29 April 2024         

   

Hi there!  Welcome to our newest issue, which we hope
will give you some inspiration and some positive things
to think about on this new day in your life!

    

   

   

Meeting Ourselves
Dawna Markova

Meeting Trouble When It Comes
Norman Vincent Peale

I've Decided
tom walsh

   

   

     
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Simple and Profound Thoughts
(from Simple and Profound)

No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling the field as in writing a poem.    -Booker T. Washington

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, "What are you going through?"    -Simone Weil

The trouble with many people is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable.  If there is not joy in religion, you have got a leak in your religion.   -Billy Sunday

Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all; forgiving means to pardon that which is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all.   -Gilbert Keith Chesterton

   

  
Meeting Ourselves
Dawna Markova

There were a series of incidents that blew me over the threshold into this retreat.  One was something the poet David Whyte said a friend, Brother David Steindl-Rast, told him:  "The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest.  It may be wholeheartedness.  You are so exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness.  There's a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you're doing."  Whyte said that from that moment on everything changed for him.  He realized there were courageous conversations he had to have, because his work had become too small for him.

Listening, I became aware of the courageous conversations I needed to be having--with myself.  But how could this be possible when I couldn't even hear myself think?  In the following weeks, all around me, in the media and in corporations, I kept hearing three phrases that wouldn't leave me alone:  "the meaning void," "Time is the new poverty," and "whatever" (said with a slack jaw and a shrug of limp shoulders).

How can any of us find our way to wholeheartedness in a meaning void?  I knew that time was something we gave ourselves or didn't, and that "whatever" was the quickest way to soul leakage.  And none of us can find meaning or wholeheartedness unless we are in a void, a void of everyone else's images and information.

My grandmother used to fast once a year for twenty-four hours during the holiday of Yom Kippur.  Listening to her empty stomach growling, I asked her once why she fasted.  She didn't say anything for several moments and then she replied, "You can't grab God.  You just have to become empty.  Then God will have a space to enter."

So many of us are afraid of meeting ourselves, alone, without distraction.  We have been taught to fashion an image of who we think we are supposed to be and show that to the world.  Through fear of knowing who we really are we sidestep our own destiny, which leaves us hungry in a famine of our own making.  Each of us is here to give something that only we can offer, and when we avoid knowing ourselves, we end up living numb, passionless lives, disconnected from our soul's true purpose.  But when you have the courage to shape your life from the essence of who you are, you ignite, becoming truly alive.  This requires letting go of everything that is inauthentic.  But how can you even know your truth unless you slow down, in your own quiet company?  When the inner walls to your soul are graffitied with advertisements, commercials, and the opinions of everyone who has ever known and labeled you, turning inward requires nothing less than a major clean-up.

Traveling from the known to the unknown requires crossing an abyss of emptiness.  We first experience disorientation and confusion.  Then, if we are willing to cross the abyss in curious and playful wonder, we enter an expansive and untamed country that has its own rhythm.  Time melts and thoughts become stories, music, poems, images, ideas.  This is the intelligence of the heart, but by that I don't mean just the seat of our emotions.  I mean a vast range of receptive and connective abilities, intuition, innovation, wisdom, creativity, sensitivity, the aesthetic, qualitative and meaning making.  It is here that we uncover our purpose and passion.

The future exists only in our imaginations.  It is a collective story waiting for our voices to express.  That can only happen when you and I are willing to enter the emptiness, listening in the silence until we can understand how to create a future we can befriend.

I am wondering now, dear reader, about you.  What are the courageous conversations you need to have with yourself, and how do you need to have them?

May we allow ourselves stillness so we can open our minds to ourselves, and spaciousness so we can allow a moment of rest when all thoughts fly above us like kites in a strong wind.

more thoughts and ideas on reflection

   

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Meeting Trouble When It Comes
Norman Vincent Peale

It is inadvisable to go out, as they say, looking for trouble.  For when you make it a point of looking for trouble, you are pretty likely to find it.  It will flow to you if it finds you hospitable to it.

David Keppel wrote a little verse years ago:

Better never trouble trouble
Until trouble troubles you
For you only make your trouble
Double trouble when you do
And your trouble like a bubble
That you're troubling about
May be nothing but a cipher
With the rim rubbed out.

But all the pretty philosophy to the contrary notwithstanding, trouble does come and sometimes it seems to come all at once and lots of it.  So much so and so true is this that a basic necessity of every human being is assuredly to know how to meet trouble if and when it comes.

Since much trouble in life is self-manufactured, caused not by conditions or by other people but by ourselves, it is wise to condition the mind to the non-production of trouble.

