INSPIRATION
- Details
- Created on Sunday, 06 September 2015 10:11
- Written by Marian Moore
Marian @ Krysan
The Wellbeing Consultancy
Planting Golden Seeds in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and Durham
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The highest knowledge man can attain is the yearning for peace, for the the union of his will with an infinite will, his human will with God's will." — Albert Schweitzer
" I N S P I R A T I O N "
Past, Present & Future
A TRIBUTE
- Wednesday
- 16 September
- 2015
Dear Friends
A STREAM OF WORDS
Every tree and plant in my garden seems to be dancing attendance as it welcomes me home from abroad and draws me into itself. I am back after a week in the sun. Sure, on the beautiful island of Mallorca there was magic aplenty, but home is where my heart is.
Enchantment for me lies here in the North East of England where I am part of the soil. Inspired by the beauty of the natural world around me, I snuggle down to enjoy your virtual company and to experience that wonderful sense of place.
Content with life, I hold on to the certain knowledge that this blog will eventually write itself. Call this the law of attraction (maybe), but another way to describe something that results in a stream of words from the heart has to be INSPIRATION ... think about it ... and now for 3 short vignettes:
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The Past (A Summer's Day)
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The Present (Fresh eyes, new direction)
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The Future (The Adaptable Mind)
- Sincerely yours
- Marian @ Krysan
(1) The Past
Dear Friends
A SUMMER'S DAY
Believe it or not, this quotation (and an invitation to a celebration of a life) has just twinkled its way into my Inbox from across the pond. It arrives as a timely reminder to all of us to be forever grateful for our precious lives, the lives of our families, friends and neighbours and the life of the planet.
"Without exception, begin every day of your life with gratitude. As you look in the mirror, say, "Thank you, God, for life, for my body, for my family and loved ones, for this day, and for the opportunity to be of service. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" —Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
The Master's Hand at work?
You decide. Your choice.
The life being celebrated today is that of the spiritual leader and acclaimed author Dr. Wayne W. Dyer whose sudden passing was broadcast to the world last week by his family. This poem by poet Mary Oliver springs immediately to mind. It comes as a fitting tribute to a man who loved to be inspired and to inspire others ...
A SUMMER'S DAY
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean -
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down - who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?
— MARY OLIVER
Reference: (1)
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer (2006), Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling, Pub. London , Hay House UK Ltd.
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU.
(2) THE PRESENT ...
Dear Friends
FRESH EYES, NEW DIRECTION
It's been a busy day on line and this evening I took another step in my journey of a thousand miles, this towards my goal of achieving sustainable happiness for myself and those I love - without recourse ever again to psychotropic medication.
There are now alternatives to the so-called 'chemical cosh'. In this respect, I am asking you to trust the good intent and good sense of not only me (an expert through experience), but also two friends of mine (and yours) active in mind/body/spirit medicine in the UK. They are, of course:
- Miriam Akhtar, broadcaster, author and Positive Psychologist.
- Dr. Chris Johnstone, medical doctor, author and Positive Psychologist
So, by special invitation, today I joined a free webinar conversation hosted by Miriam and Chris designed to help people recover from depression naturally. As soon as a link to more information is made available, I will pass it on. Meanwhile, here is a diagram showing that 40 per cent of our happiness is under our own control - counter-intuitive, but true.
We can 'grow happiness' and I am living proof of this. To whet your appetite to learn more of Miriam and Chris's work, I invite you now to engage with a previous blog on my website: FIELDS OF GOLD*.
Here is an extract:
"In essence, the first week's session with Chris and Miriam was given over to an explanation of the web platforms in use, an overview of the course, and (most important) introducing ourselves via our telephone or Skype links. A lot to do in an hour and a half session. But, there was still enough time at this first Wednesday evening meeting to look at the first strategy for consideration: Gratitude. Our homework consisted of starting to keep a Gratitude Journal and noting 3 things that have given pleasure each day.
