Friday 30 November 2018

Must

Remember that all you really MUST do today
 is b-r-e-a-t-h-e.
 - Donna Smallin

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Triumph

Triumph is just try with a little umph added to it. 
- Unknown

Monday 26 November 2018

Effective

The most effective way to do it,
 is to do it.
 - Amelia Earhart

Friday 23 November 2018

Limits

Limits are not limitations.
 - Alexandra Pope

Wednesday 21 November 2018

Change

The ones who are crazy enough to think 
that they can change the world 
are the ones who do.
 - Anonymous

Monday 19 November 2018

Unfold

Is there ever a time when you know for sure
 how things will unfold?
 - Colette Baron-Reid

Friday 16 November 2018

November 16, 2018 Chautauqua

       
Beth's Ponderings

   I recently read of a teacher who decided to teach the concept of multiculturalism by having each student bring to class a potato dish to share with the others.  The dish had to have potatoes and they had to provide a list of all the ingredients.

   As I’m sure you can imagine, each child brought a completely different dish.  Many were ethnic dishes that were common to their particular backgrounds, or dishes that they had been introduced to when they arrived in Canada.  The teacher brought plain old boiled potatoes. 

   In contrast to the plain potatoes, the other dishes were a colourful, and flavourful blend, and highlighted how our cultural differences come together to create something more when they are all shared together.

   Also mentioned in the story, was the various dietary restrictions some of the students had, and how they were unable to eat various dishes because of that.  There was also mention made about how they should have been more mindful of the other students when they chose their dishes.

   The reality is no matter how mindful the students were, or how they tried to accommodate all the various dietary restrictions, there is no way that every child would have been able to eat every dish.  And the dishes wouldn’t have been recognizable as what they were to be.

   The more we, as a society, try to include everyone by changing all manner of details in our institutions, organizations and groups, the more and more we’ll end up excluding people.  We are all so unique that you can’t expect one set of conditions, however tweaked, to work for absolutely everyone, in every situation.


   The only group that we can all be included in, without worry, is humanity itself.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: 
https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua25/home/November%2016%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 14 November 2018

Change

The simplest, smallest, little idea 
can literally change the world. 
- Joy Mangano

Monday 12 November 2018

Accomplished

You can only become truly accomplished 
at something you love. Don't make money your goal.
 Instead, pursue the things you love doing, 
and then do them so well that
 people can't take their eyes off you.
 - Maya Angelou

Friday 9 November 2018

Listen

Tom Sturges: When are you at your most creative? 
Clive Davis: When I listen.
 (from Every Idea is a Good Idea)

Wednesday 7 November 2018

Block

The brain is simply too enormous for something
 like writer's block to ever really take control of it. 
- Tom Sturges

Monday 5 November 2018

Purpose

Your purpose is to do better things in life 
and feel better into
 your thirties, forties, fifties, and beyond. 
- Tony Horton

Friday 2 November 2018

November 2, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   The Ancient Ones used a lunar calendar to keep track of time, and the cycle of their days.

   Beginning with the New Moon, the darkest night, they marked the phases of moon till the next New Moon, and that period in between was a “year. ” 

   Today, we could describe that “year” using our seasons.  From the new moon to the first quarter (half) moon is springtime when we would plant the seeds of our ideas and goals.  From the first quarter to the full moon is summertime when the most activity happens.  As the moon starts to wane to the last quarter (half) moon is autumn or harvest time as we wrap up our activities.  Then from the last quarter to the new moon is wintertime or a time of rest.  This process is also similar to what we do each day from morning rising to bedtime.

   Also, counting from the New Moon, every seventh day was a time to rest and renew, especially for those ancient nomadic tribes who followed migratory animals, or herded semi-domestic animals.  It is apparently impossible for animals to travel more than 6 days in a row without experiencing loss of health, or even life.  These rests also correspond roughly to the major phases we still mark (new, 1st 1/4, full, last 1/4).  

   Now in our fast-paced, go-go-go society following a lunar cycle, on the surface, would appear to make time go by even faster as New Year’s (each new moon) would come around approximately every 28 days, yet it actually slows time down and makes it easier to keep track of, as it keeps our focus more on the present, and not so far out into the future.  


   We are so used to our current (solar) calendars, that we don’t realize how strongly we are still influenced by the cycles of the moon on both our daily lives and our energy.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua25/home/November%202%2C%202018%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

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