Newsletter the Third

I think what people talk about over breakfast is a great indicator of… I don't know, but it must be an indicator of something! My younger teenage son and my wife and I get into all kinds of subjects, such as:

There's Always More

The amazing thing about science is: There's always more. No matter how close you look, or how hard you look, there's always more to see, more to understand, more to explore.

Thank goodness there are fields that truly are finite, that actually have answers, such as accounting. But those are only for abstract ideas… as soon as you include even a little dose of reality, it becomes infinitely complex and full of unknowns. Not just "mysteries to figure out" but literally "mysteries that cannot be known."

We have to learn to be okay with that.

(Image above from my book Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe From Infinitesimal to Infinity)

My Pocket Watch

About 30 years ago, I bought a lovely pocket watch… I never really liked having a watch on my wrist, and this was a fun way to have a watch handy. (Remember, this was before cell phones!) 

Then, about 10 years ago, I took it for a routine clean and maintenance… small watch repair shop that had been around for decades.

Yesterday I got the watch back, in pieces.

Of course, this was after dozens of phone calls and visits, where the guy put me off with lines like, "Oh, it's in pieces, and I just need to get one more part…" What could I do? I was so angry I thought about taking him to small claims court, or complaining to one organization or another… but ultimately, nothing really made sense.

I finally had to decide: Do I stew in my anger, or just let it go? This past year, with all its crazy ups and downs helped put it in perspective… I let it go, assuming I was simply never going to see it again. After all, if there is one thing we humans need to learn how to do better, it's "let go."

And then yesterday, out of the blue, I received a call to come pick up the watch… or what was left of it.

The wife of the watch repair man handed me the box of loose pieces, and I handed her my ticket stubs (yes, I had kept them on my desk for all these years!)… and she explained that Paul had advanced Alzeheimers and was no longer than man she had married so many years ago. They had hundreds of watches they were trying to return to their owners. "He kept the whole business in his head and on these little pieces of paper," she explained.

What a mixture of emotions! Relief, sadness… and part of me wanted to still be angry, but I just couldn't muster it. There was too much grief in the system already. I had lost a watch, but this woman had lost something more far precious.

Saying No

Yes, I know Steve Jobs' famous quote about the word "no." But still this quote (possibly from a sanskrit kirtan) resonates with me: that an ocean refuses no river.

Perhaps the key is that we have to say no to 1,000 things, but — and this is important — we don't want to say no before we've really listened, really heard, and really taken it in.

Enough is Enough

Sometimes English just doesn't have the right word to express something and you're forced to grab one from another language. One of my favorites is "dayenu," a Hebrew word that can be translated as "enough," or "it is sufficient."

To me, dayenu is a perfect Zen state that says whatever I'm experiencing, whatever I have, it is enough. Sure, I want more, but I am humbly grateful for what is.

You may know that Dayenu is a traditional song in the Jewish Passover seder (the annual dinner celebration that retells the Biblical story of Exodus). As Rabbi Ted Falcon and I wrote in Judaism for Dummies (I bet most of you didn't even know I co-authored that book!), Dayenu is "a call to be grateful for where you are, knowing that it’s where you’re supposed to be."

Try it out: Look around right now, take a breath, and say it out loud: Dayenu.

Thank you!

I enjoy sharing my musings… and I enjoy hearing yours! Feel free to follow this newsletter, follow me on LinkedIn, and send me feedback. You can always reach me at [email protected]