A Balance of Life

My Zen Garden

I am by nature a fiercely independent and private person and not one to share personal issues and so when faced recently with a diagnosis of having breast cancer, my life took on a very different approach. I realised very quickly that I would have to be reliant on many people such as medical and hospital staff for my operation and at the beginning of my course of chemotherapy and radiation with ongoing hospital and oncology visits. 

It is a time when independence and privacy may have to take a back seat in allowing friends and family to reach out and offer assistance and understanding when needed. 

This disease, which affects many lives both young and old can be devastating and difficult to understand in coming to grips with just what has happened to turn your world upside down, but this will be a journey of deep meaning and close contact with many.

Journeys are not always easy but can bring togetherness with others in keeping a very positive outlook in accepting each day as it comes. 

When you are living with balance in your life, you are living with peace and harmony every day and it is pivotal to your mental and physical state of wellbeing.

We are faced at present with a virus on an unprecedented scale that has claimed many lives globally and having to live in a lockdown situation not knowing if medical appointments will be postponed or even cancelled is a very real concern.

So, we should live each day in the moment with love and compassion then happiness will follow and take us through those moments of uncertainty and anguish. 

I will leave you with a quote from a dear friend, T.R.Taylor, Artist.

"Go with the flow and know that all is well,
 See all around and peace will fill your life.
 Be at one, at one with all,
 and know that life is well.
 Be as you are and yearn for nothing more.
 for this is life and joyous it can be."

Be mindful of others and stay safe.

The Beauty and Wonder of Nature

On my walk the other day, I came across this rather different looking trunk of a tree. As I looked at it I thought, were the branches trimmed without thinking of the outcome or was this meant to make a statement or reveal the beauty of nature depicting a beautiful slender figure of the human form.

There are some that would find this picture inappropriate to publish and others that would see this as art, depending on the creative mind, and yet again, some that may think it a bit of a laugh. Regardless of how one perceives this tree of nature, there lies beauty within for those who wish to see it. 

A Story of Three Trees 

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: “I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!”

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. “I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world!”

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. “I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.”

Years passed. The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell.

“Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest. I shall hold wonderful treasure!” the first tree said.

The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell.

“Now I shall sail mighty waters!” thought the second tree. “I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!”

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven.

But the woodcutter never even looked up. “Any kind of tree will do for me,” he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter’s shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for animals.

The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, nor with treasure. She was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead, the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail on an ocean, or even a river; instead, she was taken to a little lake.

The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard.

“What happened?” the once tall tree wondered. “All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God...”

Many, many days and night passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.

But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box.

“I wish I could make a cradle for him,” her husband whispered.

The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and the sturdy wood. “This manger is beautiful,” she said.

And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveller and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake.

Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain.

The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, “Peace.” The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun.

And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man’s hands to her.

She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.

But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything.

It had made the third tree strong.

And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God.

That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

Apologies for the length of this story.

Have a great day and take the time to look at Nature's beauty.

NETBibleTagger, Provided by bible.org

Time

Time - a small word with endless meaning.

There are so many writings about 'Time' the dictionary meaning is written as, 'the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole'.

Time exists in our every moment of activity or inactivity, in our very being and never ceases.

Is it not also important that we manage our time to build upon friendships and relationships, to spend time with family and the community enjoying a sense of purpose and caring for one another and not be wasting time on anger and hurt causing pain and misery.

Music, poems and quotes have been written depicting that little but very meaningful word.

To name a few -

Proverb; Time and tide wait for no man

Music ; Enya

              Who can say where the road goes
               Where the day flows, only time........

                Activist Pete Seeger

                 A time for every purpose under heaven
                 A time to be born, a time to die.......

Poem;      By a dear friend

                  Time moves ever onwards
                  And nothing stays the same......


A more serious blog for me this time although not actually saying anything that has not already been said, however, perhaps food for thought on how we spend our time.

Thank you for reading this.

Have a great day

Putting a 'Spring' in your step

I am currently recovering from a major operation, not life threatening but when you have had good health for most of your life, it comes as a hindrance, and at long last starting to feel back in the land of the living and feeling good. It is most distressing and frustrating to find yourself in a position where for a time, you are totally reliant on others to get you through the early days of being incapacitated.

Without the help of my caring and understanding husband, who has been on the other end of my frustrations, and dear friends who have offered assistance and encouragement, my recovery would have been so much longer. A gently reminder of the saying "wake up and smell the roses" comes to mind and to be thankful for every day we do indeed wake up to enjoy another day on this earth.

