The Names of This Day

From the Baha'i Writings, the names of this day ...

The Day of God
The Great Day
The Last Day
The Day of Days
The King of Days
The Day of Judgement
The Day of Reckoning
The Day of Severing
The Day of Sighing
The Day when the trumpet blast will be sounded
The Day wherein account shall be taken
The Day when the decree shall be accomplished
The Day for which the soul of every Prophet of God hath thirsted
The Day when the earth shall shine with the Light of her Lord
The Day which shall never be followed by night

The Names of God

From the Baha'i Writings, the Names of God

God
The One
The Creator
The Eternal Truth
The Holy of Holies
The Ancient of Days
The Single
The Unseen
The Eternal
The Desire of the world
The Adored One
The Supreme Helper
The Imperishable
The Incomparable
The Great Being
The Divine Being
The Unchangeable Being
The Omnipotent
The Omniscient
The Unconditioned
The Unrestrained
The Inaccessible
The Unknowable
The Self-Subsisting
The Self-Sufficing
The Refuge
The Forgiving
The Pitier of the downtrodden
The Lord of Eternity
The Lord of Creation
The Lord of all being
The Lord of all mankind
The Lord of all worlds
The Lord of Revelations
The Lord of Grace Abounding
The Lord of All Favors
The King of the entire creation
The King of the seen and the unseen
The King of everlasting days
The Eternal King
The King of all men
The King of all kings
The King of all bounty
The King of Eternity
The Mystic Source
The Maker
The Causer of Causes
The Fashioner of the Universe
The Maker of earth and heaven
The Shaper of all the nations
The Governor of Nations
The Best-Beloved of the Nations
The Supreme Ordainer
The Ruler of the Universe
The Ruler of the Kingdoms of Creation
The Ruler of earth and heaven
The Ruler of this world and the world to come
The ruler of rulers
Thou Who rulest over all men
Thou Who rulest all things
The Ancient Being
The Infinite Essence
The Unknowable Essence
The Eternal Essence of Essences
The Source of all things
The Central Orb of the universe
The Author of All Manifestations
The Source of all Sources
The Fountain-Head of all Revelations
The Well-Spring of all Lights
The Possessor of the entire creation
Him with Whom no partners can be joined
Him to Whom none can compare
The Sovereign Protector of all Men
The Concealer of sins
The Protector of the entire creation
The Knower of the seen and the unseen
The Almighty

Cyclists, Use a Mirror

I use a side-mirror on my bike. I imagine that it screams "loser!" to some others, but in fact it's now one of my most favorite pieces of add-on gear.

When I drive a car I'm constantly checking the mirrors, and this need to know what's going on around me while I move is just as important, if not more so, on the bike. Now that I've had a chance to use it for over a year, I don't like getting on any bike that doesn't have one and I'm amazed that I don't see more cyclists using a mirror.

A mirror tells you what's behind you; duhhh! But here are some specific things it does for me on the bike:

• I can see what's going to pass me, how far back it is, and what it is, without turning my head or taking my eyes off the road in front of me too long.

• I can see cyclists coming up on me in the bike lane so I can pull to the right to let them pass. "By the way, the proper way to pass another cyclist is to say "on your left" as you approach, so they know you're there and will make room or keep a straight line. Unfortunately, most cyclists I observe don't use this simple courtesy/safety measure. I'm going to write a "How to Pass a Cyclist" post to elaborate.

• At night I can look down into the mirror and thereby cause my headlamp to shine back into the oncoming motorist's eyes, which is just another dynamic light I have going to show the oncoming car that I'm there. Hopefully they'll look up from their texting long enough to see that extra light flashing at them.

As with driving, it's still also a good idea to turn your head in many instances. But using a mirror on the bike guarantees you a safer ride.

