THE INSPIRATIONAL PERCOLATOR: May 2008
As you know, I've been getting into coffee. Not Starbucks, but buying the whole bean (International Fair Trade), grinding it myself and the final crucial step -- brewing it. Not liking drip makers, yes liking French Presses, been experimenting with Asian coffee/tea devices. You have no idea what a coffee snob I've become -- it's terrible. And all for what? Five cups a week? I can't have any more than that or it keeps me awake, and I value my sleep, over coffee. Anyway, been looking for those old style percolators -- the ones the grownups used when I was a kid. I remember watching the coffee pop-pop-popping up into that little crystal knob. I didn't even like coffee then, but I liked to see the coffee percolate, the clicking sound and the smell too. Anyway, this weekend at a church rummage sale, found one! Three bucks and I helped out a good cause, too -- terrific. I was so content, I missed the real thing. A lady came up to me and said, "Nice pot, but no cord." I opened the top to show her that the cord had been placed inside. Her smile fell to a frown, "Oh there's the cord, oh, now that's exactly what I've been looking for!" I didn't know what to say to her. Actually, that's not entirely true, I knew exactly what I wanted to say -- two specific things that perfectly contradicted each other. My heart wanted to say, ached to say, "Here, take the pot. I'll find another one sometime." But another part of me, (My brain? My elbows? My selfishness?) wanted to say, "I want it, I found it first!" I said neither. So there it was, this happenchance chance to make somebody's day and I spectacularly blew it. I missed an opportunity to give someday something they would use everyday and perhaps, everyday be reminded that a good deed was done to them. Maybe even prompting them to do a good deed to someone else after every cup of coffee. I blew it. I bought it, I kept it to myself. Not long after getting in the car, my heart berated me, so I circled back and looked for the woman at the rummage sale. I failed to find her. So now every time I hear percolating coffee, I'll be reminded of how I missed a beautiful opportunity to plant a positive seed. Could that have been the point all along? Perhaps, that small happening was meant to tie mindfulness to each sip of coffee I enjoy. A reminder to be all the more on the ready to listen to my heart for the next random chance to act kindly.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

INSPIRATIONAL SNORKEL: April 2008
Half sky blue, half ocean blue. That's what I saw through my goggles, sucking on air from my rented snorkel. The line between the blues -- a squirrelly one. My head just barely above water -- bobbing in the Bali Sea, between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Did you ever try snorkeling? Did you ever open your eyes underwater? Most of the time we look at the world from our own perspective. Our eyes always between 4 and 6 feet above the ground. So limiting. What amazes me about snorkeling is how wrong my initial assessments turn out about what's beneath the surface. Standing on the sandy beach of one of the islands of Indonesia, I looked out over the silky blue glistening ocean. It was beautiful, yes, but so same. Same from left to right. It seemed predictable -- at least from minute to minute. And it so perfectly hid everything underneath. An aqua blanket. You could guess what's below the surface and walk away, but you'd be so wrong. Dive in, get under the blanket and see for yourself. It's absolutely eye-opening. Perhaps equivalent to all that you learn in one year of college. Maybe each world citizen should be required to swim in the ocean. And countries too. Maybe there would be more peace if countries were required to swim with the fish along their coastlines. How about you? Ever snorkeled? Scratch the surface recently?

Great luck! I saw a flying a fish! Just a flicker that caught my eye as our little boat sped along a calm sea. It was about a foot or two long, it glided along the surface of the water for fifty yards. Half a football field! Why? Was it dodging a bigger fish's bite? Was it atmosphere snorkeling? That's what I think. It saw the bottom of our boat, but rather than judge us by that, it was brave enough to break into our world and have a look. I bet we weren't what it expected to see given just the bottom of our boat. I wonder if we were as beautiful to him as the schools of life in its world are to snorkelers. If fish can do it, why not us? How much wiser the amphibian? I dare you to snorkel. I dare you to swim in someone else's world before judging it by the surface.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

