cheerfulmonk.com

This pup is an inspiration. Click on the picture to see him.

July 26, 2025

There are many elements of living a good life, but the first and most foundational is to love yourself and enjoy spending time with yourself.

Go do things on your own so you learn to trust your mind and view it as a welcome companion. If someone declared, “Tomorrow you must spend the day alone” the hope is that you would reply, “That sounds like a good day!”

The person who is at ease within finds every other space larger and more enjoyable.
—James Clear

As a society we value extroverts and are suspicious of people who enjoy spending time alone. Not me! What about you?

July 25, 2025

Life is always progressing to the next stage. As you enter a new season, habits that previously served you well may need to be refreshed or adjusted. Which one of your current habits have you outgrown and is in need of a change?
—James Clear

The big one for me is making sure the apartment looks neat before I go to bed at night. Before my apartment was my play pen. If I got immersed in a project I didn’t mind if things got untidy. I knew when the mood struck I would put things back in order until the next immersion. Andy didn’t mind so it was a fine way of operating.

Then after I broke my hip last fall Kaitlin convinced me to have Merry Maids come in every two weeks to clean. I was tickled to see how easy it was switch to my new system. Who would have guessed?

More changes will be coming, of course. Even if our health holds, Andy is getting slower and has fewer reserves. He may be spending more time down here in the winter, for instance.

So continuing to do the best we can with what we have left.

Or, to quote Alfred, Lord Tennyson,

Come, my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
….
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

The idea of Andy and I ever having “heroic hearts” is good for a laugh, but strong spirits in weakening bodies? Yeah, that works.

July 24, 2025

Tempi was curling up with A Long Way Gone. Have you curled up with a good book lately?

July 23, 2025

Mark Parisi

That reminds me of a standing comedy piece that makes me laugh every time I think of it. The fellow was probably in his 40s and was talking about his parents and old people. He said when people of his own age start to trip over something they immediately catch themselves and keep walking. He demonstrated. Then he said it’s different for old people. If they trip their mind tells their body and the body answers,

Huh?

That was so true for me. When I fell exactly one year ago, I was happily using my 7″ high stepper while reading the Spanish subtitles of a video I was streaming. Until I noticed I was falling. I was surprised but not upset, and I didn’t try to soften the fall. My mind was absorbed by the surprise and my body just went thunk!

I still laugh when I think of it, even though I couldn’t come back home for six weeks. (I decided not to have surgery so I couldn’t put any weight on that leg. That meant I couldn’t climb the stairs to our apartment.) I’m clearly doing my best to avoid that happening again, but on the whole it was a positive experience.

Anyway, lesson learned. No multitasking if there’s any danger of falling. 🙂

July 22, 2025

It was yesterday, the third Sunday in July, but I read about it too late for this post. That is no doubt why NBC10Boston posted an article about Kaitlin and Torben’s favorite ice cream stand.

NBC10Boston

…there really is something special about an ice cream stand situated in a quiet, pastoral area, and the Carlisle location of Kimball Farm pretty much serves as a blueprint for such a place.

Yes! Kaitlin and Torben took us there twice when we visited in
2021.

The second time Andy and I got a banana split to share.

Happy memories.

July 21, 2025

The term “Left Gaze Bias” refers to humans’ tendency to look towards the left side of a new persons face when they meet (or the right-hand side of the person.) There really isn’t a well-documented explanation for this, but it only occurs when we encounter the face of another person and not when looking at other new objects or places for the first time. It is said that we naturally do this because the right side of the human face shows emotion more consistently and truthfully.
—What is the “Left Gaze Bias” and why do dogs use this?

Yes, dogs do it too. But only when interacting with humans, not when looking at objects or other animals. How cool is that!

July 20, 2025

Ogden Nash (1902-1971) wrote comic poems– here are four of his shortest ones:

A Word to Husbands

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

The Cow

The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk

Reflections on Ice-Breaking

Candy
Is dandy,
But liquor
Is quicker

The Fly

The Lord in His wisdom made the fly,
And then forgot to tell us why

I asked ChatGPT what Nash would say about AI:

A.I., Oh My!
(in the style of Ogden Nash)

I asked a bot to write a note,
It answered me with dreams it wrote.
It spelled quite well, its tone was bright,
But something felt not quite all right.

It knew of kings and koalas too,
Of Mars and memes and Manet’s “Rue.”
It told me jokes both dry and snappy,
And made my grumpy uncle happy.

Yet when I asked, “What makes us real?”
It paused — and offered a coupon deal.
It thinks in code and speaks in rhyme,
But doesn’t age or waste its time.

It never sleeps, it doesn’t tire,
It won’t grow old or dream or sire.
It’s brilliant, weird, and oddly kind—
A mirror made of humankind.

So here’s to AI, silicon sage,
The oddest bard of our new age.
But just in case it turns on me,
I’ll compliment it… frequently.

July 19, 2025

Yesterday’s post reminded me of Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata:

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

I asked ChatGPT to write something in Ehrmann’s style. The result didn’t touch me as deeply, but a few lines were food for thought. If you are curious it is here.

July 18, 2025

Seeing Life With Kinder Eyes
— a short reflective piece —

What if nothing changed but how you looked at it?

The traffic jam becomes a shared pause.
The grumpy cashier—maybe just tired from a second shift.
Your own reflection—still learning, still here.

Seeing life with kinder eyes doesn’t mean pretending everything is good. It means being willing to look again.

It means asking:
What if I softened?
What if I gave the benefit of the doubt—not just to others, but to myself?
What if I let the small annoyances go, and let the small beauties in?

Kind eyes don’t miss the hard stuff.
They just choose to see beyond it.
To see the child behind the anger, the longing behind the pride, the story behind the silence.

And maybe, just maybe, to see the world not as a battleground… but as a classroom.
Not as a test… but as a gift.

So today, try it—
Look around.
Not with sharper judgment.
But with softer vision.

You might be surprised what kindness reveals.
—ChatGPT

Andy and I laugh a lot, especially when things go wrong. But I also want to reinforce patience and kindness when interacting with other people.

July 17, 2025