Life

[citychick]

Life is not always what one wants it to be, but to make
the best of it, as it is, is the only way of being happy.

Jennie Jerome Churchill

If my today were to be exactly how I would like it to be, it probably wouldn't be much like the today I'm going to have. There would be much more free time in there, and there would be time for writing and reading and doing things that are more hobbies than work. A couple of the people who are in my life probably wouldn't be in there, especially those who cause a great deal of strife and stress.

But my life is as it is, and while I can work my way towards my wants and towards making life what I would really like it to be, the fact is that today is here, and it is how it is. It has bumps and blemishes and great things and some things that aren't so great. What will make this day truly positive or not, of course, is how I choose to see all of the elements of my own day, and what I choose to make of everything.

If I focus on the negatives and make the most out of them, then guess what my day's going to be like? If I focus on the positives and make the most out of them, then guess what's going to happen?

For better or for worse, life has given me many gifts. They probably aren't the gifts that I would have asked for, and they probably all aren't what I would see as positive, but here they are. I can make the best out of them and make my life into something that I truly will enjoy, or I can sit around and wish that my life were somehow better.

My life is up to me, isn't it?

[Rusty Zipper]

yeah CC,

today,

in my "Get's"

and what i have the choice to do with them,

lies my happiness

and today, i can open another Get's!

[citychick]

Yeah, it's seeing the gift in everything Pattee, even when I need to use a magnifying glass. lol

[citychick]

I learned.. . that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic, striving, but it comes to us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness.

Brenda Ueland

Inspiration is just another thing that we misunderstand because we've been taught about it incorrectly. I used to think novelists were "inspired," until I wrote four of the things myself--believe me, the inspiration part was gone very quickly, and what was left was a lot of work. I enjoyed the work, but I certainly was cured of my illusions of inspiration.

The best poetry is created during the revision process--there are very few brilliant poems that haven't been reworked over and over again. That's where the craft comes in.

I like the quotation by a composer who said something to the extent of "I don't work because I'm inspired; I find inspiration because I'm working."

Inspiration is in all of us. It's not a bolt of lightning from heaven, but a part of ourselves that lies dormant for a very long time until the conditions are right for it to make its way into the light--and we're the only ones who can make the conditions right for our own inspiration to affect us.

Peace and quiet. Being in a relaxed state in a relaxing place. Being good to ourselves; loving and trusting ourselves. Letting our minds rest from their constant stress and strife. Our inspiration lies in us like a spring of clear, pure water that can't make its way out until we prepare a way for it. Inspiration doesn't just happen; it takes work. And inspiration isn't for just a select few--it's in all of us.

When are you going to let yours out and allow it to affect your life in beautiful ways?

[Rusty Zipper]

i hear you on that CC!

[Ann]

I like the quotation by a composer who said something to the extent of "I don't work because I'm inspired; I find inspiration because I'm working."

Wow, lightbulb moment here. I like to write, and lately have neglected a few pieces I have been working on...waiting to be inspired.

Tomorrow I will take out one piece and let the work inspire me!! *lightbulb*

Thanks, CC. I needed this poke in the ribs today.

[citychick]

Actually Ann, that could be the way for me to go with a couple of assignments that are getting close to their due date. Lately I've tended to 'think' about working on them but that's all. Today, I'll make a start and leave the avoidance behaviours behind.

[citychick]

If one changes internally, one should not continue to live with the same objects. They reflect one’s mind and psyche of yesterday. I throw away what has no dynamic, living use. I keep nothing to remind me of the passage of time, deterioration, loss, shriveling.

Anaïs Nin

If I'm not the same person I was a few years ago, then why do I continue to hold on to objects that were important to me then? It makes sense that I would be finding importance in new things, and that the old things should become less and less significant to me as time goes on and I change more.

That may be true, but what about the memories? What about the emotional ties that those memories evoke? It certainly isn't a simple question, is it?

But how can I be helping myself if I continue to hold on to things and objects that are constant ties to my past? My past is not who I am now. These objects, in theory, are keeping me tied down to certain thoughts and ideas, and they may not allow me to move forward as easily as I might be able to do if I didn't live with the constant memories of what was.

