The Feast Nearby!

I am presently reading a great book on buying local.

Our community is not oriented towards farmers markets or buying local.  Sadly, the downtown area is barely still standing. So many abandoned structures that have succumbed to fires.

Coming from the city, I certainly feel that I'm in "the country", but many in this area wouldn't think so. For one thing, I cannot have chickens, even as pets. There are no tall buildings around me. Two story homes here and there is all ... There are farming fields up the road ... but people say that we're not in the country. I guess it's all relative. lol 

It's good to get lost in a great book. It gets ideas flowing ... my next house, I'll make sure I'm in farming country and not just the "country". LOL

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

Sick to my stomach ....!

No, not from a bug, but from reading the news. It sickens me to see what we have become .... divided .... lacking respect for one another.

Now, I am not interested in what political party you are supporting ... so please do not make an attempt to persuade me of your opinion ... my goal on this post is to express what I have come to observe, as a Canadian living on this planet we call earth, more specifically in the United States.

As for the lack of respect towards one another, some have blamed the internet and one's ability to hide behind a computer screen. I'm positive that being able to comment anonymously or under a pseudonym probably contributes to the lack of respect, to the name calling and to the use of fowl language ... However, I do not think that is the sole reason.

Social media has certainly made it easy for many to voice their personal, at times unfiltered, opinions. Given that your post is there for everyone to see, I would think that would be a strong enough reason to be more careful of what one says. For some, it doesn't appear to be the case.

Is it possible that we, as a society, have placed manners, respect and kindness as no longer relevant, as unimportant? Many have no qualms about calling others disrespectful names, the flinging of a certain finger. Just recently the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told President Obama to "go to H***," among other things, and sadly we presently have a political candidate that has total disregard for others.

Is it possible that we are dealing with an pandemic of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?

Seeking what is best for the self with minimal effort and/or any regards to the impact it will have on others and our planet is the path towards self destruction. I'm in agreement with Spock on this, "the needs of many outweigh the needs of the one." I am afraid of what is to come. So, in the name of self-care, I am going on a media diet!

I will leave you with a quote from the late Wayne Dyer, "If you have a choice between being right or being kind, chose kindness." You will be amazed how this simple act will improve your relationships!

Stay respectful, stay kind and ask empowering questions ... the world needs people like you more than ever.

Namaste!

The answer is .....!

Got a problem? I've got the answer ... it's you!

What ever is wrong in your life, the answer is you and your unwillingness to take responsibility and make the necessary changes. I will be the first to admit, this is not easy. By the way, neither is success. Most successful people have had to work extremely hard to get to where they are. But I digress ....

It is so easy to blame someone else for our present circumstances. It's never your fault! Always something outside of yourself that limits your success. For many, regardless of your political affiliations, it's always the government's fault! Yea, right?!

Last week, I had a Canadian customer come into the shoppe with her husband. Their daughter married an American and is presently living in Virginia.  His pleasure is instigating a conversation at the dinner table about President Obama.  He enjoys getting his Republican in-laws going on .... oh how Obama is responsible for the increase in crime, the increase in racism .... you name it ... if there's a shortage of toilet paper, it's Obama's fault! Once it all gets going, he then just sits there and smiles! What a show! Now, no matter how entertaining that might be to some, it is a sad situation. Sad because no one is willing to take responsibility for present circumstances. 

His wife, who is the quilter, said something that had me thinking. She was a principle, now retired, of a school. She told me how everything that was wrong in the school was always her fault. It didn't matter what it was, it was all her fault. On a rainy day, she happened to look outside at the parking lot and there, was this huge puddle of water and exclaimed "it's probably my fault too that there's a puddle!"

It is so easy to blame everyone else for your present circumstances. At one point, you need to take responsibility for your life, take action towards a direction that will be more beneficial for you. NO one can do that for you. There is no knight in shining armor nor any wonder woman that will come to your rescue. Now grant it, it's not easy but ... it is something that must be done ... We must take responsibility for our present circumstances in order for our life to change.

As Marianne Williamson would say "The truth will set you free but first, it will piss you off".

Get over it! Start taking responsibility for your life and watch it soar to new heights. It's not the government or anyone else's fault but ... your own. Seek the answer within!

Go get them! Namaste! 

Epiphany ... While Waiting for Godot!

