Pearls Of Wisdom

... it should not affect us too much when other people don't accept our pearls of wisdom. What may be a gem for us could be a mere pebble for another.

(Day By Day, 26 November)

30 November 2015

Voting Rights

There is continued evidence that people's right to vote is under attack or being denied.

Here's what Senator Edward Kennedy had to say about voting. (In my case the women denied the right to vote were my grandmothers and my mother and her sisters.)

Our great-grandmothers marched, were arrested, and suffered heroically in jail to obtain the vote for women. People walked the dusty back roads of the South, and sometimes died, to ensure African-Americans the right to vote. We should be humbled by that. We have progressed to where we are because we stand on all their shoulders, and we must never forget it. Voting says thank you.

(Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senator in Words That Matter by the Editors of The Oprah Magazine, p. 61)
28 November 2015

Relating

Productive activity is characterized by the rhythmic change of activity and repose.

Productive work, love and thought are possible only if a person can be, when necessary, quiet and alone with himself.

To be able to listen to oneself is a prerequisite for the ability to listen to others, to be at home with oneself is the necessary condition for relating oneself to others.

(Eric Fromm in The Art Of The Possible by Alexandra Stoddard, p. 88)

27 November 2015

Life Journey

On ... [your life] journey,

• some people will fall behind you, and you will feel guilty for leaving them.
• Some people will fall in front of you, causing you to stumble.
• Still others will fall right next to you, scaring you half to death.

Always keep in mind, if you stop on the journey to worry or doubt or fear, you will create a major obstacle.

• Others will then fall over you.

(Iyanla Vanzant, Faith In The Valley, p. 143)
26 November 2015

Letters

Letters 

Letters take time to write, usually more time than talk. They require a certain level of artfulness and thoughtfulness in expression. Then they remain, to be reread, perhaps to be stored away for another day of reading, or even to be encountered at some distant time by a future, unknown eavesdropper.

All of these aspects of the letter invite soulfulness:

• rereading is a form of reflective meditation; 
• keeping letters honors memory and not only daily living; and 
• speaking to a reader not yet present in this life respects the soul's eternal nature.

(Thomas Moore, Soul Mates, p. 125)

19 November 2015

Conflict

Conflict in close relationships is not only inevitable, it's essential. Intimacy connects people who are inevitably different -- as the saying goes, if two people agree about everything, one of them is superfluous. Conflict is the mechanism by which we set boundaries around these differences, so that each party feels safe with the other.
(Martha Beck, life coach, in Words That Matter by the Editors of The Oprah Magazine, p. 53)
18 November 2015

Run Your Own Race

Don't spend all your time trying to win over your critics; 

just run your own race.

(Joel Osteen, Become A Better You, p. 235)

16 November 2015

Easier Said Than Done

PEACE

When confronted with conflict, we can choose to feel peace. 

When attacked in any way, we can make the decision not to fight.

We can come from a place of restraint and 

not act out in any hostile way, 

even if we want to. 

We do not have to act out our thoughts or emotions. 

We can pause and wait 

until we can come from our volition, 

from our choice.

We can 

choose peace.

Today we can wait until all negative and hostile feelings lose their power over us before we say or do anything. We can take the time to breathe in peace and love, no matter what is going on in our lives.

(after Time For Joy by Ruth Fishel, 4 October)

******

It's been a good week for purchasing used CDs for $1.00 each.

