEE - Speaking of "AH-HA" moments, did you ever hear about the Asian Palm Civet, a feline-sized mammal native to Southeast Asia? Civets like to eat red coffee beans. In the jungles in which they live, they find the sweetest, ripest ones and munch on them with their cute little faces. But they can’t digest them, so the berries and beans come out as poop.

One day, humans discovered that the enzymes in the civets’ tummies break down the coffee’s bitterness, leaving behind an extremely delicious pooped bean. They took the poop home, washed it lightly, roasted it, ground it, poured boiled water over it, and drank it. Tastes like caramel and chocolate! Thus spawned a small industry of poop-coffee-making.  Today, this coffee sells for about $30 a cup in select coffee shops in Japan and the US.

(You gotta' wonder who the first human was to wonder if pooped out coffee beans would taste good, and then go ahead and be the first to taste it!)

IGLOO - Interesting back yard project for this winter.  Click HERE.

AWARD WINNING GYMNAST - Our granddaughter performed really well in her latest gym meet.  Click HERE.