2024

There is still a week left in the year 2024.
Is it too soon to make an assessment of the past year?  
Is it too late to make some changes?

Checking back to where we were, assessing where we are, and making adjustments to get where we want to be should probably be something we do more than once per year. Nevertheless, the end of one year or the beginning of the next is as good a time as any to do just that. 

I'm not certain if my self assessment is easy or difficult. There really isn't much to it. 
I don't really have any life goals other than to enjoy each moment as it comes and I seem to do that pretty well. 

Our flowers looked great this past summer and I am looking forward to the coming spring/summer for the beauty of the many flowers. I've been adding flower beds each year and it is beginning to be a lot of work. That's not really a bad thing. It's not like I have loads of pressing things to do other than tend to the gardens. I have some gardening books and there is an abundance of gardening information on the interwebs, plus I am slowly storing away some knowledge in my head. So far, I have sucked at vegetable gardening, but will probably give it a go again this year.

Our small neighborhood is built on what used to be a pasture so there are no trees anywhere near the house. On one hand, I am happy not having to rake leaves in the fall. On the other hand, there is no shade in the summer and there are fewer birds and squirrels around. I've planted a few seedling trees, but those will be for the next homeowner to enjoy.
I'm still hoping to convert some of the field into native meadow grasses and wildflowers, but that appears to be a much larger project than I thought it would be. I have a plan, or at least the concepts of a plan, on how I might do that. I need to do a bit more research on it.

Looking ahead to 2025 I only have a couple goals. The first is to get rid of this extra weight that I've put on and get off the high blood pressure meds. If I'm completely honest with myself, I'm not that concerned with being athletically fit; more just being kind of active fit and healthy.
The second thing is to become conversationally fluent in Spanish. That might be a little bit tougher. I'm going to need to find a fluent Spanish speaking friend that is willing to converse with me on a regular basis (or spend more time in Mexico). It's one thing to learn it online or through an app. It's very different to actually carry on a conversation in another language. 

As you can see,my life is not filled with great ambition. Other than those two things, I plan to read a few books (maybe 50 or so), smoke a few cigars, sip a little tequila and a little bourbon, and just enjoy life. 
Check out my coffee mug in the pic below.

How was your year?
Any plans for '25?

John

 

Untitled Christmas Rant

Is Christmas really worth celebrating?

Perhaps this is one of those posts that you should just scroll past. It's just a John rant and will likely be misunderstood and taken out of context. It's not my intent to go all "Bah, humbug" on the celebrations of the season, but I'm sure that I'll share some judgmental observances that seem that way.

For the curious that don't really want to read my entire rant -- Yes, I still consider myself to be a Christian (as in a follower of Jesus), but no longer feel very religious nor am I tied to a particular religion.

For those that are sticking around -- well, here goes:
I view the Christian celebration of Christmas much the way I view Christianity's pro-life movement -- It's all about the birth of the child and nobody really cares about the life that follows.
In a way, I guess that kind of makes sense and I really shouldn't be surprised by it. Overall, Christians really don't give much time nor effort into observing the sanctity or holiness of the season when compared to the time and effort put into decorating, shopping, planning and partying for the non-religious elements of the season. 
Long before we pack away the decoration for next year, we'll have already boxed up Baby Jesus and returned to ignoring his future teachings or using them to control others and justify our misguided behaviors.

Having said that -- 
I do enjoy the gift giving and receiving. I like that families and friends get together and celebrate friendships and relationships. I like the lights and decorations of the season and am perfectly fine with the more secular Christmas celebrations. At least for a few moments it seems that Christians and non-Christians alike agree that a little peace on earth is a good thing.
The only thing wrong with that is that it only lasts for a short period of time.
 
Would it be a bad thing if we, as Christians, removed Christ and religion from Christmas and let the ancient winter celebrations and festivities return to what they were before the birth of Jesus? 
Is there really anything in life that is made better by adding religion to it?

If you are a Christian -- by all means, celebrate the birth of the Savior!
But for Christ's sake (literally) -- learn what the man Jesus taught and strive to live that kind of life.
And for everybody -- Christian and non-Christian -- celebrate the season with gusto and joy!
Buy your presents, decorate your homes, wear your ugly sweaters!
Yes! Christmas is worth celebrating!

Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Enjoy the season, no matter the reason!

John

Paul Harvey ~ A Christmas Story: The Man And The Birds

200

This is post #200 for 2024!
It is only the third time in my 18 years of publishing Out of My Hat that I've reached 200 posts in a year.
Because there really is no theme that ties my posts together, my following is limited to family, friends, and those curious enough to wonder what I might be thinking about on any given day. 
I've tried a couple of themed blogs along the way -- one on healthy living, one on cigars (such is my contradictory lifestyle) -- but mostly I just come back to rambling out thoughts here at Out of My Hat. 

I still look for clicks and comments, but not like I did in the early days. Today, I mostly write as a way of organizing thoughts and it seems to be a therapeutic way of grounding my spirit. I don't expect many views, comments, nor shares, and often think I should just write and publish articles without sharing them on my Facebook or BlueSky accounts (I've dropped X). A lot of my regular readers disappeared (see what I did there?) when I moved away from evangelicalism and my Facebook friends list went from nearly 1000 to fewer than 300 (some I dropped, others dropped me), so I know that most readers come from links to social media and only a few are regular followers of the blog itself.

