Friday, 29 May 2020

Children

The most interesting information comes from children, 
for they tell all they know and then stop. 
 - Mark Twain

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Confusion

Confusion is progress.  
- Jennifer Lee

Monday, 25 May 2020

Easy

Nothing worthwhile is ever learned in 10 easy lessons.  
- Author Unknown

Friday, 22 May 2020

Job

Find a job you like
 and you add five days to every week. 
 - Author Unknown

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Roads

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. 
 Just because they’re not on your road
 doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.  
- Author Unknown 

Monday, 18 May 2020

Dime

Inflation hasn’t ruined everything. 
 A dime can still be used as a screwdriver.  
- Author Unknown

Friday, 15 May 2020

May 15, 2020 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   One of the big concerns during this pandemic, and time of social distancing and isolation, revolves around mental health. 

   If you are a general positive person, you are probably doing quite fine as you adapt to our ever-changing “new normal” (however that looks on any given day), but if you are someone who already has challenges, this highly stressful  and uncertain time could be creating even more mental health issues for you, as your usual means of reaching out, and your coping structures, have been greatly altered.

   Now, I don’t know about you, buy my inbox is flooded daily with emails from health professionals and non-professionals on how to keep my mental health healthy.  They range from the most basic tip to just reach out to someone (anyone) if you are having trouble, and not try to deal with this alone, to how to use this quarantine time to finally reach the ultimate bliss of enlightenment.

  Now who wouldn't want to find enlightenment, especially in a time when it seems so elusive, if not completely non-existent?

   Yet, enlightenment is not about becoming a hermit or a recluse and meditating for hours and days on end, divorcing yourself from whatever is going on in the world around you.

   Enlightenment - true enlightenment - is merely (though there is nothing “merely” about it) at its heart, nothing more than seeing the “light” in whatever situation you are currently in, in whatever people you are encountering (in person or online as the case may be now), and in yourself, however you may be feeling or thinking or acting. 

   Hence why Buddha is attributed to saying “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water...after enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.”  Nothing outwardly changes, as the real change is how you view what is around you.


   So, enlightenment is available right now to absolutely everyone, and begins with the simple, yet very powerful, statement, “In this moment, I am thankful for….”

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua28/home/May%2015%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, 13 May 2020

You

To shy away from who you truly are
 would leave the world you-less.  
- Jen Sincero

Monday, 11 May 2020

Information

The only failure is quitting.  
Everything else is just gathering information. 
 - Jen Sincero

Friday, 8 May 2020

Rest

Exhaustion begins and ends on the inside, 
that’s where genuine rest must originate. 
 - Bruce & Stan

Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Between

Live somewhere between complacency and crisis.  
- Bruce & Stan

Monday, 4 May 2020

Example

Being a good example 
is better than giving good advice.
 - Bruce & Stan

Friday, 1 May 2020

May 1, 2020 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   While talking to a friend last week, about how I’ve had to make adjustments in how I get some task accomplished, I made the comment “when you can’t go in the front or back door, it’s time to look for a window to get inside.”

   Our lives may be on hold in certain respects, but they haven’t completely stopped, and there are still tasks and activities that we are required to do, even if we can’t do them the way we are used to doing them.

   We are all, in some form, at the point of “looking for windows to get inside” as we navigate the ever-changing rules, guidelines, and requirements that are designed to keep us all safe and healthy. 


   And it is a good reminder, that just because the “front” and “back door” may be closed, we still have an abundance of other options.

 Beth

 Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua28/home/May%201%2C%202020%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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