I found this book in a second hand shop in 2003 (approx.) - it was marked down from $51.99 to $11.99 - what a deal! - i read some of it then lost interest - life was busy and i did not have time to read much. Last month, when i was struggling with my health (or lack of!), my brother-in-law said: "I've found a new book, Emotional Intelligence, go to the library and get it and read Chapter 11..." i replied that it sounded familiar, so i searched my bookshelves, and there it was, burried under papers and magazines... so i have started reading it (again); i think it is worthy of a post, so here is a brief excerpt:

p.ix Aristotle's Challenge - "Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not easy" - Aristotle, The Nicomacbean Ethics

"It was an unbearably steamy August afternoon in New York City, the kind of sweaty day that makes people sullen with discomfort. I was heading back to a hotel, and as I stepped onto a bus up Madison Avenue I was startled by the driver, a middle-aged black man with an enthusiastic smile, who welcomed me with a friendly, 'Hi! How are you doing?' as I got on, a greeting he proffered to everyone else who entered as the bus wormed through the thick midtown traffic. Each passenger was as startled as I, and, locked into the morose mood of the day, few returned his greeting.

But as the bus crawled uptown through the gridlock, a slow, rather magical transformation occurred. The driver gave a running monolouge for our benefit, a lively commentary on the passing scene aroundus: there was terrific sale at that store, a wonderful exhibit at this museum, did you hear about the new movie that just opened at that cinema down the block? His delight in the rich possibilities the city offered was infectious. By the time people got off the bus, each in turn had shaken off the sullen shell they had entered with, and when the driver shouted out a 'So long, have a great day!' each gave a smiling response.

The memory of that encounter has stayed with me for close to twenty years. When I rode that Madison Avenue bus, I had just finished my own doctorate in psychology - but there was scant attention paid in the psychology of the day to just how such a transformation could happen. [my comment: Mindell would say that it has everything to do with what happend in "the field"] Psychological science knew little or nothing of the mechanics of emotion. And yet, imaginaing the spreading virus of good feeling that must have rippled through the city, starting from passengers on his bus, I saw that this bus driver was an urban peacemaker of sorts, wizardlike in his power to transmute the sullen irritability that seethed in his passengers, to soften and open their hearts a bit." - Daniel Goleman

and now we have the www.hancockhouse.com streaming bald eagle cam and people are united in their desire to get close to this magnificent gift of nature. (and i have to thank Larry and Willy at JACK-fm for giving me the info. re this site)

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

Isn't life amazing? -- earlier today i forced myself to go for a short walk, inspite of the pain in my legs and hips, knowing that it would either make me feel worse, or with any luck, better ... but instead of going to Dragonfly Bog, i took my shorter, quieter, neighbourhood route as i also wanted to see if there was any activity in the big nest that i had seen a couple of weeks ago. As i rounded the corner at 105th Avenue and 156th Street i saw a young woman loading a guitar into her car, and asked her if she had seen any eagles in the nest. She said she had not and i replied: "A couple of weeks ago i saw one eagle flying around, but have not seen another since, but...." and i told her about the hancockhouse bald eagle site. To my amazement and delight she said: "I know one of the people who have something to do with that site, and saw it myself for the first time yesterday." She said his name is Trevor, so i am going to go to the forum and let Trevor know that i met someone he knows! - WHAT A HOOT! - well, that's all folks, now back to the daily grind of meal prep. etc. luv, pj