A great way to gain clarity on which decision
feels right to you is by asking yourself,
If no one else’s opinion mattered,
what decision would I make?
- Jessica Ortner
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Monday, 25 February 2019
Pushing
This journey definitely isn’t about pushing more.
Nor is it about forcing things.
- Jessica Ortner
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 22 February 2019
Neighbour
First principle: stay close to your neighbour.
Second principle: don’t crowd your neighbour.
- Jim Taylor
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 20 February 2019
Excuse
If you don’t want to do something,
one excuse is as good as another.
– Jewish proverb
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 18 February 2019
Idea
People will accept your idea much more readily
if you tell them Benjamin Franklin said it first.
– David Comins
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 15 February 2019
February 15, 2019 Chautauqua
Beth's
Ponderings
A while back I was
listening to some women discussing confidence, in particular body confidence,
but more specifically why they FEAR confidence because displaying any form of
confidence means that one becomes a target for personal attacks, ridicule, and
shame.
How on earth did we
get to the point in our society where that is the pervading belief we are
taught and hold?
Think about this
for a moment...when was the last time you saw someone confidently accomplish
something (ie a musician play a complex movement), or a person confidently
enter a room, and your first thought was “I have to attack them,” or your first
action was to find someway to humiliate them in order to destroy their
confidence?
I’d be willing to
bet that your first reaction was more along the lines of “I wish I was like
that!”
We don’t, as a
rule, start a battle with a truly confident person because confidence is a form
of strength, and a truly confident (meaning not arrogant or pompous) person has
no desire, or need, to battle with anyone.
Yet, we’re taught (especially
females) that if we are confident in anyway that we are hurting others, and
making them look bad, so we must dim our lights and play small. We must not show our strengths at all as
others will be threatened by them.
That is so WRONG!
We should be
celebrating our strengths and confidently display them as an EXAMPLE for others
to follow, thereby giving them permission to also confidently display their own
strengths. That would be a much better
lesson to teach our children than teaching them to hide who they naturally are,
and would create a better society.
Changing that
cultural norm won’t happen overnight, yet each of us has at least one area
where we are truly confident in our abilities and strength. All we need to do is start there - in that
one area - by shining our lights, and then it will spread to other areas and
other individuals.
After all, a chain
is made strong, and more valuably useful, by its strongest links, not the weak
ones.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua25/home/February%2015%2C%202019%20Chaurauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Monday, 11 February 2019
Childhood
Friday, 8 February 2019
Work Less
Men of genius sometimes work best when they work less.
- Leonardo da Vinci
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Wednesday, 6 February 2019
Genius
It takes a lot of time to be a genius.
You have to sit around so much, doing nothing,
really doing nothing.
- Gertrude Stein
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Monday, 4 February 2019
Stall
Sometimes if you have a difficult decision to make,
just stall until the answer presents itself.
- Tina Fey
email: thechautauqua@gmail.com
Friday, 1 February 2019
February 1, 2019 Chautauqua
Beth's
Ponderings
I recently heard
about a concept called a “Depth Year.” The idea is that for a whole year you go
deeper into your life, instead of wider.
Now, specifically,
that would look different for each person, but for the most part, it could run
along lines such as these:
• instead of
buying new clothes, wearing what you already have in your closet
• reading all
those books or magazines on your shelves that you’ve been going to read “someday”
• instead of
learning a new skill (or skills), focussing on perfecting one or two skills you
already possess and taking them to the next level
• revisiting an
old hobby you enjoyed in the past that had fallen by the wayside in recent
years
• using up
supplies - personal, household, work-related, hobby, etc - that you already
possess before buying more
• noticing and
appreciating what you currently have (large and small), instead of always
wishing for something else
• instead of
getting distracted by everything going on, and filling your calendar to
overflowing, limiting your focus to one or two meaningful activities per week
that you really enjoy and that energize you
• spending quality
time with the people who really matter to you
Now that doesn’t
mean you can’t buy something new, or learn something new, for a whole year, but
rather that you become more aware when you make the choice to do so, and you’re
not just acting on autopilot. Maybe you
only want to go deep in one particular area of your life, and not your entire
life, for a year.
One advantage of a
Depth Year is that you have time to discover what you really want in your life,
and what you can eliminate. You can
really explore what does work for you, and what doesn't. You can immerse yourself in activities that
light you up and make your heart sing.
And, who knows, you
may discover something you never even knew about yourself in the process.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua25/home/February%201%2C%202019%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
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