INSPIRATIONAL BAD NEWS: March 2008
The night before my Arizona Book Tour, my buddy and I were looking up at the underside of my book-mobile van. I'm holding the leaking brake-line as he's awkwardly attempting to rotate the new caliper snugly to it. Thankfully we figured out a better method for mounting the left caliper. 2 hours later we were ready to bleed the brake fluid of air and be done. That's when we discovered the frozen lug nuts on the rear wheels and if that wasn't bad enough, my spare tire (which holds on to the bottom of the car) was shredded. Yikes! So where does the inspirational bit come in? At that moment, the literal last hour before my trip we discovered a problem. We didn't have the parts or the time to fix it. Anyone would be bummed, right? And, in fact, we were too. But then it occurred to me how lucky I was to find that stuff out. I was lucky to have a friend helping me, I was lucky that he noticed it -- I might not have. And actually, if I'd brought the car in to have a real mechanic replace the calipers, he might have missed the busted spare. I pictured myself out in the Mojave Desert, dust up my nose trying to break those lugs free of a flat tire - only to pull out the shredded spare tire. Yikes. Thankfully, my girlfriend lent me her Prius for the trip! Wahoo. Anyway, forgive my trite summary, "Every bit of bad news, is simply good news in disguise -- waiting for us to find the wisdom to see it." Got 44mpg too!
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

INSPIRATIONAL BIT: Feb 2008
Having lunch at a Fast Food place that sat at the intersection of a fairly busy street and a one-way avenue, a man darts out the door in a startling rush. We all turn our heads and wonder what's happening outside. When he returned to the restaurant catching his breath, I asked him, "Are the parking police coming around?" He shook his head, and pointed out the window, "No, that guy's going the wrong way on a one-way street." After saying that, an older woman spoke up, "Wow and you ran out to tell him to he's in danger? You don't see that anymore. That was very nice of you."

I thought about that for a second. "You don't see that anymore." If that's true then it wasn't just the driver of the car that should be appreciative -- it was all of us who witnessed the good deed. We not only were shown an example of a good deed, but were forced to re-evaluate this notion that such good deeds just don't happen anymore. How about you? How often are you privileged enough to witness, perchance be inspired by a good deed? How often do you see someone accelerating in the wrong direction, but pass up the opportunity to be the one doing the good deed? Or could it be you're the one driving the wrong way obliviously?
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

THE "THING" I WANTED FOR CHRISTMAS! Jan 2008
So I bought it a few days ago -- a coffee grinder! In November, I purchased Free Trade Coffee on the net from growers in Ethiopia. But no grinder. Finally, this week I ground it up and took a sip -- Wow, fresh ground coffee is so good! Not only that, but it brought back warm wonderful memories from my year in Kenya a decade ago. (That's why I got the Ethiopian coffee -- it's near Kenya -- and I was hoping the coffee would taste alike.) And with those warm memories came warm feelings of pride in myself for doing something bold, for learning as much as I was teaching and for the friendships I'd enjoyed back then. You know, the week I left Kenya, my students knocked on the door of my little house, crowded into my little unpainted concrete living room between the ropes of drying laundry and sang to me in multi-part harmony for almost 1 hour. A warm cup of coffee to such a warm cuddly feeling inside. Best to skip the former and go right to the latter. The grinder is secondary. It was the "Thing" I didn't get for Christmas, but what I did get was so much better -- warm wonderful times with the ones I love -- my family and my girlfriend and her family. Here's to hoping you're enjoying the warmth of those you love as much or more than the "Things" they gave you.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

LEARN by FAILING: Dec 2007
Just had an email conversation with one of my readers today that's worth repeating. I told her that I learned to be good at Scrabble by losing a lot to a guy that was a master. And she related it to her skiing experiences, and I quote her, "Once you stop falling, you stop learning.

INSPIRATIONAL BIT: Nov 2007
The tiles on my front stoop were coated softly with small white specks. The sun burnt a red glow around the eerily blurred shadows of trees and even me. It looked like dawn or dusk, but it was noon. The black and white crumbs peppered my motorcycle seat as well, I wiped them with my hands before riding to lunch. Ash. Ash from all the Southern California fires. I'm in the Pasadena area which is probably 30-40 miles from the nearest fire. But there it was ... ash. Some friends and associates from around the area have evacuated their homes, uncertain whether they will ever be able to return. An abrupt, beautiful, painful, reminder that all we build is temporary. That the house is not the home. And the fire that destroys it not half as potent as the fire that burns inside each of us. Are you tending more to the beautification of your house than your heart?
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