Have you read the book Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett?  It was a book I read for my advance French class. At the time, I didn't understand the absurdity of the play.  I thought the main character was waiting for God. What a bunch of nonsense, waiting for someone that never arrives while encountering strange characters and experiencing bizarre events. In my defense, I was 16 years old at the time and knew so little about life, something I would not have admitted at the time! You know how it is when you're a teen ...? lol

Fast forward to today, I'm presently doing an online class by Jim Rohn - One Year Success Plan. It is part of my "New Year" resolution to better myself, become more disciplined and focused.

This week's subject is about goals and how "purpose is stronger than object". As Jim would say, "You've got to find the "why" for your goals", which is in the details or what he refers too as the "drama". You also must "make it your own "worth while" and not wait for someone to do it for you".

OMGosh .... a rush of memories from advance French class flooded my mind .... En Attendant Godot! It all makes sense to me now. The main character had no direction, no goals and depended on others to direct the course of his life. He was living by default!

The moral of the story is, don't wait for others to make it easier for you. How do you know they'll even show up? Make it worthwhile for yourself, reach within and find the passion to make it happen. Live your life by design and not by default!

Wow, it took so many years for me to understand that book! Thank you Mrs. French Teacher, it all makes sense to me now! lol

Sigh ...!

Yesterday I received a notice from one of my favourite magazines stating that this will be their last issue.  A magazine on "sustainable city living" that can on longer financially sustain itself.

It is not the first time that one of my favourite magazines closes its doors, but somehow this one affects me in ways that I am not sure I understand.  It seems that as I get older, more and more of what is familiar to me is quickly being replaced by the unfamiliar.  In an age of continuous fast pace "high tech" digital, I long for what is comforting to me, a slower paced and a somewhat simpler life.  I now understand what my grandparents meant when they would say "the good old days" or "back in the days."

For me, the continuous fast pace digital life lacks human connection; "high tech low touch" as Michael Bernard Beckwith would say.  And ... if we are not careful and monitor ourselves, the "high tech" can make it easy for some of us to forget that, at the other end of our internet connection is another human being, a being that has tender feelings ... someone that hurts just like us.  If you have read any comments on some blogs or news articles, you know exactly what I mean.  They call it "cyber bullying!"

We are a society that is so digitally connected that many of us live our lives via television "reality shows" or computer "cyber gaming/worlds".  I am not one to watch television or participate in cyber gaming/worlds, well does Club Penguin count?  Yes, guilty of waddling around a cyber world full of penguins! lol

What I do know is that the people around me that are continuous digitally connected, are quite anti social and seem to have lost their ability to connect with another human being on an emotional level.  Sad to say, but there are numerous new fields of psychology that deal with these issues.  Hum .... perhaps a PhD thesis?!

If I look at the last 25 years of my life, I left a stressful employment in the banking industry to pursuit a graduate degree in the history of religious philosophy.  Afterwards, I opened a quilt shoppe! Hum.... what next?!

I know that I have not worked through these feelings.  I mean, I know that it is not about the magazine closing but something much deeper.  Right now, what I know for sure is that there are a lot of changes that will be taking place in my life soon .....

Take time to enjoy the moment!  It is what life is all about, is it not?

Peak a boo .... you are seen

"A person who dreams of stardom but never puts in the work isn't dreaming, he's hiding."

I read this in What to do when it's Your Turn by Seth Godin and it touched a cord in me.  To be quite frank, many aspect of the book touched a personal cord!

I have a vision of writing a book, but do I sit and write every day - No! Ah... but dreaming about its so much easier.

At this point, I don't need to write a book .... I just need to write!

How often does one hide in one's dreams?  It is a lot easier to dream than it is to get up and do it.

Do it ... Yea!

Professor Deplands (Concordia University, Religion Dept) coined the term "the will to will".  A concept out of Augustine's writings.  Basically, one gets stuck in "the will to will" and not the doing ... "one day I will ..."  Will that day ever come?  One can change the "will to will".

Change begins with a thought. Once a thought is in place one works on the behavior and creates the steps for a habit to form.  Once the habit is formed, change has occurred.

Isn't it strange that negative habits are so easy to take on, but try a positive one and it can take weeks to establish.  I do not recall ever trying hard to maintain a negative habit.  It seems to come easily!

Sadly, you can undo weeks of work towards a positive habit by not doing it a couple of times.  The reverse is NOT true for the negative habit.  It takes weeks to undo it! No fair!

But, who ever said life was fair?

Namaste