Wednesday, 31 August 2016

Sun

 The weather will change and the sun will shine. 
 - Hugh O'Donovan

Monday, 29 August 2016

Acceptance

Accepting...just means that we always have the choice
 to slow down, to observe things as they really are in this moment
...this acceptance that the situation is as it is 
gives us more choices and room to manoeuvre.
 - Hugh O'Donovan
 

Friday, 26 August 2016

Sigh

[Sigh]: Sitting in God's hands. 
 - Priscilla Warner 

Wednesday, 24 August 2016

Breath

The greatest miracle is that you are alive.  
And one breath can show you that. 
- Thich Nhat Hanh 

Monday, 22 August 2016

Rough

Let me not be deterred by the roughness of the road.
 - Marianne Williamson 

Friday, 19 August 2016

August 19, 2016 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings
 
   As I type this, my right knee is currently covered in a massive colourful bruise, and it’s even missing some skin.  The reason my knee is in such a sorry state is because almost every time I walked by my bed today - which was a large number of times - I managed to smash my knee very hard onto the sharp wooden corner of the bed’s foot board.

   Now, it isn’t like I don’t know it’s there.  The bed has been in that particular spot since December 2005!  Also there is ample space to get by it so there is no need to even get close to it. I literally go by it from the moment I get out of bed in the morning to the moment I crawl into bed at night, plus all the other moments I walk by it in a day.  On rare occasions I do run it, yet, for the most part I can even navigate past it in the dark, or with my eyes closed because I’m half awake.

   That makes today’s repeated, and incredibly painful, connections to the foot board such a mystery.  Why today, as I’ve never done this - hit it so many times in one day - before?  Why, despite being extra careful and vigilant, does it seem like my poor abused knee was magnetically sucked over to the foot board even when I didn’t have to be anywhere near it?

   Alas, I don’t know the answers.  It must just  be “one of those days.”

   Yet, isn’t that the way it is with our lives.  Something that is so obvious, and has been a particular way forever, suddenly becomes a stumbling block that trips us and sends us flat on our face.
 
   It isn’t the big things (boulders) that trip us, but the little things (pebbles).  It is doing the routine, automatic, things that can result in accidents, not the novel once-in-awhile things.   It isn’t something new in our lives, or what we’re learning to do, it’s what we’ve mastered and can do in our sleep that can lead to sloppiness and carelessness.  
 
   We assume that because it has always been that way - and we haven’t changed anything - we don’t need to pay attention any more.  And when we stop paying attention to our lives, that’s when things really start falling apart.
 
   Where do you need to start paying more attention?

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua20/home/August%2019%2C%202016%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
 
Contact The Chautauqua via email: thechautauqua@gmail.com or via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheChautauqua

Wednesday, 17 August 2016

Change

I don't ask God to change my circumstances, 
but to change who I am with in them. 
 - Marianne Williamson

Monday, 15 August 2016

Stone

The path before me isn't set in stone, but in my consciousness... 
No matter what path I have taken to this moment in my life,
 I can change it as I change my thoughts. 
 - Marianne Williamson 

Friday, 12 August 2016

Conformist

The average man is a conformist,
 accepting miseries and disasters 
with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.
 - Colin Wilson
 

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Less

 It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. 
 - William of Occam

Monday, 8 August 2016

Genius

People think it must be fun to be a super genius,
but they don't realize how hard it is 
to put up with all the idiots in the world. 
 - Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes) 

Friday, 5 August 2016

August 5, 2016 Chautauqua

 
Beth's Ponderings

   There is no doubt that there are a lot of wrongs in our world.  Bad things happen each and every day - some minor, some devastating.  It is not only heart wrenching, but it can even destroy a person’s sanity and will to live.

   Yet, despite being bombarded throughout the day with the latest disaster or bad news story, there is an overwhelming amount of good in our world.    In fact, there is much more good than the bad.  I know it can be hard to believe, but that’s because we are being constantly fed the bad, making it easy to overlook the good.

   And if you really don’t believe me, consider that there wouldn’t even be a human left alive on this planet if there wasn’t a wealth of good things happening around the world all the time.

  Every day, innocent babies, full of unconditional love and joy, draw their first breaths.  Every day, countless people are thrilled to open their eyes to a brand new morning.  Every day, someone somewhere overcomes the odds to walk again, or talk again, or heal from an illness.  Every day, people are helping others and sharing what they have.  Every day, unlimited smiles and hugs are being shared around the world.  Every day, the sun shines and there is air to breathe.  


   Every single day of our lives 99% of what we do, and what happens around us, is good and works out.  So much so, that we take for granted that it will.  So  why let the 1 or 2 things that didn’t go as you think they should control your life?  Why live in constant fear of something happening?  Oh, did you know that people tend to fear and feel threatened by good things happening more than disasters...why?

   Instead of seeing the glass half empty, see it as full and overflowing.

   Anyone who has ever washed a dirty glass knows that to remove the dirt you have to add more clean water.  Even if you don’t empty out the dirt first, just by adding more clean water and letting it overflow the glass will eventually be clean and filled with clear water.

      Yes, there is bad in our world, but there is an awful lot of good too.  Help those in need, but don’t dwell on what is going wrong in the world.  Instead add more good till it overflows around you.

 Beth

 Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua20/home/August%205%2C%202016%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

 Contact The Chautauqua via email: thechautauqua@gmail.com or via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheChautauqua

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Urgent

Birth: miraculous.  
Survival: amazing.  
Death: inevitable.  
Suffering: optional. 
Life: urgent. 
 - Danielle LaPorte 

Monday, 1 August 2016

Hear

The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.
 - Rumi 

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