The Chautauqua: April 2018

No matter who you are, what is going on in your life, or what you are facing or dealing with, the truth is that the most formidable mountain any of us will ever encounter in our entire lives, is...ourselves.

You can dream and visualize all you want (and there is a time and place for dreaming) or think all you want (and there certainly is a time and place for thinking), but all the dreaming and thinking in the world is worth nothing if you don’t physically move yourself and DO the action that you are thinking or dreaming about.

We believe that we have to wait until we’re completely ready, that certain circumstances have to change in our lives, or everything has to be absolutely perfect, before we take that first step, yet, nothing will change, nor will we be ever be ready, UNTIL we take that first step, whatever it may be.

Now some of you will say that you are constantly moving and on the go, and that very well may be true, but how much of our daily activity is habitual, routine actions that we all do without much thought? We’re not moving mountains in that case, we’re just pushing dirt around.

In order to move our “mountain” we need to move ourselves in ways that we don’t normally move - and by moving physically, I’m not just referring to exercise, though that certainly may be one area of movement that you want to change.

So in order to move your particular mountain, all you have to do is take one step, any step, in any direction, as long as it is one you’ve never taken before.

And once that first step, or action, is taken, the rest will be that much easier, and before you know it, you’ll be in that place you always dreamed of, but never thought you’d be.

Moving a mountain is both the hardest, and yet the simplest, task we may ever do in our lives.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua24/home/April%2020%2C%202018%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

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Wednesday 18 April 2018

Let go

If it's hard you're not doing it right. Let go. Breathe...

- Bill Douglas

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Monday 16 April 2018

Creativity

Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.

- John Cleese

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Friday 13 April 2018

Breath

Breath is the thread that ties creation together.

- Morihei Ueshiba

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Wednesday 11 April 2018

Compare

If you give it your all and do your best, it is impossible to fail.

You may not have gotten the outcome others expected,

but you didn't fail. Only way to fail

is to compare our experience to that of someone else...

- Gregg Braden

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Monday 9 April 2018

Judge

Do not judge my story by the chapter you walked in on.

- Author unknown

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Friday 6 April 2018

April 6, 2018 Chautauqua

Beth's Ponderings

I recently read about a gal who decided to go on a year-long shopping ban, and at the same time, she purged 70% of her belongings.

Now, she freely admitted that she was completely caught up in consumerism, but the big thing that she noticed when she did this personal experiment was that she had a house full of stuff for who she thought she “should” be, not who she really was.

She had bookshelves bursting with the type of books she thought she “should” read to be seen as intelligent. She had a closet stuffed full of clothes that she thought she “should” wear to be recognized as competent and professional. She had cupboards, and a fridge, crammed with food items that she thought she “should” be eating because all the diet books told her to eat those foods. She had piles and piles of unopened boxes containing supplies and equipment for hobbies she thought she “should” be doing to make herself a better person.

Yet, none of these items that she thought she “should” own were used or appreciated, because she didn’t like them, or even really want them. And, because her house was so full of these items, she was constantly reminded that she wasn’t who she thought she “should” be, so she was always feeling intense stress, which affected her health on all levels.

Once she got rid of it all, and started accepting she was who she was - reading what she enjoyed reading, wearing what she felt comfortable and at ease in, eating what made her feel healthy, and revisiting the hobbies from her past that she actually enjoyed doing - she discovered that she was much happier, healthier, and less stressed all around.

I’d like to clarify a point here. The author didn’t accumulate all the stuff in her house in an effort to be the person SHE “wanted” to be, but to be who she thought OTHERS wanted her to be.

So, how much of your “stuff” reflects who you really are, and how much of it reflects who you think you “should” be?

Once you know that, buying something new to create a better version of yourself, for yourself, not others, won’t bring stress and guilt, but joy.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua24/home/April%206%2C%202018%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

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