Plastic Shame

Plastic is everywhere in our lives, and that which we carelessly toss away fragments, washes down storm drains and then flows out to our rivers, streams and bays to be eaten by unsuspecting creatures with catastrophic results. Ever hear about the pile of Pacific Ocean garbage, 3 times the size of Texas? Check out this video, produced by a friend for KCAL/CBS2 in LA (approx. 40 mins. -- worth it!). Reduce/reuse/recycle, please!
'Heal The Bay' - cbs2.com

Please Listen: Eckhart Tolle

I cannot recommend highly enough two amazing works from Eckhart Tolle: The Power of Now and A New Earth. Get the audio versions -- which he reads himself -- and play them on your iPod or laptop or in your car. You can drop in anywhere and even listen for just a few minutes. The lessons there are truly transformational, beautiful, powerful, life-changing. Completely compatible with faiths, if you've got one.
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=68921684350&h=z7Xr9&u=Np8kY&ref=mf

Killing our Friends

Since I ride my bike a lot, I come across a lot of dead animals in the road -- "roadkill", a dismissive term if there ever was one. Earlier this year I got to the point where I couldn't pass by these carcasses of our fellow creatures anymore, so now I stop and bury them. I carry latex gloves in my bag or find a plastic bag on the ground nearby (sadly, these too are everywhere). I find a nice spot if I can, scoop out some dirt and leaves, pick up the critter by its tail, lay it in the hole, cover it with dirt and leaves and say a little benediction like, "Sorry, little buddy", then move on. Since I started doing this 8 months ago I've buried 26 animals: squirrels (lots of them), a possum, a jackrabbit, 2 rats, one deer (a beautiful two-point buck that I could only cover with boughs and leaves), one raven and two blue jays.

It was a blue jay that started this whole thing. One day as I habitually swerved around the dead blue jay in the bike lane I heard a bird singing in a tree directly adjacent to where the dead one lay, and noted that I'd never heard a bird singing there before (and I usually notice birdsong because it's something I really love). The next day riding in I saw the same dead blue jay and heard a bird singing there again! Well, that stopped me in my tracks. Had it been singing all that time, since the other one was killed? Was it singing for its mate, for its mother, for its child? I went back, found a bag, buried the dead jay and moved on. The next time I rode by that spot -- and every time since -- I've not heard a bird singing there.

It's intense and humbling to pick up a dead body. It's a powerful feeling to have a close encounter with a dead creature, to heft it and carry it and consign it to the earth. I don't think that the drivers who've killed these animals are always aware that they've killed or even HIT something -- a squirrel is nothing compared to an SUV doing 45 mph -- and I'm always hoping but not entirely certain that these critters die right after impact. Sometimes their expressions are anquished or strained, and sometimes what's left of them is just too gruesome to describe here. The one day I buried a beautiful black squirrel I noticed that its fur was very much like my pug Frodo's fur, and I had to sit on the side of the road and cry for a bit.

Yoga and Stretching

It feels great to stretch. Most of us forget both how good it really feels and that we should do it more often. How odd that something so pleasurable (which for that reason alone should appeal to a sensory hedonist like me!) should continually slip my mind. And here are even more reasons to stretch frequently: Yoga requires no equipment, no specific location, no time frame, no advance preparation. Yoga takes you wherever and however you are, and shows you where you're tight, blocked, hurt. Yoga takes you out of your mind and back into your body; it tells you how you are. While you're stretching it finds your compromises, your pain, your rigidity, your resistance. As it shows you these things with grace, you can make the choice to meet them and push through them, or not.

It's difficult to hold a negative thought or emotion when you're stretching. It's as if your body is releasing negativity and unbinding your mind as you release the physical tension. Of course the two are related: Stress is negative emotion trapped in your physical form.

The NYTimes recently came out with an article warning those who are warming up before physical activity NOT to do static stretches, but instead run a bit to warm up, then actively stretch and lunge and kick and extend, all the while continuing to move. Static stretching, it turns out, is better for relaxing and post-exercise, but can actually have the opposite effect for those gearing up for strenuous activity.