The only problem with Google Reader or What a Rich Resource!

I love Google Reader (except for the frustrating fact that I now have more that 450 new posts to peruse because I keep finding new & interesting sites to add as I meander through the Web). It's about as bad as my regular MSN email box that often ends up collecting 500 or more emails because I tend to ignore it for long periods of time. There is an option in GR to "mark all posts as read" but that seems to defeat the point, so I choose not to do that ... yet.

Fortunately, GR allows me to organize Blogs into categories so I can easily check out new posts from my Writers Retreat Friends, Virtual Buddies, and a variety of other "categories" I've created to "sort" these blogs into manageable "chunks". The category called "Blogs to Check out Someday" has 460 or so in it currently, but I'm not letting myself feel pressured by that. I try to check out about 10 each day .. but I know there will be rainy days down the line when I'll sit down by the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate ( & perhaps a few cookies) to scan them quickly ... adding some to categories that "fit" and deleting others I won't feel called to keep.

I realize most of you don't have as much "leisure time" as I do ... so this post is my humble attempt to help expand your virtual horizons while saving time and simplifying the discovery process ... though I'm sure as you venture out you'll find things I've not yet discovered, and I hope you'll share in return. Remember I'm a "newbie" to all this ... starting less than a month ago.

In addition to Google Reader, the "rich resource" I wish to write about here is Patti at 37 Days. I'm sure many of you have already discovered her, but she has my head spinning and reminds me of my friends Holly (from the Writer's Retreat) and Elatia (from my EBB training) who are "strategic thinkers" ... from whom ideas simply flow abundantly. What an amazing gift to share so freely.

I've already mentioned the 37 Day Complaint-Free challenge (and a few other ideas) in a post at Sacred Ruminations, but find myself captivated by so many of Patti's ideas. Her post Listen Fully visually & verbally illustrates the point beautifully that I'm sharing here. In it, after sharing the link to Prospero's Book, she quotes that post within her own as I've done here (to spread the word and get folks thinking and talking ... perhaps even making different choices today and tomorrow).

"In his book A Time before Deception, Thomas W. Cooper writes that native peoples around the world have 'specific moral standards for communication.' Those he lists are provocative standards for all of us who speak or write--that is, all of us:

1. listening fully with the heart, no matter how trivial or wrong the discussion may seem;
2. not interrupting another's communication;
3. not walking between conversants;
4. speaking softly, especially to elders;
5. speaking only by invitation when among a group of elders;
6. avoiding slander and defamation of all kinds;
7. communicating as an individual (contributing independent ideas to the council) first, then communicating in synch with the group (once policies have been set);
8. truth-telling;
9. inner communicating (morning and evening sanctification, periods of guidance) must precede outer communicating, openness to the Great Spirit is essential;
10. communicating with the whole tribe or whole earth in mind so as to honor others."

And adds ...
"I love this. Let's adopt it. Let's make Successories posters of it (or not). More than that, let's just do it."

Like Patti, I'm delighted at the "web-like" ways of this World-Wide Web! The teacher-in-me wants EVERYONE to know, think and talk with others about such rich ideas and possibilities. And so ... this morning, I "touch magic ... and pass it on" hoping others will do likewise.

On Cooper's article I wonder ...
Don't we all deserve such respect? Don't we want our children to learn these practices? To borrow a phrase from Chani's recent Blog Blast for Peace ... "If not now, when?"

If Patti's site isn't enough to capture your imagination and cause YOUR head to spin, check out the following:
-- On Becoming a Tooth Fairy at A Life Outtacontext
-- Lynda and the Alphabet among other things at ELLOUISESTORY
-- see what Lucy's been sharing about Where Spirituality and Creativity Meet where I found links to Abbey of the Arts
-- discover Carla (and her mom's inspiring messages) at zena musings and/or Women at Rest and find links to other bloggers sharing their Sacred Lives, encounter thought provoking posts like Sunrise Sister offers at Mind-Seive and inspirational conversations occuring at Hearth Talks
-- or find Joy's interesting pictures & entertaining life stories at The Joy of Six

You get the idea (and you know why GR is jam-packed with possibilities). Now go explore ... and share your own recommendations as well. It's a community out there! :)