Every fall, many trees and bushes and flowers lose the leaves and stalks and branches that they've had all summer.

These things have been important to them for a very long time, but they know when it's time to let go and move on. Those leaves and branches are gone for good, and next spring new ones will take their place. Just like those plants, our lives follow seasons, and at the end of some seasons, it's much better to shed those things that have gotten us through the season and move on to the next one.

Life moves on, always, and we can grow much more if we move along with it rather than fighting the current.

[Rusty Zipper]

good one CC

for me, i did give the old heave-ho to a lot of things from my past,

people, places and things!

all were met with some resistance at first,

just the more i heaved,

the more Ho! i recieve!

[citychick]

I try to remember that saying 'what we resist persists.'

I still leave the odd tooth or claw mark in things I know would be better off if I let go completely.

(hey, do you think that celtic pic is a bit too big for the posts?)

[citychick]

That has been my personal relationship with God--a connection with the powerful, loving, wise energy in all of us, in all creation. It is the life force itself.
We can all have contact with it each moment in our lives, but it takes
commitment and practice. We must be willing to move through all
our deepest fears, doubts, and misunderstandings.

Shakti Gawain

Teacher after teacher all through history has taught that God is within us, but for some reason, we choose not to listen. Perhaps it's because so many people teach us that we must believe in their vision of God, or perhaps it's because the thought that God is so close to us--actually a part of us, and we are a part of God--frightens us. No matter why, it's quite a shame that we limit ourselves so drastically by not acknowledging our own value and our own place in this world.

Are we worthy? Yes, we are. We're not the awful, horrible people that some religious folk make us out to be--we are all creations of the same force, and we're all created on the same level. What we do with ourselves helps to define who we are as time goes on, and many of us never will become the people we were meant to be because we let fear get in the way, but when all is said and done, we all have the potential for the same relationship with the holy in our lives if we only allow ourselves to search it out.

Many of the students I work with sabotage their own chances for success because they talk themselves down, they don't acknowledge their strengths and abilities. They look at themselves as somehow unworthy and unable, and as long as they do so they're dooming themselves to failure.

Others, though, are willing to see their own value and work through their problems. They face the problems head-on and they deal with them, knowing that they must do so if they're going to advance in life. These are the students that are setting themselves up for success.

If God is omnipresent, as most argue he is, then God is in me. The question is, how am I going to use that wise, positive force for good in my life and the lives of others?

[citychick]

The cure for all the illness of life is stored in the inner depth of life itself, the access to which becomes possible when we are alone. This solitude is a world in itself, full of wonders and resources unthought of. It is absurdly near; yet so unapproachably distant.

Rabindranath Tagore

I always wonder why it should be so difficult for us to know ourselves. Why is there so little effort in our societies to go into ourselves and learn more about who we are and what strengths we have on a spiritual level? Are we afraid of what we might find? Are we afraid that we may find nothing at all? Are we simply afraid of the solitude that's necessary if we want to give ourselves a chance to know ourselves?

Because we don't take the time to be alone and get to know ourselves, we can't find out just how wonderful we are as human beings. It's like having a cave full of treasure in our back yard, yet never taking the time to step out the back door because we're too comfortable with the way things are inside the house. Besides, who needs the back yard when we have such a nice front yard? Why do we need to explore our inner world when we have so much great entertainment at our disposal?

Most people never even begin to imagine the riches that are inside of them. They never give themselves the opportunity to learn just how special they are, and they go through life thinking that they really aren't all that special. It's just like me calling myself poor even though I have that cave full of treasure in the back yard. It does me no good at all to have it, and it does no one else any good, either.

Peace and quiet and solitude can give us the opportunity to go inside ourselves and find out just how wonderful we are. But we do have to take advantage of the quiet, and we do have to make the effort to learn from what we find.

[Ann]

I love Tagore and these are good words for me this morning. Thanks, CC, for peeking in my window.

[Rusty Zipper]

Thars Gold Thar In Me!

i just inhaled some Spiritual Bling!

