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| the girl can't help it |
I found this book at a garage sale several years ago. It personifies human qualities in a very interesting way. I would like to share pages from this book with you. I hope you find it enlightening. By: J. Ruth Gendler THE WIND The wind is a gossip. Not in a malicious way. She just likes to move around and stir things up. She runs through the fire barefoot and has no fear of heights. She carries big blue bowls of rain with her. She plays the flute and loves all kinds of sounds. Her laughter fills the sky. The wind is a wonderful story- teller. I still remember how she introduced me to the Qualities when I was child.
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| | #2 (permalink) |
| the girl can't help it |
PLEASURE Pleasure is wild and sweet. She likes purple flowers. She loves the sun and the wind and the night sky. She carries a silver bowl full of liquid moonlight. She has a cat named midnight with stars on his paws. Many people mistrust Pleasure. and even more misunderstand her. For a long time I could hardly stand to be in the same room with her. I went to sleep early to avoid her. I thought she was a gossip and a flirt and she drank too much. In school we learned that she was dangerous, and I was sure that she would distract me from my work. I didn't realize she could nurture me. As I have changed. Pleasure has changed. I have learned to value her freindship.
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| | #3 (permalink) |
| Sharing Our Light Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: By The Lake
Posts: 18,168
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These are lovely, Splendra, and a good way to begin my day. Thanks
__________________ Somewhere between the gator swamp and the Taj Mahal there is a path, it may be hidden, overgrown or may blend in with the other surroundings, but it is there, it's your path and it is calling you.~Frankly~ |
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| the girl can't help it |
WORRY Worry has written the definitive work on nervous habits. She etches lines on people's foreheads when they are not paying attention. She makes lists of everything that could go wrong while she is waiting for the train. She is sure she left the stove on, and the house is going to explode in her absence. When she makes love her mind is on the failure rates and health hazards of various methods of birth control. The drug companies want worry to test their new tranquilizers but they don't understand what she knows too well: there is no drug that can ease her pain. She is terrified of the unknown.
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| the girl can't help it |
FEAR Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is quite small. He has a vivid imagination. He composes horror music in the middle of the night. He is not very social, and he keeps to himself at political meetings. His past is a mystery. He warned us not to talk to each other about him,adding that there is nowhere any of us could go where he wouldn't hear us. We were quite. When we began to talk to each other, he changed. His manners started to seem pompous, and his snarling voice sounded rehearsed. Two dragons guard Fear's mansion. One is ceramic and Chinese. The other is real. If you make it past the dragons and speak to him close up, it is amazing to see how fragile he is. He will try to tell you stories. Be aware. He is a master of disguises and illusions. Fear almost convinced me that he was a puppet- maker and I was a marionette. Speak out boldly, look him in the eye, startle him. Don't give up. Win his respect, and he will never bother you with small matters.
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| the girl can't help it |
PATIENCE- Patience wears my grandmother's filigree earrings. She bakes marvelous dark bread. She has beautiful hands. She carries great sacks of peace and purses filled with small treasures. You don't notice Patience right away in a crowd, but sud- denly you see her all at once, and then she is so beautiful you wonder why you never saw her before.
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| the girl can't help it |
CONFUSION- When Confusion's parents separated neither of them wanted him. Each claimed he most resembled the other. He is a tall boy, and lately he has gotten a bit plump. He is always trying to make people like him. His attempts usually back fire. Confusion is very accident prone. He lives from crisis to crisis. Even the clearest directions are impossible for him to follow. My friends shudder when they see him heading toward their studios. He is well-meaning, but not nearly as innocent as he seems. Confusion is Patience's nephew. She is the only one who can sing to him.
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| | #8 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
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Please keep em coming, Splendra. What a great book! I'm going to see if it is still in print on Amazon.... Many thanks for such wonderful little tidbits
__________________ "Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, and a sense of spiritual deadness." - Shakti Gawain |
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| the girl can't help it | *This book has helped me to not be afraid of what I feel. LONELINESS- Loneliness loves to run,but he is afraid to swim. He wears his isolation around him like a grey sweatshirt thrown back across the shoulders. It started when he was a little boy listening to adults upstairs screaming at each other as he hid under the covers. At age seven he vowed never need anyone. It was as if he sealed himself inside his skin, separate from everyone. Once Loneliness almost changed his mind. There was a woman whom he cher- ished. She surprised him. He loved her so much that he thought he would never be himself again. He trusted that such a relationship could not survive, and it didn't. Now more convinced than ever that companionship is a lie and joy is fragile, he has become contemptuous of others' happiness.
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| the girl can't help it |
COURAGE- Courage has roots. She sleeps on a futon on the floor and lives close to the ground. Courage looks you straight in the eye. She is not impressed with powertrippers, and she knows first aid. Courage is not afraid to weep, and she is not afraid to pray, even when she is not sure who she is praying to. When courage walks, it is clear that she has made the journey from loneliness to solitude. The people who told me she is stern were not lying, they just forgot to mention that she is kind.
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| | #11 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
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S- I found her website and ordered the book! Also saw she had some beautiful artwork on there as well. I can't wait to read the whole bunch. Thanks again
__________________ "Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, and a sense of spiritual deadness." - Shakti Gawain |
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| | #12 (permalink) |
| the girl can't help it |
CLARITY- My visits to Clarity are soothing now. He never tells me what to think or feel or do but shows me how to find what I need to know. It was not always like this. I used to visit other people who visited him. Finally, I summoned the courage to call on him myself. I still remember the first time I went to see him. Was I surprised. He lives on a hill in a little house surrounded by wild roses. I went in the living room and sat down in a comfortable chair by the fireplace. There were topographical maps on the walls, and the room was full of stuff, musical instruments and telescopes and globes, geodes and crystals and old Italian tarot decks, two small cats. When I left, he presented me with a sketchbook and told me to draw the same thing every day until the drawing started to speak to me.