Once while I was playing golf with Lowell Thomas, he made a statement to me that has lingered in my mind.  We were preparing to drive from a tee alongside a deep woods which ran the entire length of the fairway.  Just in front was a deep ravine.  Lowell turned rather extremely to the left, the woods on his right, but an even fairway to the left of the ravine and addressed the ball.

He drove the ball cleanly away from the woods and safely at the side of the ravine for over two hundred yards.  Picking up his tee, he remarked, "It's always best to shoot away from trouble."

Some people have more trouble than others simply because they do not shoot away from trouble.  They think in terms of trouble, or they are careless, or their acts are not designed wisely, and so they draw trouble to themselves.

Others think positively and conduct themselves in such a manner that they hedge themselves around with fortuitous circumstances and literally beat back trouble.  But there is no assurance that trouble will not enter into the life of every person.  We must then have resources built into us over long days when things were fortuitous, when favorable winds and smooth seas were kind to the craft of our lives.

Those who do not prepare for storms when no storms are indicated are lacking in the plain preparatory wisdom required by any rational person.  The fact is that storms and troubles will come.  They may be delayed, even long delayed, but ultimately they will come.  So therefore one must buttress oneself inwardly, prepare oneself in the spirit,  condition oneself in the mind, so that when trouble does finally come, he or she will have the equipment and the resources with which to handle it constructively.

For example, a friend, aged forty, began having eye trouble.  His doctors sent him to the best specialists in New York.  After many examinations and much treatment, he learned the score--he was going blind.  Seemingly nothing  could arrest the deterioration of his eyes.

He went back to his hotel room thirty stories above the street.  Completely depressed, he looked down.  In only a matter of seconds his body could hurtle to the street.  That would be the end of his trouble.  But for years he had built strength into himself, a strength equal to this trouble.  He drew upon the wealth of faith he had built up within himself.  It was enough.  He came out of his depression and adjusted, though he never did regain his sight.  In fact, he is one of the best adjusted people I know.  He is a truly happy man.
  

Living Life Fully, the e-zine
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When I was six or seven years old, growing up in Pittsburgh, I used to take
a precious penny of my own and hide it for someone else to find.  I was greatly
excited at the thought of the first lucky passerby who would receive a gift in this
way, regardless of merit, a free gift from the universe. . . . I’ve been thinking
about seeing.  There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises.
The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.

Annie Dillard

   

 

I've Decided

I've decided that I want to be the person who talks to children with respect and dignity.  I'm not going to change my voice when I talk to them, for that immediately tells them that I consider them to be different than the other people I talk to.  I'm going to ask them serious questions and I'm going to listen when they talk--and then I'm going to reply in a way that shows that I've actually heard what they said.  I'm going to do this because so few adults do so, and young people need to know that we value them enough to talk to them like people and to listen to what they say because it's important.

I've also decided that I want to be that person who picks up trash when I'm out walking.  This isn't always easy.  Sometimes there aren't any trash cans around, so I may have to carry a bag with me to put the trash into.  Of course, if it looks like I might catch some sort of disease from it or if there's too much trash to pick up, the chances are that I'll pass on this good deed.  But if it's something that's easy to pick up and that won't threaten my health, then I'm going to stop and get it.  I want to do this because I really do respect our world and the communities of people in it, and I want to be a role model to others who's willing to do something that others won't often do.

   

More than anything else, I believe it's our decisions, not
the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny.

Anthony Robbins

   
I've made the decision that I'm going to work on my passions, the things that I truly love doing, and work towards making them the most important elements of my life.  Very often we get caught up in making a living at a job that doesn't excite us, or we don't have enough money to do things such as travel.  Sometimes we spend so much money on things that really don't matter (large-screen TV's and high cable and phone bills come to mind) that we find that we can't afford to follow our passions.  Passions don't have to be expensive--I love to write, for example--but if we lose out on them because of money, then we're doing ourselves a disservice.

I've also decided not to try to get laughs by mocking others, insulting others, or cutting other people down.  Much of the humor in our culture relies on this type of dynamic, and it's very sad.  It's even worse when we try to get laughs by making fun of children's mistakes.  They're just starting out in life and they're doing the best that they can, and to make fun of their efforts is to start them on the road to not wanting to share things that they do because they're afraid that someone will make fun of them.  I've been there, and I've known many high school students in my classes who are amazed when someone respects them and doesn't make fun of them.

It's also important to me that I cherish my identity and not compromise it.  Our cultures these days want us to compromise our identities by adopting other identities:  I'm a fan of this team, I participate in this pastime, I really love this group.  If they can get us to become a part of "The (name of team) Nation," then we're more willing to buy more merchandise to show the world the groups that we "belong" to.  I don't want to spend today thinking about tomorrow's game and who's going to win--I want to spend the day focused on the things that are actually a part of my life:  the people I know and love, the work I do, the wonderful things that are actually in the here and now.  I don't want to identify with a group of over-paid athletes whom I've never met and whom I never will meet.  I enjoy watching a lot of sports games and matches, but I am who I am, and I want to love and respect who that is.
    