[citychick]

Spiritual bling, I wouldn't mind some of that Pattee. I've been mining for it but alas, the days of the Gold Flecky Bits are long gone. Now it's just the big quiet, which is nice enough when compared with the insanity that used to live in me.

[citychick]

The Buddha spoke gently, "Once a person is caught by belief
in a doctrine, one loses all one's freedom. When one
becomes dogmatic, that person believes his or her doctrine
is the only truth and that all other doctrines are heresy.
Disputes and conflicts all arise from narrow views. They can
extend endlessly, wasting precious time and sometimes even
leading to war. Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path. Bound to narrow views,
one becomes so entangled that it is no longer possible
to let the door of truth open."

Thich Nhat Hanh

I'd love to write a book on this subject. It makes me sad to see just how many people limit their own perspectives by clinging to views and ideas that they've embraced just because someone else has taught them that they're true. It's like we're willing to sacrifice our own freedom just to hold on tightly to a belief that may or may not be true. Most dogma is based on the beliefs of people--Christian dogma, for example, is based on the interpretations of people, not on the words of Christ. Many churches hold on to interpretations that have been disproved by new translations, yet because someone hundreds of years ago interpreted the Bible in a certain way, the churches still cling to the ideas because they're now "tradition."

If we want to become truly spiritual beings, we must embark on our own journeys into our selves and our personal relationship with God or life. The answers to my spiritual questions are not in someone else's interpretation of anything--I must learn to trust myself and my own perspective on life.

Have you ever thought someone was mad at you, and it made you feel awful? This was a belief, and it held you back because you didn't like having someone angry with you. When you later found out that the person wasn't angry with you, your belief was shattered, and it no longer made you feel awful.

Likewise, if we keep ourselves open to learning and growing, we will find out that some of the beliefs that we hold on to are actually holding us back, making us feel awful, and if we were able to cast them aside, we'd be able to move on and to grow more. We owe it to ourselves to walk on a clear path, one that's not overgrown with the dogma that other people have created, trying to get others to believe exactly what they believe.

[indigo]

Thanks as always jmo the sig pic may look better a little smaller I do like it though.

[Rusty Zipper]

Backpack on,

packing a lunch today,

and walking a clear path!

[citychick]

Thanks as always jmo the sig pic may look better a little smaller I do like it though.

Thanks for the feedback indie, I appreciate it.

I don't know if I can make it smaller, it's off google images. I'll just have a look around for something smaller.

It is a bit "in ya face." lol

[citychick]

Ask yourself: If I know something to be true, am I prepared to follow it, even though it is contrary to what I want or to what I have previously held to be true? Will I follow it if it means being laughed at,
if it means personal financial loss, or some kind of hardship?

Eric Liddell

Conviction tends to be hard to come by. The line between conviction and stubbornness seems to grow dimmer all the time as we tend to see standing by one's convictions less as a sign of strong character and more as a sign of a closed mind. The trick lies in recognizing what is truly the truth, and what is something that we believe for now, but that may change.

For example, I used to believe that competition is always a very positive part of our lives, and that teaching kids how to function in competitive situations was very important for them. I don't believe that now. I believe that we overdo competition, and our kids suffer a great deal of stress and undergo many problems because of our emphasis on it. I wouldn't have changed my perspective if I hadn't been open to hearing and accepting the views of others who disagreed with me, or without having a mind open enough to recognize that what I was seeing didn't support my beliefs.

On the other hand, I believe very strongly that children should be treated with dignity and respect, and I will stand up for that belief whenever I'm called to, for the rest of my life.

But that's an easy one--there are few people who would cause me to stand up for that by presenting an opposing view. One that wasn't so easy was a few years ago when I complained to our city government about softball games that were going on until midnight at a field a couple of hundred yards from our house. I was seen as a selfish person, a killjoy, even though my major complaint was that our school-aged children were being kept awake until midnight by cheering crowds when they should have been able to sleep. (To the city's credit, they did make some significant changes.)

