It's Monday morning. How are you inventing your life today?
The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying, "If you don't like what's happening in your life, change your mind."
Have you ever noticed that the same circumstances that seem daunting one day can be exciting and filled with potential the next. I am doomed. I am lucky. I'll certainly fail. My day is filled with promise.
To believe that by changing your thinking you can change your reality is a gift and blessing.
William Shakespeare said that there is "nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." Experiment with changing the Reality Channel by changing your thinking. Look for the gift and find the Good Reality today.
Judy Ringer
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What a Wonderful World
You may have seen this YouTube video, since over 12 million people have clicked on it. In any case, I hope it brings a smile and some perspective.
What a Wonderful World, with background music by Louis Armstrong
Good ki,
Judy Ringer
What a Wonderful World, with background music by Louis Armstrong
Good ki,
Judy Ringer
Monday, March 23, 2009
Today's favorite quotation
I love quotations and collect new ones whenever I can. This one came my way today:
I like this quotation because it reminds me how easy it is in conflict and other difficult situations to see only the parts of people that are troublesome. It's easy to forget this person is a loving mother, sister, brother, or father. They have friends and family who enjoy being around them. When I am seeing only the "difficult" side of my conflict partner, I try to remember to look for their other sides as well. When I look for the best in someone, I usually find it.
Please send your favorite quotation and why you like it!
Good ki,
Judy Ringer
"If you want to get the best out of someone then you must look for the best that is in them."
--Jack Welsh, former CEO, Chairman of General Electric
I like this quotation because it reminds me how easy it is in conflict and other difficult situations to see only the parts of people that are troublesome. It's easy to forget this person is a loving mother, sister, brother, or father. They have friends and family who enjoy being around them. When I am seeing only the "difficult" side of my conflict partner, I try to remember to look for their other sides as well. When I look for the best in someone, I usually find it.
Please send your favorite quotation and why you like it!
Good ki,
Judy Ringer
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Clam Chowder
Judy Ringer, Ellen Stapenhorst, and Michelle Morin wandered through New Hampshire and Maine and uncovered the Secret of the Universe -- Be Who You Are.
Authenticity showed up in coffee house conversations, asking directions (police officers always know where to find the best clam chowder!), house concerts and late night girl talk.
Ego is the only thing that keeps us from shining.
Rachel Carson, Robert Frost, and Bucky Fuller concurred.
Pictures coming soon ...
JR, ES, and MM
P.S. We missed you, JW!
Authenticity showed up in coffee house conversations, asking directions (police officers always know where to find the best clam chowder!), house concerts and late night girl talk.
Ego is the only thing that keeps us from shining.
Rachel Carson, Robert Frost, and Bucky Fuller concurred.
Pictures coming soon ...
JR, ES, and MM
P.S. We missed you, JW!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Making Connections
Last week, while paying for some merchandise at a local store, the clerk said some perfunctory greeting about how my day was going. I replied automatically and then for some reason made eye contact with her and asked how her day was going. She paused, brightened considerably, and responded. All this took only a moment but cheered both of our days. I resolved to connect more with people who greet me for whatever reason – but resolutions can require repatterning habits of a lifetime.
Yesterday, walking down the hallway of a hotel, once again almost oblivious to the world around me, a maid coming out of a room greeted me. I almost passed her by before I paused and returned her greeting. She looked startled for moment and then we both smiled at each other before going on our ways.
What did I learn from all this?
Sometimes in life, it takes only a moment to acknowledge another person whom we encounter but the impact of the action can shape an entire day’s experience.
It is so easy to move through a day immersed in our own world oblivious to lost opportunities to create positive energy in our environment.
Changing behavior takes time, persistence and patience with ourselves.
Challenge for the week: Take the time to sincerely respond in kind to greetings from others.
Judy Warner
Yesterday, walking down the hallway of a hotel, once again almost oblivious to the world around me, a maid coming out of a room greeted me. I almost passed her by before I paused and returned her greeting. She looked startled for moment and then we both smiled at each other before going on our ways.
What did I learn from all this?
Sometimes in life, it takes only a moment to acknowledge another person whom we encounter but the impact of the action can shape an entire day’s experience.
It is so easy to move through a day immersed in our own world oblivious to lost opportunities to create positive energy in our environment.
Changing behavior takes time, persistence and patience with ourselves.
Challenge for the week: Take the time to sincerely respond in kind to greetings from others.
Judy Warner
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thought from Margaret Wheatley
Best-selling author Margaret Wheatley has always been a favorite of mine. Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
is an excellent example. It happens to have been published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers - the same publisher for Tom Crum's Three Deep Breaths.
I receive Berrett-Koehler's E-Newsletter and this week there was a reference to Margaret's blog. She suggests five conversations that we all should be having about now on neighbors, curiousity, change, judgement, and fearlessness. I would encourage you to read her thoughts and perhaps create some time for those conversations.