When possible make the decisions now, even if the
action is in the future.  A revised decision usually is
better than one reached at the last moment.

William B. Given, Jr.

    
I've decided to be honest in all of my dealings.  This is very, very difficult, because sometimes we know that a particular situation isn't fair, and we could make it more fair just by doing something dishonest.  Perhaps I didn't get paid for my overtime last week, and I have a chance to take ten dollars without being caught to make up for it.  Tempting, isn't it?  But if I've already decided to do what I know or believe to be honest, then that temptation won't be nearly as strong, and the decision not to take the money will be very easy.

I've also decided that I'm going to focus more on the people who are actually a part of my life than athletes or other celebrities.  I really don't care who's getting divorced in Hollywood, who's been signed to which team for how much money, or any of that stuff that simply isn't a part of my life.  I like watching movies and sports and some television shows, but I'd much rather know my friends' favorite colors than the favorite colors of people I'll never know (or the kinds of houses they live in, or their problems with relationships, etc.).
   

There may be no trumpet sound or loud applause
when we make a right decision, just a calm
sense of resolution and peace.

Gloria Gaither

   
I've decided that I'm going to be in shape--not to try to be extremely muscular or anything like that, but to be in good enough shape so that I'm not going to be affected by illnesses and injuries that would affect me if I weren't healthy.  Ten years ago I weighed more than thirty pounds more than I do now, and I attributed the weight gain to growing older.  That wasn't true.  It was simply an easy explanation for a more complicated situation.  Now I feel much healthier, much more able to do things that I love to do, such as hiking and running.  And I know that even though other problems may arise, they won't arise due to me not taking care of my body.

There are many more decisions that I make in my life.  Some of them are little day-to-day decisions that don't have a huge effect on my life (what kind of cereal do I want this morning?), but others can have a serious effect on my life and my relationships.  What I want is to be able to say that my decisions are contributing in a positive way to making my life more fulfilling and to allowing me to make positive contributions to the lives of others.  And many of my decisions can be made before a situation even comes up, making my at-the-moment decision much easier.  I've often thought of funny things to say that would have gotten a laugh at someone's expense, but I've said nothing.  And I've felt much better afterwards than I would have felt having to apologize for hurting someone's feelings.

   
More on decision-making.

   
   

   

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The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion.  They hardly know which is which.  They simply pursue their vision of excellence in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing.  To them they are always doing both.

Zen Buddhist text

  
I have walked 25,000 miles as a penniless pilgrim.  I own only what I wear and what I carry in my small pockets.  I belong to no organization.  I have said that I will walk until given shelter and fast until given food, remaining a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace.  And I can truthfully tell you that without ever asking for anything, I have been supplied with everything needed for my journey, which shows you how good people really are.

With me I carry always my peace message:  This is the way of peace:  Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.  There is nothing new about this message, except the practice of it.  And the practice of it is required not only in the international situation but also in the personal situation.  I believe that the situation in the world is a reflection of our own immaturity.  If we were mature, harmonious people, war would be no problem whatever--it would be impossible.

All of us can work for peace.  We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation.  In face, I believe that the wish to survive will push us into some kind of uneasy world peace which will then need to be supported by a great inner awakening if it is to endure.

Peace Pilgrim
   

  

People are buffeted by circumstances so long as they believe themselves
to be creatures of outside conditions.  But when they realize that they are
creative powers, and that they may command the hidden soil and seeds
of their being out of which circumstances grow, they then become the
rightful masters of themselves. . . . Circumstances do not make the person;
they reveal the person to him or herself.

James Allen

    

  
  

Yes, life can be mysterious and confusing--but there's much of life that's actually rather dependable and reliable.  Some principles apply to life in so many different contexts that they can truly be called universal--and learning what they are and how to approach them and use them can teach us some of the most important lessons that we've ever learned.
My doctorate is in Teaching and Learning.  I use it a lot when I teach at school, but I also do my best to apply what I've learned to the life I'm living, and to observe how others live their lives.  What makes them happy or unhappy, stressed or peaceful, selfish or generous, compassionate or arrogant?  In this book, I've done my best to pass on to you what I've learned from people in my life, writers whose works I've read, and stories that I've heard.  Perhaps these principles can be a positive part of your life, too!
Universal Principles of Living Life Fully.  Awareness of these principles can explain a lot and take much of the frustration out of the lives we lead.

   
    
 

   

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