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| | #14 (permalink) |
| the girl can't help it |
ANGER- Anger sharpens kitchen knives at the local super- market on the last Wednesday of the month. His face is scarred from adolescent battles. He has never been very popular. His reputation as a fighter dates back to seventy grade. Children never under- stand how Anger arrives at the house just in time for dinner. We never hear him ring the bell. All of a sudden he is there. As soon as my son hears his footsteps he is running for shelter underneath the twin bed in the guest room. Anger is trying to gain Truth's friendship and respect. Anger is a meticulous reporter. He is accu- rate about details and insist on fact. He never lies, but he rarely understands anyone else's point of view. It is true that sharp knives work better than dull knives; they are also safer. A cut from a dull knife takes a long time to heal. However, if you have not used a sharp knife for a while, it is easy to hurt yourself. If you ask anger to sharpen your bread knife be careful how you handle it. He is not the only knife sharpener in town anymore.
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| the girl can't help it |
GUILT- Guilt is the prosecutor who knows how to make every victim feel like a criminal. She follows the scent of doubt and self-hatred to it's sources. She will not tell you what you have done wrong. Her silence is brutal. Her disapproval surrounds you in an envelope of cold nameless terror. Guilt thinks I am hopelessly l azy because I won't work the way she does. Her court cases are sched- uled years in advance. She says horrible things about me to the neighbors. In self-defense some- times I tell people what she says about me before she has the chance. I don't care as much as I did, but I can't pretend I don't care at all. You may recognize Guilt's footsteps before you see her coming. She limps like a crippled bird. Even though her broken ankle is healing, the wound in her heart has become infected.
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| | #16 (permalink) |
| the girl can't help it |
DETACHMENT- I must thank you for introducing me to Detachment. Did You know ahead of time we would like each other so much? He is almost as elusive and you are, but he is more reliable. He rarely calls before he comes over. Usually I am so pleased to see him that I don't object, and I know there is no way to telephone him when he is on the road. He has clear eyes and a sapphire voice. When he sighs, I can see his heart.
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| | #18 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
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Splendra, I received the book and J. Ruth Gendler personally signed it! She also sent me a special extra and an email thanking me for her interest in her work. I think I would love her instantly. She lives and works in California. I will take you up on your request to "help" post some of the other qualities, Splendra. But which ones to choose? Each page is almost more powerful than the next! Thanks for letting me tag-team with you
__________________ "Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, and a sense of spiritual deadness." - Shakti Gawain |
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| | #19 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
| Anxiety
ANXIETY- Anxiety is secretive. He does not trust anyone, not even his friends, Worry, Terror, Doubt and Panic. He has a way of glombing onto your skin like smog, and then you feel unclean. He likes to visit me late at night when I am alone and exhausted. I have never slept with him, but he kissed me on the forehead once, and I had a headache for two years. He is sure a nuisance to get out of the house. He has no respect for locks or curtains or doors. I speak from experience. It takes cunning to get rid of him, a combination of anger, humor, and self-respect. A bath helps too. He does not like to get wet. As a last resort, if you are not near a bathtub, wet your face with tears. |
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| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
| Terror (This one is so powerful, it's scary!) TERROR- Terror is stricter than my first Latin teacher. She doesn't want anyone to become friendly with Ecstasy or run through the hills racing the Wind. On the west wall of her living room she keeps a long list of rules and a tally sheet of those she frightens and those who frighten her. In the margins she records your weaknesses. She demands privacy, but she doesn't hesitate to bother others at any hour of the day or night. When Terror wants power, she has many ways to silence those who oppose her. She is willing to use violence to achieve her ends; often she prefers less obvious means. Terror knows that she can control the body by controlling the mind. When people are in states of confusion, Terror's propaganda passes for truth. Terror came to our meditation class for a while. It was hard to breathe when she was in the room. However, she never stayed long. After a few minutes, she always opened her eyes. She knew if she sat really still she would scream. |
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| the girl can't help it | Liberation LIBERATION- Liberation tried to commit suicide when he was seventeen. Things got even worse before they got better. He was married to Terror for nearly ten years. One day when he was wandering famished and half- crazy in the mountains, he bumped into Ecstasy. Ecstasy wept to be reunited with his old friend and taught Liberation a simple prayer. After that Libera- tion was free to leave Terror.
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| | #23 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
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I just can't tell you the great effect this little charmer of a book is having on me, Splendra! What a gifted woman. If anyone wants to research J. Ruth Gendler, she can be found at: J. Ruth Gendler - Author, Artist, Teacher - Berkeley, CA P.S.- I kind of feel like we are "reading" together, S!
__________________ "Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, and a sense of spiritual deadness." - Shakti Gawain |
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| | #25 (permalink) |
| Member Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,266
| Confidence
CONFIDENCE - Confidence ignores "No Trespassing" signs. It is as if he doesn't see them. He is an explorer committed to following his own direction. He studied mathematics in France and still views his life as a series of experiments. The only limits he respects are his own. He is honest and humble and very funny. After all these years, his sister doesn't understand why he still ice skates with Doubt. I love that metaphor/personification, "He still ice skates with Doubt." That is so true in life! Facing a challenge, having the courage and confidence to plow through it, while occasionally letting doubt slide by you and remembering to brush it away for the time being.
__________________ "Every time you don't follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, a loss of power, and a sense of spiritual deadness." - Shakti Gawain |
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