What are you willing to stand up for? On the day I die, I have a feeling that I'll be more concerned about the things that I stood up for than about the things that didn't interest me so much. I hope that I'll be able to look back with satisfaction at having stood up for some important causes.

[Rusty Zipper]

well, for one thing

i'm willing to stand up for my boundries!

SB, ya hear'n me? lol

[citychick]

When you are offended or annoyed by others, do not allow your thoughts
to dwell on them or on anything relating to them. For example, don't think
that they ought not to have treated you so, being who they are, or whom
they think themselves to be, or the like. All this is fuel and kindling of
wrath, anger, and hatred.

Lorenzo Scupoli

In so many ways, our thoughts determine who we are and how we feel. If I pay attention, I can usually pick out the people who are thinking positive thoughts and the people who are thinking negative ones--their body language tells me how they're feeling, which is a result of their thoughts. (Of course, many people are regularly thinking somewhat neutral thoughts, like what they have to get at the store or how their team's going to do in tomorrow's game).

When we think negative or angry thoughts, that's our choice. We'd like to think that our thoughts are the result of some action or occurrence, but our reaction to it is our decision. The more negative our thoughts, the more negative our moods and our feelings. Do you want to be walking around feeling anger? Does it do anything good for our bodies or our minds?

It can help us to adopt a positive anchor, so to speak. When the negative thoughts start to overwhelm us--or even when they just start--we can use this anchor to bring us back to a state of equilibrium. Is there a wonderful movie or book you can turn your thoughts to? How about a beautiful place that you've visited, or a favorite spot to take walks? Perhaps there's a person who always makes you smile. If you can get in the habit of changing your thoughts to positive ones, you'll benefit now in ways that you can't even imagine, and the people around you will benefit, also.

It's definitely not helpful for us to fill our minds with negative, stressful thoughts, and the sooner we get rid of them, the sooner we'll feel much better all the way around.

[Rusty Zipper]

as a dear friend here used to say,

exhale the crap, inhale in the good, and dont forget to breath!

[citychick]

When people are on the point of drowning, all they care for is their lives.
But as soon as they get ashore, they ask, "Where is my umbrella?"
Wisdom, in life, consists in not asking for the umbrella.

John Wu


How many times have we seen in films--and even real life--those people who barely escape death and who immediately become distraught because they've lost their wallets or some jewels or some paperwork that they "needed"? In films, it makes for a wonderful illustration of a character who simply hasn't set his or her priorities realistically or who can't appreciate the truest reality of the moment: he or she is lucky to be alive. Somehow, though, the person places more importance on some sort of material object than on life.

True wisdom consists of seeing life exactly as it is--it is much more important than any of the materialism or even the relationships of our lives. After all, if we weren't alive, we wouldn't have any of it, would we? If I die today, not a single thing that I have or a single person that I know would be able to change that fact. Therefore, the highest priority of my life should be to appreciate and be thankful for the life that I have that I'm able to lead.

If I'm alive, what I lose doesn't matter, for I can gain it again. Being alive means being able to live and learn and grow, and if we're truly wise, we seek to strengthen and improve our lives, our hearts, our souls, our spirits. If we're not wise, we seek to obtain more and more things in our search for "happiness," and we seek to hold on to them at all costs out of fear of losing them.

Many people who face drowning but who survive are wise, and they don't ask for whatever they might have lost when they reach safety. We can learn from them and their wisdom and realize that the next time we pass through a difficult or dangerous time, at least we're alive. And isn't that what matters? For only when we're alive can we continue to grow and learn.

[Rusty Zipper]

Shannon Curfman "Never Enough lyrics"

I've seen the people
As they walk down the street
Smiling and looking so free
As I stand on the corner
With a tear in my eye
Wondering how it would be
If I'd never asked for what I could not have
Always living for things out of reach

Chorus:
Never enough
Forever unsatisfied
Missing a piece of my soul
Never enough
Forever unanswered
Like a prayer that never gets told

Fall away troubles, dreams and desires
And let me escape from myself
If I'd never asked for what I could not have
I could live just like everyone else

Chorus

Fall away troubles, dreams and desires
And let me escape from myself