So with hope and determination this short time of feeling useless and out of sorts, I will spring back with a vengeance and get back  into my routine of walking, gardening and all the other little things I have missed. Now Spring is here with all the blossoms and new growth and Summer on it's way, makes for a time of joy and pleasure to look forward to.

So, on a more happy note, here is an extract from the Hums of Pooh (you can put your own little tune to this)

🎵🎵🎵🎵

Oh, how the butterflies are flying
Now the winter days are dying
And the primroses are trying
To be seen

Oh, the honey-bees are gumming
On their little wings and humming
That the summer, which is coming,
Will be fun.

For the Spring is really springing,
You can see the skylark singing,
And the buebells which are ringing,
Can be heard.............

Have a happy day and make the most of everyone of them

Friendship

True friendship is a rare harmony

My husband and I  attended the wedding of my best friend's son. It was indeed a marvellous affair and the bride was exquisite and beautiful in her wedding dress. In fact, the whole wedding party looked very elegant. I felt so privileged to share this special day amongst good friends, some of whom I had not seen for quite some time, but felt like it was yesterday.

A daily meditation  from 365 Tao,

In the distant past, there was once a young and wealthy statesman who was on a diplomatic mission.Pausing by a river at night, he heard the haunting sounds of a lute. A passionate musician himself, he took up his own flute and eventually found a goatherd sitting on an old ruin.In those days, an aristocrat would not associate himself with a commoner, but the two men struck up a friendship through their music.Their playing was smooth and natural as flowing water.

Once a year, the ambassador and the goatherd would renew their friendship, though they had the chance to play their music with others during the rest of the year, each man declared that he had found just true counterpart.

The ambassador tried for many years to lift the goatherd out of his poverty, but his friend steadfastly refused. He did not want to pollute their friendship with money.

Years later, when the ambassador was gray haired, he went to the appointed spot, but his friend was not there. He tried to play alone, but his melody for forlorn. Finally someone came to tell him that his friend had starved to death during a recent famine. This news made the ambassador despondent. He was caught in the agony of knowing that he had the money to save his friend, and yet he understood the man's values as well. In sorrow, the ambassador broke his lute. "With my friend gone from the world, who will I play music for?"

Those truly linked don't need correspondence,
When they meet again after many years apart
Their friendship is as true as ever


Enjoy a wonderful day amongst friends

A Moment of Reflection

I attended a funeral the other day, it was the 93 year old mother of my best friend. A very sad time. However, the service was very nice and quite relaxing. There were  memories shared, some sad and some very funny, and of course a time when family and friends get together to reflect with their own memories of our dear friend.

I was very close to my friend's mother and we had many a time of laughter and reminicing about her past life as a land army girl and the hard times she encountered growing up, but through all that she and her late husband emigrated from the UK with two teenagers and they made a good life for themselves. There will be a void in our lives for a while until the sadness and loss eases but life will go on and we will all continue on our path to wherever that may lead us.

In my reading of Tao, Death is the opposite of Time.
We cloak it in meaning and make up stories about what will happen to us, but we don't really know.
When a person dies, we cannot see beyond the corpse.
What dies is merely the identity.
Only the clothes and decoration falls.
What dies is only our human meaning.
There is always someone naked underneath.
Once we understand who that someone is, death no longers bothers us.
Nor does time.

On a happier note, have a lovely day filled with sunshine and happiness

Life Lessons and Learning

A good friend wrote 'everyday is a school day' how true that is, do we ever stop learning, I truly hope not. I try to learn something everyday which sometimes cannot be achieved but I do try.

My memory is not so good and when I do learn something new I really try hard to hang on to it and retain it in my mind or better still I have a tendancy to write things down.

I am at present reading 365 Tao daily meditations and the message of this book is that one can actually apply the open and accessible ideas of Tao directly to one's life. One of the chapters is headed -

Learning

Learning is the fountain of youth

No matter how old you are

You musn't stop growing

The following is an extract from Life Lessons Readings

Gandhi once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” There’s no doubt that every day is a gift, and the gift is an opportunity to live, to learn, and to grow.

Be a student of life, Indulge in it and absorb all the knowledge you can, while you can. You may have to loose some things to gain some things, and you may have to learn some things the hard way. That’s OK. All experiences are necessary. The purpose of your life is to live it in full, to partake in it to the utmost, to reach out with an open mind and an honest heart for the newest and richest experience being offered.

There are many lessons in life and we can all learn something to take with us through our own lives just do not stop looking and learning.

Have a fun filled day....learn something new!