Oh Library Thing!

Oh Library Thing

There's a most cool website called Library Thing, which I recently discovered. Bibliophiles can catalogue all their books, and 'tag' them with categories. You can also see how many other folks have the same books or tags. This way you can discover who shares your esoteric interests. Rather than finding reasons to buy fewer books, I've found reasons to buy more books! For example, I see books I don't have and must/should have. I've also felt much better about my book collecting vice. I see some unfortunates suffer from this bibliomaniac vice far worse than I. Some people have 6,000 books! Suddenly my 600 or so books seem hardly worth discussing. I particularly like reading participants' profiles, though I wish more people wrote about their love of books. In profiles we discover the answers to all the fellow bibliophile's burning questions: Why do I have so many books? Where do I put them? What rooms are books piled in? Does my dog/cat like to sit on my books? What are my favorite subjects? Do I read books from cover to cover? Do I read several books at once? How many books are stored in boxes in some other state? How do books make me feel? What if I marry a fellow bibliophile, or a non-bibliophile, or a bibliophobe?

http://www.librarything.com/

Buddhism, pt. 2

25 More Reasons to Embrace Buddhism/ Meditation

Just in case you thought I forgot, I'm back with 25 more reasons to embrace meditation/Buddhism.

26. To be at one with life

27. To develop self-confidence

28. To develop inner strength

29. To appreciate more

30. To be in the moment

31. To get closer to nature

32. To learn to self-nurture

33. To let go of the past

34. To become more spiritual

35. To reduce anxiety

36. To communicate better

37. To develop body awareness

38. To improve my yoga practice

39. To improve general health

40. To become more secure with myself

41. To 'need' less

42. To balance energy flow

43. To meet like-minded people

44. To be part of a community

45. To find a way

46. To get connected

47. To teach others

48. To develop a healthy routine

49. To improve my posture

50. To discover what is within

Buddhism, pt. 1

100 Reasons to Embrace Buddhism/Meditation

Of course any book on Buddhism/Meditation would say to have no expectations for meditation. The only reason is 'no reason.' Nevertheless, I managed to come up with 100 reasons, the last of which is: "to find nothing." Seems reasonable enough. Here are the first 25 reasons.

1. to develop self-love

2. to cultivate loving-kindness

3. to find myself

4. to control my thoughts

5. to learn to let go

6. to know my mind

7. to know my thought patterns

8. to learn to breathe

9. to accept my emotions

10.to separate from my ego

11.to learn compassion

12.to find a way to help others

13.to develop an ethics for living

14.to validate my philosophy of life

15.to become wiser

16.to care less about external things

17.to be more calm

18.to be more relaxed

19.to become more centered

20.to lose myself to find myself

21.to change my life

22.to know reality better

23.to live my life as best I can

24.to accept things

25.to develop a more positive outlook