Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Speaking French
Saturday night we had the opportunity to host a couple from France at our home. I used to be a French teacher at Bethpage Junior High School 25 or so years ago. We have several French speaking people in our neighborhood, but I have rarely taken advantage of the opportunity to speak with them in their native tongue. So when this couple showed up it was a shock. My wife does not speak French, the husband spoke almost no English and the wife was about the same. It was an exhausting evening, trying to carry on a two hour conversation, totally in French.
Surprisingly, it turned out pretty well. We were able to share ideas, discuss family and generally carry on a semi-intelligent conversation. Actually, they were impressed with my accent, my sentence structure and my overall ablilty to speak and understand. The experience made me think that if could spend a week immersed in French, brushing up on my vocabulary, I could get back to being fluent. It was a tiring but fulfilling experience.
Who knows, maybe one day I will have my books translated into French. I would love to do a book tour in France, visiting all the beautiful spots and enjoying the fabulous food and world class wines. "La Joie de Vivre" is Simple Happiness to me in French.
Surprisingly, it turned out pretty well. We were able to share ideas, discuss family and generally carry on a semi-intelligent conversation. Actually, they were impressed with my accent, my sentence structure and my overall ablilty to speak and understand. The experience made me think that if could spend a week immersed in French, brushing up on my vocabulary, I could get back to being fluent. It was a tiring but fulfilling experience.
Who knows, maybe one day I will have my books translated into French. I would love to do a book tour in France, visiting all the beautiful spots and enjoying the fabulous food and world class wines. "La Joie de Vivre" is Simple Happiness to me in French.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Who You Really Are
Try to avoid attachment to material things. There is certainly nothing wrong with having nice things. We should all be grateful for the blessings in our lives. However, you are more that the house you live in, the car you drive, the places you vacation, where your kids went to college. Material things can come and go but WHO YOUR REALLY ARE ENDURES.
This was the content of yesterday's "Aha Moment". I was on the phone with a friend this afternoon who told me that he was blown away by the message of yesterday's "Aha Moment".
He has been reading "Tuesdays with Maury", the story of a former college professor who was stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease. That was the exact message that he had gotten from reading that book just yesterday. The message really his home to him.
Enjoy your things, but focus more on cultivating the goodness from the inside that we are all called to develop.
This was the content of yesterday's "Aha Moment". I was on the phone with a friend this afternoon who told me that he was blown away by the message of yesterday's "Aha Moment".
He has been reading "Tuesdays with Maury", the story of a former college professor who was stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease. That was the exact message that he had gotten from reading that book just yesterday. The message really his home to him.
Enjoy your things, but focus more on cultivating the goodness from the inside that we are all called to develop.
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