The following is a selected list of THOUGHTS TO GET YOU THROUGH ALMOST ANY CRISIS. I have no idea of the source, its author or any history related to it. Chosen here are only some of suggested thoughts, rules perhaps, to live by. It also is good for a sense of humor.

If you ever find something you like, buy a lifetime supply because they will stop making it.

Now, a week later our attention is focused elsewhere. Last week we were absorbed in sensitively done reminiscences of 9/11. It was appropriate and wrenching, all at the same time. Our national heart beat in empathy and sympathy yet again. We watched as those most intimately touched by the tragedy ran their hands and eyes across the names of those who had died.

I was reminded of familiar lines of a very old poem, (R.L. Sharpe, “A bag of tools,” circa 1809), which seemed to pull us all into the mix of a commonly felt moment:

Isn’t it strange

That princes and kings

It is so easy to let life take over. It is so easy to give in to the moment when demands and agendas and frustrations seem to be guiding us in what we do with ourselves. It is so easy to overlook taking our time, making our moment count, letting the spirit invade, giving over to the calm and reflective.

What we need, at least once in a while, is a chance to surrender. What we need is an opportunity to permit our being to be guided by thoughts that have nothing to do with the bombardments of daily life and living. What we need, if we are to be invaded at all, is to be invaded by meditative calm, a placid letting go, an undisturbed season, when we are totally and completely at peace.