I try to do lessons every day, I study most nights for at least 2 – 3 hours. I focus on quieting the mind, letting information filter through my gray cells. Some information stays with me, some fades into the night … one of the realities of living on one’s own .. is that how we plan our day/nights is a learning curve on its own. I am blessed with many of you who write blogs, you share your ideas/pictures and allow me a glimpse into the colours and pieces of your lives. AND your thoughts, ideas and your creativity always give me pause to reflect on how multi-faceted the world is.
The last few days have been revealing in a way that I would have preferred not to have lived it, but, it was not to be.. I relearned a valuable lesson..
In PL.. you have all seen my posting the Precept. # 5 One’s self is lost by being emotional. Guess who got caught by scammers…. yup yours truly, I dealt with it… but it was a very loud reminder that I need to look for shortcomings in my own thinking and actions. I reacted to an e-mail I received, and didn’t heed the inner voice that screamed Beware!!! I was lucky I it seems I acted in time to avert a serious breech. Thank you to everyone who helped me through the “crisis.”
Don’t give up? Keep at it until you accomplish what you started
The key to achieving something is to stick to it. If you are able to continue something from start to finish, you will be sure to accomplish it no matter how difficult the task is.
A smile makes you and others cheerful and energetic.
PL2021.4
Sometimes, the day begins and we wonder how we will get through the day… The air and energy around us is heavy with pessimistic vibes, Then someone smiles, a genuine greeting … and you feel the heaviness lift. A smile can work wonders.
If you think, “It’s just another day” your life will simply be stagnant and unchanging. you are in fact given this unique day, unlike any other so live it to the fullest.
PL2017.3
I had not been to this trail for awhile, maybe in early spring, the crews have been busy, the bench wasn’t recent, but they took away the old deck and have built a sturdy new one.. It was a beautiful day, didn’t take me long to realize that my cell phone was not going to have the distance draw I would need to capture some of the activities I saw down the shoreline. Guess I’ll be looking for my camera when I get back.
Have to vacate the underground garage, the building is doing clean up mtce to the floor in the area where i have my assigned parking. Have a grand day everyone.
I recall a trip we took years ago.. we drove to Montana, (my previous time to go there I had flown in, and never did I want to do that again).. So my husband the planner said, “let’s drive there” he planned out the route we would take from here in Ontario (Canada) and on a lovely September day, we took off with the two dogs for Montana. The only States I had visited before this was NY, Vermont, NH, Florida, and California. We drove down into NY State and from there he took us through as many of the middle states towards Montana.. What a diverse geography the landscapes were at times “mind blowing” especially as we got closer to Montana itself. I got to see Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wyoming, Idaho and then into Montana, It was many years ago now and my husband is no longer here to tell me if I’ve missed any of the States we drove through. He promised we’d go back, I had wanted to see Arizona and spend more time exploring, but we had limited time and our goal was my friend in Montana.
What brings the trip back is stories I have been listening to that take place in the “old west” life in the 1800’s and the fact that Brian always wanted to take me away during my birthday month. His birthday gift to me was to take me to places he wanted me to experience.(He had been a journalist and media personality, his work had taken him to all four corners of the globe. I used to love listening to his adventures.. ) Now of course I have to plan and decide my own “birthday month”.. After the years of having adventures planned out for me, I confess I was spoiled.. it is an adjustment.. I find myself, part of me anyway, wanting to pack the car and take off to explore… etc… however… another part of me says, “you’ve done that… and… blah blah blah)
In PL we say ” PL Precept # 1 Life is Art ” every day is a new beginning.. a new canvas.. At the moment I have a new living space to adapt to and make my own… a new “lifestyle” ….
The Excitement of life comes from expressing your individuality
In PL we say it is important to live each moment of your life expressing your true self with Makoto (sincerity) when we can do this we will experience the true joy of self expression.” Learn to live respecting one another and working for each other’s happiness.” a lesson we are reminded of daily when we recite the PL Prayer.
After mulling about what I want to do, and simply not getting anywhere, I opened my calendar to today’s reading…and et voila…
Whether you like or dislike something, give it a try
Instead of avoiding something because it’s complicated or difficult to understand, just give it a try. Then you will be able to find it interesting,
PL2017.2
The picture for those who are unfamiliar with the Teepe or Tipi as it is traditionally know.. is a conical dwelling many Native American Plains tribes used as dwellings.
Whatever your day brings, enjoy .. smile.. be happy.
Oyashikiri
Why do teepees have 13 poles?
According to these teachings, the poles of the tipi represent the nations of people living upon Mother Earth and form the circle of life. Each one of the 13 poles also represents a trait to be honoured, starting with the three anchor poles that signify respect, obedience and humility. (wiki)
Sometimes when we make a change, it isn’t a simple action… there are consequences and new perspectives, Changes require that one relearn and regroup whether one wants to or not.
Rather than thinking “I have to…” Think “ok, Let’s do this!”
When you procrastinate, put things off until later, you will make things harder than they need to be. Get up and do it now.
PL2020.31
Oyashikiri
For the curious that is a cardboard avatar (Second Life) and the living space is one of the Linden Lab Premium houses ..Lighting was in the Firestorm viewer. love the light and shadows.
It seems easy … just sit back, relax…. let the moments come and go.
I watched a short clip today, where there is a moving ball, starts at one side of the frame, moves slowly to the top (centre) of the frame pauses and then slowly slides to the other side of the frame. The caption and voice, asks that you watch taking a slow breath, then hold when the ball pauses, then release as it slowly drops down to the other side. Lovely reminder to pause during your day, to take a moment to just stop relax for a moment before hurrying on with whatever you are doing.
