{"id":10338,"date":"2014-12-22T11:31:37","date_gmt":"2014-12-22T19:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=10338"},"modified":"2014-12-23T08:14:09","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T16:14:09","slug":"high-points-low-points-learning-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2014\/12\/22\/high-points-low-points-learning-points\/","title":{"rendered":"High Points, Low Points, Learning Points"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hyatt-speaking-Christmas\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
Having little to do with the list, here’s me speaking and painting. Click to check it out.<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n

As I’m prone to do, whether or not it’s at the turn of the year, but then especially, I take a quick look at where life’s been taking me.<\/p>\n

Listing high points and low, I found more of the high, but the learning came mostly from the low. (And that’s another high point.)<\/p>\n

You might want to do the same exercise, and share it with a friend. Here’s mine (shared with a friend).<\/p>\n

The year’s high points:<\/span><\/p>\n

All travels<\/span>, particularly the distant ones–Papua New Guinea, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Wyoming, Kansas City\u00a0and Chicago (Anne only), and Jericho\/Israel.\u00a0(The trip to Papua New Guinea was to explore subject matter for a new book. I drafted some 20 chapters before anesthetizing it for lack of focus.)<\/em><\/p>\n

All relationships<\/span>, including a number of new ones of deep interest. (This category, relationships, may be the essence of living.)<\/p>\n

Mornings with God<\/span>: Quiet connections between my mind and His, with my taking notes. (I have His notes.)<\/p>\n

A further clarifying of my personal calling<\/span>, providing focus for my months and hours.<\/p>\n

Weekly gathering of close friends<\/span>, sharing our minds, learnings and lives. (Missed our retreat this year, but enjoyed many pot-lucks.)<\/p>\n

Weekly coffee with closest friend<\/span>, the continuing of a 20-year conversation on every topic and lots of laughter.<\/p>\n

Publishing a new book<\/span>, People of the Earth<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0and further distribution of last year’s, It’s About Life<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Painting<\/span>, probably a hundred pieces. Continuing to teach.<\/p>\n

Blogging<\/span>, on a fairly regular schedule on many topics, some reflective, some historical, some motivational, some \u201cjust because.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Year’s Low points:<\/span><\/p>\n

Jury duty<\/span>, when, on reflection, we didn’t provide justice to the plaintiff.
\nLearning:<\/span> Be careful about taking someone to court.<\/p>\n

Road accident<\/span>, involving son-in-law Vernon\u00a0with resultant long coma and ongoing restoration.
\nLearning:<\/span> Seeing daughter Allison rise to the crisis in attitude and inner strength. (Her blogs have been particularly heartening. Check the most recent<\/a>, with photos BY\u00a0four-year-old Justine.)<\/p>\n

Any argument with Anne<\/span>, always a low point and sours life in general.
\nLearning:<\/span> Keep talking . . . do not let the sun go down on your wrath.<\/p>\n

My father’s death<\/span>\u00a0(four months after my mother’s the year before).
\nLearning:<\/span> (1) It wasn’t\u00a0really a low point, rather a \u201clife point,\u201d (2) I’ve moved into his slot, and (3) reviewing their lives has done me good.<\/p>\n

Weaving through all this is a myriad of “Mid-Points,” the stuff of normal life. But reviewing these is instructive, and makes me appreciate all–both the high and the low. It’s life: Always worth examining.<\/p>\n

Now it’s your turn.<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

PS. In the last few days I’ve spoken three times, different talks, each while\u00a0painting. One of them was videoed. Click on the picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember what Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” Here’s a quick examination, as well as a link to a recent talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10338"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10374,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10338\/revisions\/10374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}