Wednesday, 29 April 2020

Celebrate

Celebrate the successful completion
 of another revolution around the sun 
rather than counting how many years have passed 
since [you] were born.  
- Gregg Braden

Monday, 27 April 2020

Why Not

It makes much more sense to go after life with a sense of, 
“Why not?” 
 - Jen Sincero

Friday, 24 April 2020

Current

You don’t paddle against the current, 
you paddle with it.  
And if you get good at it,
 you throw away the oars.
  - Kris Kristofferson

Wednesday, 22 April 2020

Years

There are years that ask questions and years that answer.
 - Zora Neale Hurston

Monday, 20 April 2020

Swearing

Under the circumstances, 
swearing seems more apt than prayer. 
 - Mark Twain

Friday, 17 April 2020

April 17, 2020 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   Are you waiting for life to return to “normal?”

   We can’t even begin to count the ways, large and small, that our lives have been recently turned completely topsy-turvy, and, of course, our natural reaction is to want things to go back to the way they were “before.”

   Unfortunately, we can’t go back.  All of us, from individuals to businesses to entire governments, are going to be permanently and irrevocably changed by this pandemic.  Some more obviously and closely, some more subtly and distantly, but the effects will be felt long after this is over.   

   During this pandemic, we are discovering that while we can do a lot online, we can’t do everything online.  We are discovering that family and friends are more important than whatever we thought was so earth-shatteringly important a mere couple of months ago.

   What we can do, after the dust settles is return to a degree of functioning that is similar to what we had before, but life will never be the same as it was.  No matter who you are, or what you have done in your life, things will forevermore be different from this point forward.


   Now, that doesn’t mean that we should just give up and go all doom-and-gloom.  Instead, we should be using this crisis time to explore how to create lifestyles and systems that are BETTER than what we had before.  What if it was possible to thrive after COVID-19?

Beth


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

Wednesday, 15 April 2020

Home

And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, 
no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, 
a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, 
by which we arrive at the ground at our own feet, 
and learn to be at home. 
 - Wendell Berry

Monday, 13 April 2020

Story

All that we are is story.  
From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey,
 we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here.  
It is what we arrive with.  It is all we leave behind. 
 We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important.  
We are story. 
 - Richard Wagamese

Friday, 10 April 2020

Joy

Don't feel guilty about being happy during this difficult time. 
You don't help at all by being sad and without energy. 
It helps if good things emanate from the Universe now.
 It is through joy that one resists. 
- White Eagle, Hopi indigenous leader

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Only

[Live] your life not as if today were the first day of the rest of your life, 
but as if this were the only day of your life. 
 - Wayne Dyer

Monday, 6 April 2020

Dreams

Dreams are illustrations from the book
 your soul is writing about you.  
- Martha Norman

Friday, 3 April 2020

April 3, 2020 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   By now I’m sure you are all aware that life as we have known it to be has taken a HUGE shift sideways.  Please note that many events, meetings, and activities have been postponed or cancelled, and many businesses are not open to walk-in traffic, so make sure to contact them if you are in doubt, as conditions keep evolving.

   While is it completely natural to feel fear, as there is so much uncertainty and change, plus life as we have known it up to this point will never be the same again, this is also an opportunity for all of us to get some downtime to just enjoy our lives again.

   For too long we’ve been in a go-go-go society that has been pushing us to do everything we can to NOT get quiet and peaceful.  We have ignored so much that has been in our lives, and around us, because we’ve been just too darn busy to notice it.  Now we have a chance to open our eyes to what we have been surrounding ourselves with, and we’ve been given an opportunity of time to decide how we want our lives to really be, within this new reality.


   So during this downtime, make sure you get vitamin C and sunshine, and remember to wash your hands with hot water!  Stay safe!

Beth 

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua28/home/April%203%2C%202020%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

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

Wednesday, 1 April 2020