100 Skills Everyone Should Master

Mighty Girl (here) produced a list of 100 skills everyone should master

Here's a few from her list I still need work on

3. Care for a baby, 12. Remember names, 24. Ask for exactly what you want, 50. Travel light, 64. Organize your home, 87. Dress to flatter your shape

I wonder what the spiritual skills that require work are. Patience and faith are right up there. Trust and assurance also near the top. But even before this is the need to be dissatified with the way things are and wanting change. The old joke says "How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb?" " It doesn't matter what's important is the lightbulb has to want to change!"

Intimacy involves distance

Intimacy between people requires closeness as well as distance. It is like dancing. Sometimes we are very close, touching each other or holding each other; sometimes we move away from each other ... To keep the right balance ... requires hard work ... A perfect balance seldom occurs, but the honest and open search for that balance can give birth to a beautiful dance ... Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, in other words being away increases love. Perhaps it would be absence helps love grow stronger. The metaphor of the dance is also good for our relationship with God, but God is not absent rather gives us space to grow, to practice good decision making and exercise good judgment and learn. We need doubt and free will to grow and we need the space to exercise both and the courage to step out into that space.

Allergy proofing

I need to improve my health more and allergy proofing is an issue I was reading a list of things to do the improve the home and guess what I read at Apartment therapy?

4. Focus on your bedroom. This is where you spend the majority of your time at home, and mattresses and pillows naturally develop dust mites over time. ... 5. We all love to read in bed, but bookcases in the bedroom are a no-no for allergy sufferers too, as books gather a ton of dust.

And guess what? I have my library, a ton of books and music in my ... bedroom! The changes in my life look like they will be continuing and fairly drastically. However to get rid of some of the coughing, wheezing, and sneezing would be great.