Wednesday, 6 June 2018

Tunnel

If you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, 
you are looking the wrong way.
 - Barry Commoner

Monday, 4 June 2018

Potential

Your past is not your potential. 
- Kris Carr

Friday, 1 June 2018

June 1, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   Wildfires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, etc...we refer to these events as natural disasters and lament the damage that they do to nature and to humans, and we do everything in our limited human power to stop them from happening again.

   Yet, these natural “disasters” are SUPPOSED to happen!  They are nature’s way of cleaning house (removing the dead and decaying), and getting things moving to ensure new growth, as well as the health of all flora and fauna.

      Nature needs to move to stay alive, and sometimes it needs a bit of a push.  It’s no secret that some seeds can’t be spread unless there is a violent wind, or a raging fire.  Some plants don’t grow unless they are watered by flood waters.  Sometimes animals won’t move to better food sources unless their current source is removed.

   And it is the same for us humans.  We think that we are so mobile as we are constantly going to and fro in a vehicle, but we’re just fooling ourselves. 

   In our daily lives, we sit way more than we move around.  As a society we have become so settled and attached to our lives in urban settings that we aren’t seeing new horizons.  We forget that humans were designed to move,, and that many of the daily activities humans used to do - which machines now do for us - were what was keeping everyone naturally active and healthy.

   Despite all of our technology and amazing innovative advances, we are not a healthy thriving society.  We are stuck in one huge rut.  Until something - such as a natural disaster - shakes up our lives.

   We learn best when we move our bodies.  We are more productive when we can get up and move around a lot.  We find the answers to our problems when we’re pacing back and forth.

   In fact, the healthiest exercise you can do to keep your brain working effectively and creativity, including enhancing memory recall, isn’t a mental exercise, or even a memorization practice, it’s simply...walking.


   “Walk more. Anywhere.” - Dan Rubinstein

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua24/home/June%201%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, 30 May 2018

Diversity

We are all one tribe, made better
 by the diversity of traits and choices among us. 
- Jessica DiLullo Herrin

Monday, 28 May 2018

Mindfulness

Mindfulness...the process of actively noticing new things, 
relinquishing preconceived mindsets,
 and then acting on the new observations.
 - attributed to Ellen Langer

Friday, 25 May 2018

Experience

Only two kinds of experience exist,
 not the good and the bad ones,...
but experiences [you] can celebrate 
and those [you] can heal. 
- Deepak Chopra

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Bumps

See setbacks as bumps on the right road,
 not a sign that says DEAD END. 
Abandoning the trail won't get you there faster, 
it will just get you lost...
If you don't go the right way immediately, so what? 
Just dust yourself off, find the humor, 
and give it another go.
 - Jessica DiLullo Herrin

Monday, 21 May 2018

Doubt

Don't doubt yourself; 
doubt the people who doubt you. 
- Jessica DiLullo Herrin

Friday, 18 May 2018

May 18, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

    I recently heard a person describe how your approach to drawing can mirror your approach to life, whether you start a drawing with a pencil or whether you start with a pen.

   In drawing, using a pencil - with a really good eraser - allows you to make changes as you go along.  You don’t have to worry about making a mistake as you can easily fix it.  If you change your mind, you can erase what you did and do something else.  In no way are you stuck with what you did if you don’t like it, or it doesn’t look like you want it to look. 

   But, one drawback is that because you CAN make changes and erase, so many do.  Rather than trusting themselves, they repeatedly second-guess their choices and keep redoing their drawings over and over until they are left with just a big mess, and not the beautiful drawing they wanted.

   Now using a pen requires a different approach.  As there is no eraser - no easy out - you need to be sure, and commit to making marks on the page.  The result is more decisive, and strokes tend to be more bold compared to the lighter more tentative ones of a pencil user. 

   Some people fear using a pen as there is no way to erase mistakes, but while more commitment to your work is required with pen, you still aren’t locked in if you make a mark you don’t like.  There are still options: you can accept it and keep going, you can make the mark into something else and allow the direction of your drawing to change, or you can get a new piece of paper and start over completely.

   And it’s the same in life.

   Now neither method is right or wrong, nor is one method necessarily better than the other.  They are just two different approaches, one is about playing it safer, and one is about taking a risk.  Each has value, depending on what you are doing, and what your desired end result is.


  Yet, in drawing, as in life, we tend to get further along the path to our dreams if we are more decisive and commit to an action than if we keep second-guessing ourselves and never actually finish anything.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua24/home/May%2018%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, 16 May 2018

Free

We're more free than we think. 
- Gretchen Rubin

Monday, 14 May 2018

Best

There's one rule that can eliminate a lot of conflict: 
Whenever possible, we should allow others
 to do things in the way that works for them...
we're better off letting them do things their own way...
We may think we know the “best” way, 
or the way others “should” work,
 but whether at home or at work,
 as long as the tasks are getting done, 
we should let other people suit themselves.
 We get along best with others when we recognize and respect
 that they might approach the world in a different way.
 - Gretchen Rubin

Friday, 11 May 2018

Change

Our paths through life will always change, 
whether we want them to or not...
life offers us constant opportunities
 to explore new paths and take new adventures, 
and it serves up constant obstacles
 that push us into new terrain. 
And...we learn a little bit more about who we really are, 
and who we really can be. 
- Joy Mangano

Wednesday, 9 May 2018

Works

If we make mistakes and mess things up,
 that's okay, because that's how we learn 
what what works and what doesn't. 
- Joy Mangano

Monday, 7 May 2018

Started

We forget what we once took for granted as children – 
that we probably won't be any good
 at something the first time we try it.
 We forget that we don't have to be good to get started. 
We just have to get started.
 - Joy Mangano

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