"I was particularly taken by the idea of the Appreciative Gaze, a new term for me and a timely reminder about savouring the everyday sights and sounds that surround us in Nature, for instance, with the advent of Spring, the appearance of snowdrops and daffodils, the birds nesting and singing in the trees, and the pure magic of the dawn chorus. The stars twinkling in the night sky. The joyfulness of new-born lambs ...
"Happiness in Action: This week, I awoke (unusually) at dawn to the chorus of birds. Inspired to resume my research (at 5.00 am) and then satisfactorily complete a previously overwhelming blog on Voices and Visions which had hitherto stumped me completely. Fresh eyes. New direction."
Reference (2)
Click below for my blog *FIELDS OF GOLD on how you, too, might set out to build your resilience and nurture your own happiness - naturally.
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU.
(3) THE FUTURE ...
Dear Friends
THE ADAPTABLE MIND
But, just as in their private lives through (perhaps) the study of positive psychology, people everywhere are making a determined effort to learn what political outcomes will make them happy. As a life-long learner, it was with absolute delight that today I heard of the academic and human achievements of a teenager just setting out on her journey into the future.
Who could resist Grace's vision to one day change the world through the study of politics, economics and philosophy? Certainly not me ... like a squirrel hoarding nuts, I have carefully spirited away every last bit of Open University course material for eons. Over my entire adult lifetime (and even into my 'third age'), it has arrived (via the Royal Mail) in a steady stream of exciting parcels to my very own front door.
Delicious, delectable, de-lovely!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
A treasure trove in print - no more and no less - and the time is now right to allow this hefty store of accrued wisdom to gradually ripple on. My first gift to Grace is a collection of six books written by the scholarly wizards of the Open University for the course A211 Philosophy and the Human Situation.
Just to give you a flavour - the chronology of thinkers who populate Arguments for Freedom, the theme of the first book of this OU module, is as follows:
- Thomas Hobbes (1588-1659)
- John Milton (1608-74)
- John Locke (1632-1704)
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78)
- Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
- Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
- John Stuart Mill (1806-73)
- James Fitzjames Stephen (1829-94)
- Henry Sidgwick (1838-1900)
- Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
- Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979)
- Isaiah Berlin (1908-97)
Impressive, to say the least - and that is just one book. A phrase that springs readily to mind in connection with Arguments for Freedom is one you will be very familiar with, 'No Man is an Island'. Food for thought there, too - and for a variety of very good reasons.
CHARACTER DAY
By some happy co-incidence, it is worth noting that today is a rather special occasion for educators and students the world over. It's a designated Character Day.
I therefore invite you, my friends, to check out this inspirational film on Vimeo. The Adaptable Mind (11 mins) explores the Character Strengths or soft skills we need in order to flourish as 21st Century humans, the first being that of 'curiosity', the second 'creativity', the third 'initiative' ...
Reference (3)
Enough said, other than the video is available for your immediate pleasure by clicking on this link:
If you like this video, make sure you too share the love. Let it ripple on ...
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU,
- THANK YOU.
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
— Anne Frank
Reflection 274
Welcome!
Perennial Wisdom
The basic doctrine of the Perennial Philosophy is that you and I are God herself travelling incognito. The one we all really are is the one reality behind all things – call it God, Buddha-nature, Atman-Brahman, what you like. What one is doing is only to connect up with and celebrate and live from this perennial wisdom, which is to be found at the very heart of all the great religions. There it is, unrecognised, neglected, scorned, denied, but there it is. One is simply continuing in this tradition as best one can.
(Douglas Harding. Interview, quoted in Seeing Who You Really Are by Richard Lang.)
- Warm Regards
- Richard
NEWS FLASH 2015-09-24
EXPLORING WHAT MATTERS
'I wholeheartedly support the Exploring What Matters course and hope that many thousands will benefit from it and take action to create a happier world' ~ Dalai Lama
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