by Marty Coleman | Aug 7, 2012 | Italian Proverbs, Olympics - 2012 |
It’s day #2 of Olympics week at the NDD. Notice anything different about the drawing today? It’s a ‘not a napkin’ napkin (because I ran out of napkins).
Guess what I drew it on.
FAME and GLORY
So much fame, so many endorsements, so much attention, money, glory, adulation, hype and talk for the winners. So much obscurity for the losers. But answer me this. Who won what 100 years ago in the Olympics? I don’t know, I am sure you don’t either, unless you look it up or are related to a winner from back then. We all go back in the same box. Most of us, famous or not, eventually forgotten. Is that depressing? In some ways, yes. One of the things I like most about being an artist is leaving something behind. But art is corruptible (especially when drawn on a napkin) and it too will not last forever most likely.
What Remains?
What remains then? Kindness remains. That is it. That is what I want to get my gold medal in when the time comes. That is what I want to hand down to my daughters and grand kids (come on daughters, times a’ wasting). I want to be good at what I do of course. I want to work with those who strive for excellence. But I really don’t have much tolerance for excellence that is covered with anger and vitriol. I don’t want to be around a winner who is mean and hurtful. I don’t want to be in a business relationship (though it is unavoidable at times) with someone who is scheming, manipulative, insensitive and negative.
I want to be, and I want to surround myself with, one who is both excellent and kind, who achieves great things and does it with love in my heart.
That lasts.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who has a lot to learn.
Quote is an Italian proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Jun 21, 2012 | Chinese Proverbs |
Your Purpose
As an artist, your obligation is not to produce propaganda that everyone listens to, understands and obeys. That is other people’s jobs. Your job as an artist is to express yourself, whether there is logic, reasoning and greater purpose in the expression or not.
Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs and what’s wrong with that?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who saw Wings in concert at the Fabulous Forum in LA in 1975.
Quote is a Chinese proverb
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by Marty Coleman | May 23, 2012 | Blog World NY, English Proverbs, Procrastination - 2012 |
The journey to blog World in New York continues.
Anytime
This quote, ‘What can be done at any time is never done at all’ probably exemplifies my procrastination nemesis more than any other. I like deadlines. I fail at deadlines sometimes but not nearly as much as when I don’t have any at all.
Busy Boy
Another element that really helps me is to be busy. It makes for a certain amount of stress, but not so much as to be negative. When I am busy, like I am now, I think faster, I act faster, and I make plans better. I have to fit something into a smaller time slot and that helps me focus my time and my brain.
I am in the middle of helping my daughter move into her first ‘big girl’ apartment in Dallas. A lot of moving, truck renting, decision making, appliance buying, etc. etc. I have to fit everything else, my clients (who I am not ignoring if you are reading this, I AM working on that header), my dog who has a torn ACL and has to be crated and walked every few hours (not fun for her), my running group that I organize and lead 5 days a week, and my photo group I help lead by doing the library presentations (one of which is tonight and I just came up with the topic this morning).
Blog World here I come
All the while I am preparing for Blog World. And I am actually preparing better for it because I am so busy. At least I think I am. You be the judge when you come to my session if you attend, ok?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, busy boy
Quote is an English Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | May 11, 2012 | Latin Proverbs, Revenge - 2012 |
It’s day #2 of our Revenge Series at the NDD
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Here’s a question for you: How do you kill something that only you are keeping alive?
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Drawing and question by Marty Coleman, who likes cemeteries.
Quote is a Latin Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 19, 2011 | Life Sciences - 2011, Proverbs, Quote Authors, Series |
The following is a correct statement:
Today is Day #3 of Life Science Week
The Glory of Confusion
One of the most satisfying things about studying science, even at my amateur level, is the glory of discovering how many things are contradictory truths. It doesn’t make sense that both are true, but they are. I like that, even as it confuses the bejesus out of me. I am not a big fan of confusion, but I am a big fan of that feeling of understanding that comes after it! That is why I study and/or try stuff that is really hard and confusing (ask me about php and mysql database stuff…THAT is confusing!)
The Life in Life Science
I think what maturity I have came into being when I started to realize that my understanding of the world and my response to it wasn’t some absolute truth. It was my truth. It was affected by my biology, my family, my DNA, my experiences, my body, my decisions. I think that is one of the hardest things to deal with in a marriage, for example, is realizing that your spouse is not thinking about your life together exactly as you are. His or her understanding and response is completely and utterly different than yours, even if there are areas of overlap. How you cope with that truth is key to whether you will have a happy and successful marriage.
The Beginning of Maturity
It is true that we all have different truths of how the world works, why it is that way, and what our response should and will be to it. Understanding that everyone’s truth is a profound truth that deserves to be understood and respected, even if it causes stress and complications in life, is the beginning of maturity.
The Better Truth
After all, how can any of us move into a better, more accurate understanding, a better truth so to speak, unless we can acknowledge the truth we already are living.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Neils Bohr, 1885-1962, Danish physicist
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 25, 2011 | Bad Habits - 2011, Chinese Proverbs |
I am going to make a habit of this.