No matter.
It is said that it is better to write for oneself and have no readers than to write for your readers and have no self -- or something like that.

If you came here for a Wednesday Wisdom post, try this:
Do something for yourself.
Write, walk, run, read, paint, craft, whatever. Do it for you and don't worry about what other people think or say. The hippie mantra of the 60s was -- If it feels good, do it! 
Perhaps, as with most things, moderation is the key.

John

A Poor Practice

It's a rare kind of Monday morning for me.
First of all, I slept much later than I usually do. I'm not sure why, but I did.
And secondly, it is warm enough to have my morning coffee out on the deck today!

Sitting out here, especially on a Monday morning, I am aware of how poor my meditation practice has become. Contemplative time and meditative time can be very different practices. Quiet time and meditative time are different things. 
A purposeful quiet time, a time for contemplation, a practice of meditation -- all are beneficial, but all are quite different. Heck, even relaxing with a good cigar is good for the spirit!

But I have gotten out of the meditation habit since I've moved my morning coffee and quiet time indoors for the cooler season. I'm going to have to find a way to move my practice inside. It's weird how the cawing crows, crowing roosters, and sounds of the outside have become such a part of my meditation that I stopped doing it without them. 

For this week's Monday Meditation post I am going to work on restarting my regular practice of meditating. Maybe you should, too.

John

Third Sunday of Advent

Hmmm...
Well, I have been more thoughtful about being kind and Christ-like this Advent season.
Isn't it the thought that counts?

Actually, having this little exercise in purposeful kindness has been good for me. I have noticed that there are opportunities that I don't really have to look for. I just need to be more aware of others and what they might need or how I might help. I have done better at being more proactive, but that is still unnatural for me. I may need to set up some kind of regular prompt to keep me focused beyond the Christmas season. It does kind of suck to realize that I really am not a naturally nice person.
Is it just me or do others also struggle with being nice? I don't think I'm a mean person. I just rarely think about people or things outside of my relatively small world. I have never really considered the downsides of living in the moment, but perhaps this is one of them.
Hmmm...

In any case, Christmas is getting closer -- fewer than 10 days to go!
I don't feel very Christmassy, but I am okay with that. Culturally, I think celebrating birthdays is a little weird. Picking a made up date to celebrate somebody's birth is even weirder -- even if it is for Jesus! I doubt that Jesus had birthday celebrations as a kid, and I imagine that he would much rather we actually work towards the whole "peace on earth" thing than just sing songs about it once a year.
If we're honest -- Christmas is more for us and satisfying our need to be good, holy, smug about ourselves than it ever was about recognizing the birth of a Savior.

Damn.
Now I've gone all bah, humbug.
I think I'll quit now and just leave you with a reminder to be purposefully kind to someone today.
...or tomorrow.
Whatever
Whenever

sigh
John

Fun Facts for your Friday

Maybe this is what's meant by not seeing the forest for the trees, but on a much grander scale...

At its closest, Uranus is 18.6 AU (Astronomical Unit, the approximate average distance from Earth to the sun) to the planet Earth. 1 AU is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) and we found this distant planet before finding an entire continent on our own planet!

     * * * * * 

Here's an interesting map that divides the Earth's population:

I find this truly amazing.
Even being aware of the crowded populations of India and China did not prepare me for this graphic. It's difficult to comprehend.

John

Thursday thoughts

It's Thursday morning and I am really not feeling like a theology/religious post today. I'm sure I could sort through some collected quotes or memes and find something worth posting, but how many times and in how many ways can you express that we need to love one another?

I'm still working on that - being purposefully kind for Advent - thing. As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty is that I just don't have the people encounters that most have. I have managed a few "touches" or contacts via the digital world's text messaging and social platforms, but even find that to be a bit of a stretch when it comes to comfort. I already knew that not being a jerk takes some thought and restraint, but actually being nice is hard work most of the time. 
Fortunately, there is now less than two weeks until Christmas and the end of the Advent season.
Unfortunately, I doubt that purposeful kindness will be a habit by then and I will continue to struggle in being Christ-like in my daily life.
Life would be so much easier if sarcastic assholery was considered a virtue.

Enough about me and my struggles!
Tell me about the nice things you do or nice attitudes you have during the holiday season that are mostly absent the rest of the year.
Are you nicer to people in December than you are in June?
Are you more tolerant of Christmas shoppers than you are of shoppers or crowds at other times?
Are you more generous during the holidays?
And if so ... Why?

It's probably good that we have a season when we are more focused on being nice, but why is it necessary? Are we still trying to make Santa's nice list and stay off the naughty list?

Just wondering...

John

Wednesday Wisdom

 

Did you know ... ?

We are just a scant 11 days away from this year's winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and I am settling into my morning routine of coffee by the fireplace. The living room couch is more comfortable than the deck furniture and the fireplace makes for a cozy atmosphere, but I would much prefer to be sitting outside, listening to the neighbor's roosters crowing and other of nature's morning sounds.

Speaking of crowing roosters, did you know...

According to Greek mythology -- A young soldier was assigned to be a lookout for Ares, the God of war, who was having an affair with the goddess Aphrodite. Unfortunately, the soldier fell asleep and Ares was caught by Helios, the sun god. For his failure, the soldier was turned into a rooster that always crows in the morning to warn of the coming sun!

Now you know.

John