TUNNEL FIRES: Oct 2007
A major California freeway shut down last Friday night after a tragic fiery accident in one of its tunnels. My girlfriend and I, had planned to spend the weekend four hours North of LA in Sequoia National Forest with some good friends already up there. Thought at first the crippled 5 would toss those plans. Los Angeles is a valley surrounded by mountains and the 5 is one of only (3) major ways out. The other two would require a 60 mile detour and we were already maxing out our road time (9 hours round trip for 2 days). Turns out I knew of a little road that goes over the mountain to the desert. It took 1/2 an hour longer and was full of switchbacks, but it was many times more beautiful than the 5. At the risk of sounding schmaltzy, let me ask -- has there been some tunnel on fire crimping your plans? Ever consider how fortunate you are not to be in that tunnel as it burns. How about challenging yourself to find that beautiful detour.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

A Random Act of KINDNESS: Sept 2007
I was on my motorcycle (it's not a big one) at an intersection waiting for the light to change. Mine was the only vehicle waiting, and I happen to know this red light would never change because of the underground sensors -- not strong enough to pick up my little motorcycle. I hate it when this happens, I have to wait for a car to come over the sensors. But the lights began to change anyway -- how could that be? I turned my head fast enough to see a guy walking away form the pedestrian crossing button. He wasn't crossing the street, he must have walked out of his way just to press that button so the lights would change for me. I saw the back of his head as he walked away, he didn't even wait to see the smile on my face. What a beautiful thing.

So much negativity in the news these days. Broadcasters should.be ashamed of themselves for portraying the world as ugly as they do. Daily, millions of dollars are spent in the name of good and helping. Every day, in your presence, an act of kindness passes -- have you seen the one today yet? Each new day offers each of us a new chance to be the author of that act.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

ROSS ANTHONY WORKSHOPPING: Aug 2007
Last night I watched the International Space Station glide over the starry sky. A brilliant pinpoint of light slowly tracking like an ant along its trail. I spent about an hour looking up. Saw 5 other satellites and a shooting star in that time, camping in my van at a state park near Laguna Niguel, CA. I'm presenting a week long creative writing workshop here (in the city) for two small groups of energetic kids. We're all learning a lot, but my favorite session was Tuesday when I had them strip the lyrics from one of my songs and write their own lyrics to replace them. Then, of course, I played their new creations on my guitar. Went over well. Today we'll be writing 3 page screenplays. Maybe there's a Spielberg in the bunch.
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

BOOK TOURING: July 2007
I´m on book tour again -- in an internet café in Scotts Valley , California as we speak (that is, as I write and you read). Forgive me, I forgot to mention that in my last newsletter. I did have it planned, but I was so busy with so much going on at that moment that I guess, I half believed I wouldn´t be able to finish and go on a book tour too. Surprise Surprise. I finished enough. Anyway, this is a short one -- about 12ish days. I´ve already been on the road just about 7 of them -- travelin´ up the pretty coast of California from LA to San Fran. (I´m just an hour south of San Fran now.) So, if you live on the way and want me to stop by you call my 800 number. Otherwise, the van is holding up just great. You may recall that last year I too took my 1988 mitzubishi van on a 10 week book tour from LA to Chicago to Seattle and back. I love my van. I owe my van big time. Anyway, somewhere around Minnesota last year -- the van would sometimes sputter at 1900-2000 rpms -- very intermittently. It did that for the whole year. My mechanic couldn´t fix it, because, well, you know, it would never act up for him, so he didn´t know what to fix. Anyway, on a whim, I replaced the rotor the day before I left on this tour -- and guess what -- it hasn´t happened since. Is that cool or what? A $10 rotor I snapped in myself. Crazy.

Anyway, I´ll keep this short, just wanted to let you all know what was goin´ on with me. The weather has been ridiculously gorgeous, the state parks sweet (fell asleep at the edge of a babbling brook last night) and it´s always so good for my soul to meet all the new readers. Oh yeah, a reminder to you new readers -- don´t forget to type in your feedback at RossAnthony.com/books. Thanks. And the rest of you , don´t forget to enjoy your lives!
Ross Anthony, RossAnthony.com

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