wildrose62 Offline

63 In a relationship Female from Sydney       246
         

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Feeling the Grace

Somehow, incredibly, after the fires missed us and took out everything else on the east coast, the floods have now missed us too. To the north and south of us, people are having to comes to terms with the inundation of their properties, the damage to roads and bridges, loss of crops and livestock and farm machinery and cars. And somehow all we have here are some puddles and potholes, a clean roof and a lower water bill this quarter. Feeling very grateful.

what is important

Being with people
Really listening
Good books
Doing it now
Growing things - gardens, children
Cooking for others
Kindness without expectation
Compassion
Creativity
Rest
Love

on gratitude

This morning there is a puddle of rain at the bottom of my driveway. this means that last night, while I was asleep, it has rained enough to form a puddle. This means that, in our area, it has rained enough to form puddles which will dampen down the fires which, somehow, miracuously went around my home, when it went through so many others.
I am grateful too, that I can show this puddle to my partner when he wakes after his shift watching for spot fires, that the plants in my garden will probably now survive when the gardens and loved ones of so many did not.
Last night I was grateful that, in the bottom of my refrigerator, there was still a bag of sweet carrots and a bag of spinach when there is no fresh food in the shops. I savoured the meal I prepared with them when normally I would have rushed through it to finish and do something else.
Today, I am grateful.

Religions of hate

Tolerance. This word tolerance. I see it used negatively, as in "I will tolerate this, but I don't have to like it." Or the strange one -"I have tolerated this long enough." I have decided personally that I am unhappy with this word. I would like to substitute "respect."
There are many versions of what seem to be very similar religions, e.g. branches of Christian faiths and interpretations of various religious books. Often the branches clash on matters of interpretation and strict adherence to one interpretation of an ambiguous text seem to result in conflict of one kind or another. I imagine that the authors of these texts would be unhappy that their lack of clarity has resulted in these conflicts. Maybe I'm wrong.
But my point is that the intolerance for other beliefs, or other interpretations seems at odds with general goals of improving well-being, of compassion and kindness.
So my line in the sand. I respect your right to adhere to your beliefs, as long as they do no harm. I do not respect anyone who tells me it is their right to punish another or treat them as an inferior because your religion tell you that that is alright, or even that that is what is expected. I respect your right to believe in an afterlife, or in the end of days or in whatever divine being that you believe to be in charge of your destiny. That is your right.
And maybe my beliefs are not restricted to the words of any one book, but I feel that the sentiments are common to many - kindness, helping those who cannot help themselves, compassion (for other humans, and all life), respect for the environment, respect for those who have no harmful intent (and compassion for those who do not understand why that is wise), and taking responsibility for the outcome of ones own actions.
And if you are in disagreement, I will listen to your reasons for doing so. But please respect my right to an opinion that differs from yours.

I've started this

So my social experiment of waiting for someone to say something significant has mushroomed. It's become a search for intelligent life. All this inane chatter. The insults, the put-downs, the talking about people behind their backs. Waiting for a shred of humanity, relevance....
And the excuses..... poor excuses for failings without any sense of ownership for those failings....blaming someone else, or circumstances, or inventing some culture of discrimination to explain away a life poorly lived.
And now it has become that I can take in no more of it. I am overloaded and tired of it. Overwhelmed by pointless sound. I need quiet. If you have nothing worthwhile to say, why do you keep talking?
My growing inability to involve myself in this cancerous negativity is isolating me from all but a few - those who have something real, important, humorous or interesting to say. I am so glad to know them, so very grateful to be uplifted by them. To know them is like walking on the beach and almost, but not quite, passing by the tiny gem of bright colour amid the beigeness of the sand.
Billy Connolly once said something about beige people. I understand.

Had a good laugh

Was sent a video of men undergoing labour pains.... two of those little electronic pad things stuck to some hairy guy's abdomen that somehow is supposed to simulate labour. The video lasted about two minutes and the guy in it was begging to have it taken off. Wonder how he'd go with three labours for a total of 72 hours of labour pains? Don't bother telling me that men are tougher than women. Women are awesome.

This God they speak of

Somehow this all-knowing, all-powerful being has come up with this poorly designed race which differs physically so little from so many other species. Joints that wear and come apart, frames that age and snap in inconvenient ways, associated pains and loss of productivity, increasing dependence. Lego has a better design - something wears or breaks, disconnect it and attach another one. Then it's useful again.
How we differ from other species - well the main one they tell us is abstract thought. I do question the uniqueness of the human race in that regard. As we fail to find ways to communicate with other species, isn't it likely that we are only SUPPOSING that they lack abstract thought?
And this human race which so often lacks humanity. the inhumane of the species, smart enough to build a weapon - stupid enough to use it. Maybe God needed to work on the moral part of humanity a little more... instill it into all of those He supposedly created the desire to love each other and care for each other. Instead we have religious division, racial prejudice, ageism, sexism, homophobia, hatred, elitism, capitalism., war, murder and self-focus (me me me).
A final thought - does all this stuff that accumulates in our houses, in our lives, in our thoughts mean anything in the end? Do you think that, at the moment of your death, you will give a damn about how your shares are doing/ how much money is in your bank account/ if you have the latest phone? A friend of mine who has spent a lifetime working with terminal patients tells me that, towards the end, the majority of people want family or friends with them, want to think that they have lived a good life, and that they've made a difference to SOMEBODY.
So maybe these are the questions that we should be asking ourselves - "Did I make anybody's day better today?" "When's the last time I caught up with ______", " how can I make the world a better place?"

Life, the universe and everything

It's evening and I've wound down from another day's teaching. I came home and my partner has made dinner and cleaned up the kitchen. It's a simple thing - he's retired now so he has the time, but it's not just that.... he doesn't HAVE to do this. I'm not the kind of person who makes demands - do this, do that... And I'm sitting there after dinner thinking how nice it was to came home and not have to cook.
Then it sort of hit me - this idea of kind acts. And how, apart from his kind acts, which are frequent, how few I can recall in the last week (none), the last month (one), or even the last year. Is it that people are just distant, separated by the business of their lives? I'm not sure.
I try to ignore the unkindnesses - the person who see your indicator, then swings into the parking space you've been waiting for.... the teenagers who would rather walk into you than step around you when you're carrying an armload of books, the people who push in line. The thieves, the cold canvassers who call you at dinner time, the people who try to rort you.
Has politeness gone the way of so many other valuable things? Can people not use the words "please" and "thankyou" without being prompted? Have you ever seen how it can make someone's day just because you engage them in a conversation, or compliment them on their outfit or hairstyle, or say how pretty their scarf or earrings are?
I do not give faked compliments, but, when I see a student who has worked hard on something, a positive comment lets them know that at least one person has noticed and appreciated their effort or their improvement. Walk by a nice garden and tell the owner what a lovely job they've done... thank a shopkeeper for finding you an item, wave a thanks to the person who pauses to let you into traffic. None of this costs anything, but it can mean a lot.
There are people on this site who thrive on cruelty, on insults and on negativity. Somehow they seem to gain satisfaction by upsetting people. I do not understand why they do this, what they gain by it.
Life is too short to give time to these negative people - there are plenty of kind, loving people out there, and what attracts them to you is your positivity, your smile, your small acts of kindness.