Perspective.

This is the trump card to any battle of opinions that an undergraduate is losing: "Well, that's your Perspective." And as far as the undergraduate's words go, s/he is absolutely right. But such accurate words usually mask an inner resolve to deny the validity of her/his opponent's opinion. The undergraduate is rarely as interested in understanding another's Perspective as s/he is in having his/her own Perspective understood.

I think there's an undergraduate in all of us.

A happy byproduct of zen practice is the realization of Perspective, especially one's own. When this realization first strikes, it can be frightening. (Zen reveals some pretty subtle things, so for simplicity's sake, we'll

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Compare and Prepare.

This may appear blurry if you've already started celebrating. I'll make it quick. In observance of this cultural holiday, I'm posting about this picture of two drinks that meet today's standard, each in its own way. The mug on the left contains green tea. The one on the right contains coffee that's been "Irished-up." Both were consumed in the wee hours.

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Paying Attention.

This is a practice that will save your ass in any situation. On the grossest level, Paying Attention allows you to take note of your surroundings and act accordingly: Is your boss singing that tune about meeting quotas again? If you're Paying Attention, you can nod your head at the right times during the spiel and avoid being singled out from the workers who are clearly not listening.

On a subtler level, Paying Attention lets you assess what others are actually saying; you deduce a truer meaning by Paying Attention to words,

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