Hello and a very happy and peaceful New Year. Hmm …there has been a lot of comment about how awful 2011 was and hope expressed for a better 2012. Yes there were tragic events. There were also lots of wonderful moments. My philosophy is that life happens. It’s how I/we deal with it that counts. In 2011 many of us, (moi included), were forced to deal with with change and loss. Sometimes the process can overwhelm but remember, it’s not a competition. For various reasons we all heal at a different pace.
So lately I have been thinking a lot about just being…enjoying what I have…appreciating my friends and family, taking time to sit and breathe. It seems to me that, too many shoulds, too much thinking and planning, can block the natural process of life and lead to panic and confusion.
It can be challenging to watch others deal with life’s slings and arrows. Sometimes we want to hurry them along, want them to be normal, like us! (Ha!) It’s more comfortable. But is it right? I feel that accepting people where they are at and supporting them through their own healing process is vital. A listening ear can often be more empowering than a talking tongue.
In 2012 I will endeavour to practice this precept and hope for it to be practised on me :-). Meanwhile I am at Pohara, enjoying balmy summer weather, calm silver seas and blobbing. Hope you all have had some of that too.
Thinking about ‘being’ led me of course to Shakespeare’s famous lines ‘To Be or Not to Be.’ For some reason I have always been so focused on the opening phrase that I haven’t thought too much about the fact that Hamlet is not contemplating enjoying the moment of being but rather the pros and cons of his own continuing to be. He could perhaps have done with a few listening ears…as in the famous words of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar… ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’.
Anyway here is a great link to Sir Richard Burton performing To Be or Not to Be
gurglewords 