Monday 30 July 2018

Day

Give every day the chance to be
 the most beautiful day of your life.
 - Mark Twain

Friday 27 July 2018

Solution

In life there is always a way to keep going. 
No matter the setback or obstacle,
 there is always a solution,
 always a way forward.
 - Joy Mangano

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Creativity

Real creativity is achieved not when you please others, 
but when you please yourself.
 - James L. Brooks

Monday 23 July 2018

Ordinary

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything
 that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision 
against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, 
the slaves of the ordinary. 
- Cecil Beaton

Friday 20 July 2018

July 20, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   My all-time favourite time of year is early July, when for 10 days, the Calgary Stampede thrills and excites people from all over the world.

   I’m not really a sports fan, and rarely watch any sporting events on TV, but all that changes when it’s Stampede time!  Rodeo is my sport of choice, and the Stampede in particular because it features the best of the best cowboys and cowgirls doing what they love best, and I try to catch as much of the action as I can over the course of the 10 days.

   I love watching the chuckwagons make their figure-8 and race out onto the track.  The bullriding, steer-wrestling, and tie-down roping events always delight, as well as the other events.  I cheer for all the competitors, while cheering harder for my favourites such as Zeke Thurston.

   And despite what the commentators may say, or how many times the competitors have won (even at Calgary), there are no guarantees in rodeo.  Especially when you consider the unpredictable personalities of the livestock they are competing with.  Just ask Straws Milon, who was (for all intents and purposes) dragged the entire width of the infield by a very determined steer who did NOT want to be dropped.  The competitor in the lead can easily end up at the bottom of the heap in the space of a mere 24 hours, and the reverse is also true, the worst luck can change with a single ride and vault a competitor into the championship round.

   While the prize money does make for a bit more excitement, the real thrill is when you see a competitor beat their own best time or score for the first time ever, and then you watch them take that added boost of confidence into their next ride.

   While most of us aren’t going to be getting on the back of a bucking bull, or try to wrestle a steer to the ground, we can learn a lot from the rodeo world on how to approach our lives:

  • do your best and let go of the result as tomorrow is another day
  • when you get knocked off your feet, get back up and try again.
Beth

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

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

Wednesday 18 July 2018

Change

The only time you can change someone else
 is when they are in diapers.
 - Kris Carr

Monday 16 July 2018

Necessary

Is any of this struggle actually necessary? 
- Deepak Chopra

Friday 13 July 2018

How

If you do not know how you did it,
 you will never know how to do it again. 
- Tom Sturges

Wednesday 11 July 2018

Idea

If an idea is any good, it will be remembered...
If an idea cannot be remembered, 
it might not have been worth remembering. 
- Tom Sturges

Monday 9 July 2018

Moments

Be present and open to the moment 
that is unfolding before you because, 
ultimately your life is made up of moments.
 - Jessica Lange

Friday 6 July 2018

July 6, 2018 Chautauqua

 
Beth's Ponderings

   “The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places.” - Author Unknown

   When I read the quote above, the context was that we should keep our nose to the grindstone and stay completely focused on our goals, not allowing ANYTHING to sidetrack or distract us. 

   Now, if your definition of success is only to get from Point A to Point B without stopping, then that advice would be fine, but to be successful in all aspects of life, that interpretation leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion.

   As anyone who has ever gone on a road trip knows, it is precisely those “tempting parking places,” the unexpected stops, detours, and hidden gems along the way, that make the trip so enjoyable and memorable, not necessarily the main road itself.

   And so it is in our journey through life.  Life goes by fast enough without us racing from birth to death as fast as we can.

   It is those “tempting parking places” that give us a chance to pause and reflect on whether we are even on the path we want to be on.  Maybe we have been heading the wrong way and didn’t realize it till we stopped.  Maybe we followed someone else’s directions and they were taking us to a different destination than we wanted.  Maybe the road conditions aren’t what we expected.

   Those “tempting parking places” also give us a chance to admire the view around us.  What is the point of rushing from one thing to another if we don’t take the time to appreciate where we currently are, and what we have accomplished.  How will we learn new things if we stay in our rut and don’t pause to see what else is out there for opportunities and options.

   And, those “tempting parking places” sometimes have other people parked there.  A chance meeting with someone can sometimes have a more profound affect on our lives than we can even know at the time.


   To be successful in life, we need to visit some of those “tempting parking places” on a regular basis.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua24/home/July%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

Wednesday 4 July 2018

Focus

When we start any endeavor, 
we don't really know where we're going to end up. 
We may think we know, but we don't. We can't. 
Our paths will change, and our finish line will change, too...
Our main focus should be on the very next step
 we need to take to keep moving forward...
don't think about going from A to Z...
think about going from A to B. 
- Joy Mangano

Monday 2 July 2018

No is not the end of anything. 
No doesn't shut down all our options – 
it gives us even more options...
Finding our way around the no will make us 
work harder, be better, think deeper.
 - Joy Mangano

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