It’s ‘Bad Habit Week’ at the NDD!
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This could easily be called addiction week as well, but I wanted to use the word habit because it applies in more cases. Not everyone is an addict, but everyone has habits. Some can be quite debilitating and destructive so whether we call it an addiction or a habit, it still is a subject that everyone deals with at some level.
The problem with habits is that often times we don’t realize we have them until we get in a relationship. When that happens the other person is close enough often enough to see the habit in action, we can’t hide it. But if we are lucky they are also close enough to say something about it to us. It might be something as simple as leaving the top off the medicine bottle. It might be something as severe as continually hurting someone’s feelings with a facial expression and verbal response.
Even if we are lucky enough to have someone who will point out our bad habits, we still have to decide in our own brain to do something about it. And one thing is for certain, you won’t change a habit by continuing to do the habit. You must adjust. It might be a complete different direction, it might be a slight course change, but whatever it is, you have to decide to do it.
The key is to not be overwhelmed by the task. You don’t have to change your life goal by redefining a new destination, you just have to change take one small step in a new direction. It might be a decision to buy healthier food today at the grocery store. It’s not a decision to ALWAYS and FOREVER ONLY buy healthy food. It’s just a small decision today to buy healthier food. Do that one thing and you have changed your direction and that is enough. Worry about the next trip to the store when you take it, not today.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad DailyQuote is a Chinese proverb
Napkin Dad Trivia – I learned to fly airplanes when I was 13 years old.
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 20, 2011 | Mother's Day - 2011, Spanish Proverbs |
Whether it’s confession, absolution, forgiveness or advice, moms pretty much have it over Priests or anyone else for that matter. Father’s can be pretty good at it too!
Quote is a Spanish Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 19, 2011 | Jewish Proverbs, Mother's Day - 2011 |
Day #2 of MOTHER’S WEEK at the NDD – time to think about what you are going to get for yours (or what you are going to suggest to your children to get for you) for Mother’s Day. It’s less than 3 weeks away. The Napkin Dad has great stuff available at Zazzle.com. Some are Mother’s Day oriented some are just good messages you know she would love to get.
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Mother’s Day #2 by NapkinDad
The front of the card has the mom missing from the image and says “Mom, I have had a religious realization and i wanted you to know about it”. The inside of the card has the drawing with the mother as you see above.
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Ask any mother, whether with one kid or 10, what life is like and they will all say they wish they had as many arms as the mother in the drawing does! Most of the mom’s I know actually do have this many arms, but all but two of them stretch out from her heart, not her body.
Quote is a Jewish Proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 11, 2011 | Zen, Zen Proverbs |
It’s Day Infinity of Zen Week. Not unexpectedly, this week’s series has resulted in many more visitors from Japan than usual. I am hopeful you are all safe and have the support and strength to rebuild your homeland.
INFINITY
Normal cat is insistently meowing to get in the house. I hear her through the open window. Light, fresh air is blowing through it as well.
She was insistent about wanting to go out earlier. She went out when I went to check on the neighbors yard. I heard something I wouldn’t usually hear and Wiggle dog was barking at the fence in that direction. All was ok. It was my neighbor, who is usually not home this time of day.
While I was out front I took the opportunity to pull up some long dead plants. I hit the roots against the warm brick wall so the rich soil would fall back in the garden. Then I threw them over the rusty barbed wire fence into the open field. I notice how well the chives came up again. I pulled one plant that had new growth I hadn’t seen and replanted it.
I didn’t bother to check the mail, the mailwoman doesn’t usually come this early.
When I came back inside I started water to boil some beans. They need to stand for an hour now.
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Drawing and story by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote is a Zen saying
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One year ago today at the NDD – People don’t grow up, they just grow. Actually I thought yesterday was 3/11 so I posted the year ago napkin from that date. So, today I am making amends by posting 3/10/10. It’s a really good one, one of my all time faves.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 11, 2011 | Zen, Zen Proverbs |
I hope you are enlightened on day 4 of Zen Week at The Napkin Dad Daily. A shout out to all my Napkin Kin who have recently bought coffee mugs, thank you!
Enlightenment always wants to be grand. We like to make the grand proclamation that we have been enlightened about something. Maybe after we have done something bad, been caught, and had to publicly apologize. Maybe after having an amazing life transformation that makes us aware of new things. Maybe travel to a new country that opens our eyes to ways we didn’t know existed.
We like to make a spectacle of enlightenment.
But enlightenment is sustained when it is small, not large. When it finds the mundane being just as capable of expanded awareness as the heroic, then it has food to live on. We can’t feed our enlightenment every day with only our heroic deeds and thoughts any more than we are likely to feed our bodies on only gourmet restaurant fare. We feed ourselves in our daily life with more everyday fare and if you want enlightenment to stay with you, you have to find it there too.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote is a Zen proverb
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zen buddhism religion enlightenment mundane everyday hero heroic spectacle 2011
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