Challenges

• Vivid, lucid dreams have been filling my nights this week. Rare is the night where I don't dream in some way, if only to be left with a sense of ...something. But lately, the dreams have been real and strange, and I haven't begun to pick them apart for deeper meaning. Yet. That challenge awaits.
• Whip-my-butt-into-shape has stepped it up. I've moved to an 8-5-8 interval: 8 minutes (approx. 3/4 mile) jogging, 5 minutes walking (approx. 1/2 mile), 8 minutes jogging. For anyone keeping track, the last interval was 5-3-5-3-5. Same distance - more jogging. Surprisingly do-able, but still breathtaking.
• Leadership and service are on my mind, thanks to a great talk by Maya Soetoro-Ng. She suggests that we need to find new ways of creating connection and community, now that our world is globalized. She suggests that empathy is crucial to this new world, that dignity and discussion should be emphasized. She encourages non-violence in both the traditional, King-Gandhi ways, and in more holistic ways, such as considering what we eat, what we buy, what music we listen to, what we say, what jokes we tell. She says that non-violence takes courage and often begins with one personal act. Do I have the courage to be completely non-violent, in every aspect of my life? Challenging thought.