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For my Hebrew speaking friends, this is an appropriate sentiment for today:

For those of you who aren't, here's the gist. This Rabbi Levi was called and requested to provide comfort to the parents of a fallen soldier. He was at a loss. He knew there was no comfort.

And he addressed the day. It's not for the families of the fallen. They live with this every day. It's for the rest of us.

Rabbi Levi saw this, admitted to the parents there were no words of comfort, but there was this:

Our obligation as the survivors is to live lives that honor the sacrifice that those who came before, who died for us, made.

The implied invitation of the Rabbi, and my express one, is to live such lives.

May no life that was given have been given in vain. May it be God's will that our commanders, politicians and countries protect those who protect us as they put their lives at risk for us.

May we find it in ourselves to live lives that honor those who came before, and then actually go out and live them.

So I've gotten back to my Simpleology after quite some time of not. And I figured if so, at least I should start on the calendars.

And the first thing I note about my little calendar is that it is the eighteenth day of the Omer, so I did a quick search as to what that means to include it here, because it's the eighteenth day of the Omer, a day with celestial meaning more than some streak in a calendar, and here's what Chabad suggests as our exercise for introspection today:

"Is my compassion enduring and consistent? Is it reliable or whimsical? Does it prevail among other forces in my life? Do I have the capacity to be compassionate even when I’m busy with other activities or only when it's comfortable for me? Am I ready to stand up and fight for another?

"Exercise for the day: In middle of the busy day take a moment and call someone that needs a compassionate word. Defend someone who is in need of sympathy even if it's not a popular position."

Day Four of Week Three: Netzach of Tiferet: Eighteenth Day of the Omer.

But then thats not the exercise. It's this:

1. Smile. Breathe life into your body. Done.

2. Think of three things for which you are grateful:

   1. I am wicked smart.
   2. My children are wicked smart.
   3. I still get up in the morning.
3. List three things you are looking forward to:
   1. Leaving Israel.
   2. The Next Thirty Years.
   3. Travelling and Visiting my Relatives.
4. List three things you will do today to make your life even better:
   1. Read a few more chapters of Fr. Jillions book.
   2. Update my website for Corona changes.
   3. Either set up a presentation or another Facebook Live.

And then mark it off on your calendar, and today's Simpleology List.

It's on my list to write; so I will. I woke this morning so happy. I'd dreamed a dream of a play I was in, and we started with me adding lines that weren't there, and I'd forgotten my pants, and someone else came out of character to call me an ass, and then I couldn't remember my lines, and then I ate some stage food, and it just got damned sticky, and I couldn't get enough of it out of my mouth. I had a line coming up. And the production was a disaster, but from so many angles and in so many ways, you couldn't be philosophical about it.

And we knew we were going to have to work like dogs the next day, but it was okay. It was going to be good, or even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be because of us.

In other words, the dream had fail forward written all over it. And I woke up confident about my move, and then I kept getting tired and falling back to sleep, and getting distracted.

And the market is down. And to me it looks like a black Friday sale, but I haven't enough money.

And what I wrote the other day, I'm adding that to my code, or maybe I'll just restate the whole damned thing as Fail Forward.

So, a new day, a new post. ✘ on the little calendar. I'm growing to like it, but I've spent altogether too much time on the Joyner rabbit hole this morning. Day 11 says go check this out, and it's another one of his courses, which is good - I already have access - but it has no place in my schedule. I already feel like I am scrambling to keep up.

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I got a bit stupid yesterday, and then got smart. I did contact someone, and that turned into a conversation, which I definitely call a win. I also made for some outside time by way of a walk with my son. I did workout, but then did got sidetracked, in one good way, and in one bad, and got to the end of my day not having completed my core activity, which is making contact with three people. So I wasn't going to go to bed without that, and got it done, which also felt good. As to the assignment, I realize it actually is present for me in the mornings, and I am not feeling the need to comment as completely as I have the last three days, but I'll work into a form that works:

1. Smile! ✓
2. Breathe life into Your Body. ✓
3. Think of three things for which I am grateful.
   
   1. that I can still feel my toes
   2. that I can walk
   3. that I still dream
4. Think of three things I am looking forward to.
   
   1. More outside time.
   2. Writing.
   3. Scheduling certain parts of my life.
5. List three things I will do today to make my life even better.
   
   1. The pitch that's been running in my head, but occurs as a huge effort.
   2. Contact three people.
   3. Ironing: it still didn't get done, but I think I'll combine it with my soap opera, one of yesterday's distractions, which wasn't necessarily accompanied by fruitful activity yesterday.
6. Then mark it off on the calendar. ✘ Just for clarity, this is obviously not that I've finished it all, just that I've done the damned planning exercise, and if I've done that, at least some of the other parts follow.

Thanks again to Mark Joyner's The Little Calendar that Brainwashes You: It might be enough for you. For me, it resides in a bigger context. I suppose it depends where you find yourself.