So often we live our lives on automatic pilot, When I was out yesterday driving to the conservation area I frequent, I thought about how often I had done this over this years.. and how the car just seemed to know where it was going. Ottawa is surrounded by green spaces. We are very lucky that way. I found myself asking the empty space around me (in the car) why I always went to the same locations. Why with hundreds of options, did I always go where it was familiar. (didn’t get an answer)(working on it)
When finally home, I settled down for a wee nap, and turned my iPad on to listen to one of my lessons, but instead of a podcast on male *health/ psychology, a story came up about a woman pilot.. a woman who had military training … now no longer in the military she was on a commercial flight when there was an incident that required quick thinking and the skills she had acquired while in the military,
This was not something usually on my radar.. but I was tired, comfortable, my eyes closed… so I let the story unfold. I woke to a story about a woman living in the wilderness of Nevada back in the 1800 when the land was wild, and civilization sparse ,… She tended a trading post on her own, in the middle of nowhere… stepping outside when she heard movement, she found an injured wolf… the story was about how she took responsibility for the injured animal.. and the consequences of her actions. (women did not have it easy!)
Both stories were nothing I would ever have searched out, but there they were.. … both told of courage, of kindness, of persons who put the safety and what was morally right first. Made me wonder what other “stories” were being offered. Interestingly I found that there are human interest stories .. that speak of kindness and helping others in all walks of life. There are consequences in life, and we are often the creators of our own “destiny”.
No one can take away the joy you get from putting your whole heart into something
The joy you feel when you’ve put your all into something is yours and yours alone. Nobody can take that away from you
PL20020.29
Have a great day everyone.. try something different. But keep smiling.
Oyashikiri
*this is a field of its own, men do have issues and problems specific to their gender.
From spring to summer, what a difference. Of course I would pick a day when it is pouring rain to make the trip, but “c’est la vie” rain or shine, being in nature is a joy.
There will always be a way
If you persist and be creative without giving up, you will find solutions that you had not considered before.
PL2020.28
I had no intentions of going back out to the nature trails that I went to every day for 7 years,… but … one should never say never, Sometimes we need to return to what was.. to see if WE are still “in tune” with where we were back when there was no other way to start a day, It was familiar, but I am not the same woman … I felt a tug of sadness … the birds that had greeted me each day, the furry critters who came at the sound of my voice, were not to be found.. of course the time of day was different, and it was pouring rain. Still…. a gentle reminder… N O T H I N G stays the same,.
Have a good day everyone, PL Precept # 16 All things progress and develop.
I think I need to practice this a little more. Going to reflect on how words can just be a lot of noise. People no longer really listen, they hear, but it is automatic, words go in one ear and out the other.
Sometimes endings are needed. Sometimes, we need to move foreword… the only constant in life is change.
It’s okay to think this is where it starts
There is always a turning point. It’s important what you do from now on.
Beautiful day, blue skies, balmy breeze, the water looked so inviting. I was on a trail leading up and around the area between two lakes. I thought, can I clamor down that incline…. looked steep but doable. What I didn’t take into consideration was that I was alone and without walking sticks.. I would have no support in areas where it was steep. Then I looked at the trees and thought they could be support as I made my way down.
What I didn’t take into consideration was my footwear. They are the “bare foot” type shoe you see being advertised everywhere these days. They have been around a long time, and I had tried them before, but my first attempt didn’t work for me, they were just too big for my foot. These that I acquired recently from “Hike” fit me beautifully, and I had worn them all day the previous day..
The incline was steep, sandy and looked easy if I took my time…. however, when I took the first steps, I realized soon enough that there was not enough grip, and the soil being so sandy it was loose and I began to slide down much like you see people on skis going down a hill.. except I had no poles. Well wasn’t I in a pickle. I managed to get a hold on a tree I was sliding past… and pulled myself into a position where I could lean on it while I figured out my next step,
I had slipped down a couple of feet, going up would be slippery.. every fallen branch I found was dried out and rotten, they snapped and broke easily, they would not support my weight .. I couldn’t use them for leverage.
Ah… fortunately … Bonnie * came looking for me, she had gone back to the car and found me missing. From her position on the trail, she could move forward enough to pull me up. It was a giggle, however, a reminder, if you are in the woods alone, do not wander off the trail if you are not properly outfitted.
When we started out in the morning, she did say she wanted a walk… we got a walk in! She had thought we would eat at the golf course in Lac Simon but when we got there, it was closed (in parts of Quebec, places close Mondays and sometimes even Tuesday) We ended up having lunch at Le Cafe du Bistrot in St. Andre Avellin. We didn’t have a reservation, fortunately, they did find us a table. Delicious meal and well priced. They are located at 198 Principale, e-mail info@cafedubistrot.com (phone is 819-983-3966 ) there is an outdoor patio.. it is not a huge place, small and inviting.. I would think reservations would be best…. (https://cafedubistrot.com/)
Be very careful about doing things you really like
Do everything in moderation. When you overdo, you’ll lose your balance,
PL2021.26
Friendship, fresh air, good food… what more is there!
TAOIST Life is Art (Perfect Liberty precept #1)
contact info.- via blogs
--- there are two energies, Yin and Yang = ONE
---to have balance we must live each moment
of our lives.. with Makoto (sincerity)
The only constant in life is change. I am grounded in the reality of Living.
This is true, in all worlds. RL or virtual. I am me and only me.