Monday, 30 April 2007

Let go

Even though you may want to move forward in your life,
you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free,
we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt.
Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain.
The energy it takes to hang onto the past
is holding you back from a new life.
What is it you would let go of today?
- Mary Manin Morrissey

Friday, 27 April 2007

Attitude

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Don't complain.
- Maya Angelou

Wednesday, 25 April 2007

Explore...Discover

Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

Monday, 23 April 2007

Good work

You cannot do a good work
if you take your mind off the work
to see how the community is taking it.
- Dorothy L. Sayers

Friday, 20 April 2007

April 20, 2007 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

I have been having a very interesting email exchange with one of my friends for the past week.

My friend has quit her corporate job to work in the service sector with people. You’d think she would be excited about this new phase in her life, but she approached it kicking and screaming the whole way. Those of us who know her think that it is about time. Her caring nature and ability to put people at ease, her humorous approach and ability to create a nurturing atmosphere around her, make her a natural for her new life. But she doesn’t really see that...we do, but she doesn’t.

Now, it would not be surprising at all to find someone very reluctant and downright bullish about doing something they have never done. You want me to WHAT?!?! (bungie jump, speak in public, organize a large function, take on a larger opponent, or whatever it may be). We are often hesitant to try new things or step out of the comfort zone.

On the other hand, I find it interesting how we fight tooth and nail, clinging to our (distorted) perceptions of ourselves, rather than do something that is as natural to us as breathing. If something comes that easy to us why do we find excuses and reasons not to do it? We can’t use the excuse it is too hard or we don’t know how, but we can sure come up with pages and pages of other excuses.

What skill or talent do you have that is so easy you can’t believe everyone can’t do it? Are you sharing skill or talent with others?

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xFlrOT4qsx0zXa2QmmbxgTA9T7CCifKN/view?usp=sharing

To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday, 18 April 2007

Hobbies

A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.
- Phyllis McGinley

Monday, 16 April 2007

Joys & Sorrows

We choose our joys and sorrows
long before we experience them.
- Kahlil Gibran

Friday, 13 April 2007

New Day

Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit
to be encumbered with old nonsense.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, 11 April 2007

The Self

The self is not something ready-made,
but something in continuous formation
through choice of action.
- John Dewey

Monday, 9 April 2007

Tests

No one goes through life untested
but the answer to these tests is positive energy.
And the ultimate rule for the road
is that our vision, positive energy and certainty must be
greater than anyone's negativity, fear and doubt.
- Jon Gordon

Friday, 6 April 2007

April 6, 2007 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

Did you hear...a community in Manitoba wants to do away with the plastic grocery bag. San Francisco apparently already has a bylaw in effect regarding the usage of plastic grocery bags. The city is issuing cloth/canvas bags to residents for their shopping needs.

I find it interesting how we seem to “go back in time” every so many years or decades. The disposable plastic grocery bag was once a marvel and a wonder, freeing people from the need to carry around their own cloth bags. Now the plastic grocery bag is something to be shunned in favour of the environmentally friendly alternative - cloth bags.

The same thing happened with flooring not that long ago. For years and years people had wood floors. The really lucky ones may have had a throw rug or two for warmth. Then wall-to-wall carpet came in and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Carpet was warmer, allowed for greater creative expression and made a home more welcoming. Then we heard that carpet had harmful chemicals, trapped diseases and allergens, and was one of the reasons for so much sickness. Next thing you know everyone is going for wood or laminate flooring. Yes, we’ve come full circle yet again.

Everyone of us has the opportunity and the responsibility for making wiser, healthier choices in our lives that have the best (or least) impact on the environment in which we live. What are you doing today to make the world a better place?

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ga3xFHPAX9WHxmIVCPWwMis5ku-wYVeK/view?usp=sharing

To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday, 4 April 2007

Adventure

An adventure is only
an inconvenience rightly considered.
An inconvenience is only
an adventure wrongly considered.
- G. K. Chesterton

Monday, 2 April 2007

Silence

He who uses silence in lieu of speech really does speak.
– Lieh Tzu, Taoist sage

email: thechautauqua@gmail.com

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