Treat people according to what they are capable of becoming rather than what they're asking for.

For the love of light is a book about the art of Polaroid photography and cori kindred is one of the featured artists. Check out the book and check out cori's polaroids on flickr.

I was inspired to jump into the stock market after reading The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing by Jason Kelly. While most kids are still jumpin' on the day trading bandwagon, Jason opts for the "work smarter not harder" philosophy and suggests that by taking the time to find fundamentally sound companies we don't need to get caught up in the day to day ups and downs of the stock market. Walmart or Starbucks isn't going to crash overnight or even in a couple weeks. This style of market research is called fundamental analysis.

Jason makes very little assumptions about the reader, and since I don't have an MBA I love this. Words like market capitalization, EPS, P/S, revenue, and so on are all followed by definitions and the mathematical formulas for playing along at home. Jason is also a great story teller, and takes a complex beast like the stock market and puts a leash on it long enough to point out some defining characteristics. [Insert corny bull or bear pun here]

After reading this book I felt like I was ready to dive into the stock market and start researching companies. When it came to making trades I had to grab Jason's book to help with the scary last minute confusing terms like GTC, Bid vs Ask, and limits. I felt supported in those last moments of diving in.

Now that I'm in the trades though, I feel there's one area of the book I was wishing there was more content on. If my stocks fall how long do they fall before I take my losses? And, at which point do I cash in my profit chips and buy my wife that mint green vespa she's always wanted?

While those questions may not have been answered as thoroughly as I had hoped for there were two very fundamental concepts I learned from Jason's book. First, if you're trading for money you are not going to make money. if you find yourself saying "I'll sell after I double my money" you are are doomed to failure because your greed is blurring reality. Second I learned that stock market eats newbies such as myself for breakfast. On the side of every trade is not another company, but a person who is betting the exact opposite outcome you are. And what's between the two decision points is a pool of emotions waiting to absorb the newbies. I find that fascinating, and am ready to be kicked around a bit by stock FUD.

Look for me over in the Investopedia community. Meanwhile I'm looking for a cool way to automate my trades so they show up on my blog. I think I've *almost* got it with Yahoo! pipes.

Anyone know of any other community stock pick sites worth checkin' out?

Scratch your name
Into the fabric
Of this world
Before you go
The skin will tear
Under the pressure
Make it deep
So it always shows

Scratch your name
As true as love is insane

The Noisettes are rocking my world.

What causes you to be moved this deeply?

As true as love is insane

There's been a few times in my life when I have gone insane. One experience was when I felt a great loss, the other was on a meditation retreat after realizing I have never been born. When an emotion is pure (insane without fear, insane without anger) it is a very lucid and clear experience. I found myself sobbing and my body was throwing all sorts of fits, but my mind was still, pointed, and transfixed. The fear didn't come until I realized that true insanity itself is another face of god. Yet another taste of the transcendent.

But the transcendent isn't all there is. Being human means get caught up in all the day-to-day muck of our lives. Our loved ones die and we grieve. We say yes to too many obligations and we overload on stress. We lash out at others because we're hurting inside.

Where would you be if the world was pure bliss? How would you know what bliss was if you didn't have hell to compare it with? Our human-ness is also the sense doors for the divine. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you'll get over feeling sorry for yourself and make a conscious decision to be a human being.

And that is the paradox, isn't it? And it lends credence to old zen saying: Enlightenment is realizing there is no enlightenment.

You are already enlightened (you always have been), and yet you're not (because an eternal taste would make us forget what we're drinking).

I've seen my zen teacher be as tough as a military drill sergeant and as compassionate as buddha, taking on the world's suffering to help heal it. I used to think that some days he was just being an asshole, and while none of us are saints, what I've come to learn is Genpo cares with depth few teachers can embody.

I consider myself a good listener. I sigh when a sigh is needed, I grimace on cue and courtesy chuckle like a talk show host making their guest feel welcomed. This works; people share their story and since I'm triggering all the right interpersonal signals they feel heard. Other times they might be looking for validation about something I disagree with, and I can nod and smile with the best of them.

Lately the ritual of nodding, placating, giving people the quick pat on the back feels more contrived than ever. Since starting Big Mind my traditional interpersonal communication skills have wavered. The Big Mind process helps me identify and name the emotional persona I'm currently speaking as, and in doing so I take ownership of my feelings. This empowerment is akin to remembering the name to a familiar face, or finally recalling that word that was previously drawing blanks, or on an esoteric realm, being called by your true name for the first time and finally feeling home. On any realm, naming the voice or trait we're speaking as helps us to understand why we're feeling the way we are.

Like most things that keep us stuck, this old dialog pattern is yet another high-fiver in the fear club. I thought by giving the standard and expected responses people want that they'll see I care, and ultimately that they'll like me. What I realized today was how incredibly selfish and truly un-caring this act is. It's motivated by my ego trying to cover it's ass. The end result is the relationships and intimacy I was wanting is simultaneously being pushed away, by me! Why? Because a mountain fake smiles is easier than a single moment of vulnerability. And vulnerability creates intimacy.

And then I look at Genpo Roshi who learned value of this insight probably early on in his practice. Helping people isn't about getting them to like you. For me it's about knowing that at a different vantage point there is nothing that needs to be changed. And at that place there is also no distinction between you and them, no liking to be liked, if you will. Genuine and authentic compassion flows from the source of knowing who you always have been, and these are the tools used by my teacher.