And, of course, when you do open up a forum for discussion of one of these topics, be sure to begin with Three Deep Breaths and keep coming back to center throughout.
Judy Warner
is an excellent example. It happens to have been published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers - the same publisher for Tom Crum's Three Deep Breaths.I receive Berrett-Koehler's E-Newsletter and this week there was a reference to Margaret's blog. She suggests five conversations that we all should be having about now on neighbors, curiousity, change, judgement, and fearlessness. I would encourage you to read her thoughts and perhaps create some time for those conversations.
And, of course, when you do open up a forum for discussion of one of these topics, be sure to begin with Three Deep Breaths and keep coming back to center throughout.
Judy Warner
Monday, March 2, 2009
Walking the Gobi, Part Two
In February, I wrote about Helen Thayer and her trek across the Gobi. Last night I finished her book, Walking the Gobi: 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair.
I found it enthralling. Every evening as I read, I felt more and more immersed in the culture of the nomads in the Gobi desert. The interview with Helen I wrote about previously inspired me with her courage and determination to accomplish a 1600-mile trek across a desert while in her 60's. The book caused me to turn my attention from Helen to the people of the Gobi.
The story of Surenjav presents a stunning example of the depth of poverty on the Gobi. Helen and her husband, Bill, arrived at their ger, or tent-like home, a few hours after the first of Surenjav's first child. A teen herself, she was weak from the delivery as she suffered from severe malnutrition. Her husband, mother and father, and younger brother and sister all lived with her. Over the past two winters the extended family had lost almost all of their animals - the source of their livelihood. The family was extremely malnourished. Their clothes were in tatters, held together by safety pins, the soles of their shoes worn practically bare. All suffered from infections in their extremities where skin had cracked during the severe cold of the winter.
Despite all this, the family was happy and peaceful. The arrival of Helen and Bill so soon after the birth of the baby was considered auspicious. As was common among the nomads, guests were welcomed, seated in places of honor, and what food as existed, was happily shared. Life on the desert was accepted, not fought. Like so many nomads that Helen and Bill met on their trip, the family was optimistic - next year will be better.
The good news to this story is that for Surenjav, her small child and her extended family, the next year was better. The Thayers left what supplies they could and then arranged a means for the family to receive more supplies that would see them through the next winter and give them a step up on mother nature. Happily, six years later, when the Thayers return for a visit, the family is thriving. They meet a beautiful little six year old little girl who has been named Helen - the baby born shortly before their meeting with the family.
It is so easy to forget the extent of poverty in some reaches of this world. I know that right now many Americans are stressed and fearful with the current global economic downturn. Given the media attention it is not hard to get into that mindset, and certainly loss of jobs and homes are devastating tragedies for anyone. A book like Walking the Gobi helps us regain some balance and perspective on our own tragedies.
I found it enthralling. Every evening as I read, I felt more and more immersed in the culture of the nomads in the Gobi desert. The interview with Helen I wrote about previously inspired me with her courage and determination to accomplish a 1600-mile trek across a desert while in her 60's. The book caused me to turn my attention from Helen to the people of the Gobi.The story of Surenjav presents a stunning example of the depth of poverty on the Gobi. Helen and her husband, Bill, arrived at their ger, or tent-like home, a few hours after the first of Surenjav's first child. A teen herself, she was weak from the delivery as she suffered from severe malnutrition. Her husband, mother and father, and younger brother and sister all lived with her. Over the past two winters the extended family had lost almost all of their animals - the source of their livelihood. The family was extremely malnourished. Their clothes were in tatters, held together by safety pins, the soles of their shoes worn practically bare. All suffered from infections in their extremities where skin had cracked during the severe cold of the winter.
Despite all this, the family was happy and peaceful. The arrival of Helen and Bill so soon after the birth of the baby was considered auspicious. As was common among the nomads, guests were welcomed, seated in places of honor, and what food as existed, was happily shared. Life on the desert was accepted, not fought. Like so many nomads that Helen and Bill met on their trip, the family was optimistic - next year will be better.
The good news to this story is that for Surenjav, her small child and her extended family, the next year was better. The Thayers left what supplies they could and then arranged a means for the family to receive more supplies that would see them through the next winter and give them a step up on mother nature. Happily, six years later, when the Thayers return for a visit, the family is thriving. They meet a beautiful little six year old little girl who has been named Helen - the baby born shortly before their meeting with the family.
It is so easy to forget the extent of poverty in some reaches of this world. I know that right now many Americans are stressed and fearful with the current global economic downturn. Given the media attention it is not hard to get into that mindset, and certainly loss of jobs and homes are devastating tragedies for anyone. A book like Walking the Gobi helps us regain some balance and perspective on our own tragedies.
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