Say you’re Galileo, and you’ve been excommunicated by the Catholic church, and branded a Heretic (your mom had a really hard time with that one, huh? I know).
And to make matters worse, you’ve died and been buried, and then somebody dug you up and took a few of your fingers and your tooth.
So, that sucks, Galileo.  That is really a bummer, especially for just agreeing with that Copernicus guy, who is really kind of a self-absorbed jerk.
Where’s the Justice?
Where’s the Justice, Galileo? I mean, especially after you invented the telescope.
Here’s …

I hesitated to share this with you this morning, because I really don’t want to bring you down. But an authentic, engaged life means that you bring the real (as long as it is somewhat useful).
This morning, I’m struggling with being idle with despair. Because I’m going through something that sucks. Something deeply frustrating, something I’ve tried really hard at.  And there’s no easy way to give up on it.
I’m coming to terms with the fact that my horse, Ed, is mentally ill, that he probably suffers from schizophrenia, …

Sometimes, after I freak out, I cook. I cook comfort food, typically.
Last night, I made the best lasagne rustica ever.
Rustica is a fancy way of saying “Rustic” which is a not so fancy way of saying “Unrefined” which means ‘Not messed with too much.”
So this is Lasagne Not Messed with Too Much. Which means, of course, that it is naturally pretty without having to worry if the layers are perfectly composed. I don’t know what Martha Stewart would think, but I know she’d be gracious about it.
And it’s lasagne, …

This is the third post about Ranting during Rant Week… If you are late to the party, start HERE.
Okay, so you’ve washed your face.  The echos of your words have stopped bouncing off the walls.  You are post-rant.
Maybe you cried a little. That’s okay.  That’s your body just leaking away what’s bothering you.
Don’t feel ashamed of your big, loud feelings.
Now What?
Often, when one stops ranting, there’s this moment of “Now What?”
This is the post-rant recovery.  Drink a large glass of water.  Then do something with your fingers.
It can be …

Why rant? Why have a wild, incoherent, emotional response?
Because in each of us, there’s a little wild, a little incoherence, a lot of emotion.
And to resist it, is to let it persist in us in ways that can be chaotic and not useful.
So, you yell it out, and you let it go.
I think it’s kind of funny that I have to explain how to rant to people. We all did it so well as children.  The typical 2 year old is an Olympic ranter.  I saw a kid lose it …

The Definition of Rant
Rant: n. A wild, incoherent, emotional articulation.
[audio http://bridgetpilloud.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/forvo_en_2550592.mp3]
I thought you should hear some British fellow pronounce it.  Some day I will rent a British fellow to follow me around and say things to me and order my food in restaurants.
I imagine him saying, The gentleman wants to know if you’d like fries with that.
So, it’s rant week.
Have you been told that the way to enlightenment is through peace and contemplation?
It is.
And also…
To engage deeply in this world is to experience this world.
To experience this world is …

One more day of stories, my friends. And then it’s Rant Week.
What is Rant Week? We’re going to talk about how to have a good rant. That is, how to use our anger to motivate us to change this world we live in (without either being consumed by it, or by having negative effects from it).
We’re also going to rant.
We can rant about little things… (like individually wrapped prunes) or big things (like World Hunger).
Most of my rants are little.
So stay tuned…here come the stories….
and then the rants, people, …

I’m of a mind that everything here is useful.

That includes the ugly emotions, like anger and jealousy.
How is angry useful?
Anger is a powerful tool. Anger says, “Things Need to Change.” I think you might be like me. I’m scared of my anger. I’ve used anger badly in the past. It’s been some time. It’s like roller skating. When you wipe out, it’s hard to go, I’d like to do that again. Let’s Use Anger Effectively, Yes? Yes. Let’s. Here’s my 3 rules of anger:
1 …