Hot Read Indeed

So Sykes is now offering what he considers the "must read" posting or article for every single day. Saturday he puts up his 'Weekend Edition" (not to be confused with his "Sunday Edition"--Sundays must not be part of the weekend in Charlie's world). It is apparent that Charlie doesn't read his must reads or he wouldn't tell people they must read them. His weekend edition has a list of things to use as resolutions for the new year. Some that Charlie should be thinking about (with Whallah's observations in parentheses):

3. Spend time with your family. Make sure that there is at least one time a week when you sit down to have a meal together with no distractions – no television, no phone, no e-mail, just being together and celebrating one another’s company. Happy marriages and healthy families need dedicated time. (This could be hard when you have many families, but try anyway.)

4. Discover meaning. Take time out, once in a while, to ask: “Why am I here? What do I hope to achieve? How best can I use my gifts? What would I wish to be said about me when I am no longer here?” Finding meaning is essential to a fulfilled life – and how can you find it if you never look? If you don’t know where you want to be, you will never get there, however fast you run. (And try to use your gifts for the greater good, not for personal gain, else someone has to go Whallah! on your buttocks.)

5. Live your values. Most of us believe in high ideals, but we act on them only sporadically. The best thing to do is to establish habits that get us to enact those ideals daily. This is called ritual, and it is what religions remember but ethicists often forget. (First, it is important to have values.)

8. Learn to listen. Often in conversation we spend half our time thinking of what we want to say next instead of paying attention to what the other person is saying. Listening is one of the greatest gifts we can give to someone else. It means that we are open to them, that we take them seriously and that we accept graciously their gift of words. ('Nuff said.)

9. Create moments of silence in the soul. Liberate yourself, if only five minutes daily, from the tyranny of technology, the mobile phone, the laptop and all the other electronic intruders, and just inhale the heady air of existence, the joy of being. (It also helps to have a soul.)