On Wednesday at the double Thrift Store I bought five:

1. The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley (2 CD set)
2. Sara Evans - No Place That Far
3. Sara Evans - Restless
4. Alan Jackson - Homemade Mix

On Saturday at the Holy Redeemer Fall Rummage sale I bought seventeen:

1. Time-Life Treasure of Bluegrass - America's Music  (2 CD set)
2. The Maddox Brothers and Rose - Live on the Radio
3. The Skillet Lickers - Old Time Fiddle Tunes and Songs From North Georgia
4. Ernest V. Stoneman - Edison Recordings 1928
5. Steve Martin - The Crow
6. Eddy Arnold - Greatest Hits
7. Chuck Mangione - Compact Jazz
8. Various Artists - Country Gospel (3 CD set)
9. Various Artists - Guideposts Presents - Then Sings My Soul (4 CD set)
10. Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder - Soldier of the Cross
11. Emmy Lou Harris - The Very Best Of - Heartaches & Highways

Dick Henthorn

15 November 2015

Lack

There seems to be no lack of discontent and problems for many of the people of the world. Could this be attributed to our willingness to accept lack as the way it has to be for a significant percentage of the worlds' population?

Why do we expect so many to be content with a lack of:

• education
• good jobs
• a living wage
• affordable housing
• healthy diets
• clean water
• health insurance
• affordable medical health care?

(Mr. Dickie after The Christophers, Three Minutes A Day, 17 October)
14 November 2015

I'm Ready!

Talking ready is not enough.

Thinking ready will not work.

You must be ready 

in mind, body and spirit 

before you can make a change.

(Iyanla Vanzant, Faith In The Valley, p. 96)

13 November 2015

Detachment

Detachment allows you to remain aware of what you feel while the events of your life unfold.
(Gary Zukav & Linda Francis, Thoughts From The Heart Of The Soul, p. 75)
12 November 2015

Skills

We can all tune up our skills by focusing more attention on our strengths rather than dwelling on our weaknesses.
(Alexandra Stoddard, The Art Of The Possible, p. 24)
11 November 2015

It's My Time

The only true time which a man can properly call his own, is that which he has all to himself; the rest, though in some sense he may be said to live it, is other people's time, not his.
(Charles Lamb in The Art Of The Possible, by Alexandra Stoddard, p. 74)
10 November 2015

Whatever Comes

2015 Washington, DC Orchid Show

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
(Eleanor Roosevelt in The Art of the Possible by Alexandra Stoddard, p. 23)
7 November 2015

Miracles

Miracles are not in contradiction to nature.
They are only in contradiction with what we know of nature.
(Augustine of Hippo, in Flowers Along The Path, by Esther Carls Dodgen, p. 90)
7 November 2015

If The Shoe Fits

Human beings are never quite alike, so each of us, when making an inventory, will need to determine what his individual character defects are. Having found the shoes that fit, he ought to step into them and walk with new confidence that he is at last on the right track.
(As Bill Sees It, p. 280)
6 November 2015

Don't Project

Art at the November 2015 Artomatic Show

• Don't project!
• Don't imagine the worst;
• deal with your problems as they arise.
• Live one day at a time.

(One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 11 July)

******

I've been working on a project to add information about my latest CD purchases to my Music catalog. I uploaded a copy to my Box account.  This allows me to look at what I have when I am away from my own computer.

5 November 2015

One Ought

Washington, DC Artomatic 2015

One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

(Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe in The Art of the Possible by Alexandra Stoddard, p. 69)
4 November 2015

Point Of View

It can be upsetting to discover that our own point of view is only one of many options.
(After Thomas Moore in Soul Matters, p. 36)
3 November 2015

Defects

2015 Washington, DC Orchid Show

A clear light seems to fall upon us all -- when we open our eyes. Since blindness is caused by our own defects, we must first deeply realize what they are. Constructive meditation is the first requirement for each new step in our spiritual growth.
(As Bill Sees It, Day 10)

******

I didn't do any blogging, or daily reading, this week.  I needed an attitude check. 

I'm pleased to report that I finally figured out why I couldn't make all of the songs in a Box account folder play sequentially.  They made changes in the appearance of Box and I fell behind.  It turned out to be something simple to fix.  Click on the Gear, then turn on Auto-play. There are many music files on my Box account which I can now enjoy listening to in the background while doing genealogy or while spending time on Facebook.

Dick Henthorn 

1 November 2015