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!

To Simply be the Best You Can

I have recently joined a poetry group where poems are shared and discussed. One limerick poem caught my eye which was to be a simple man with a simple plan and to do the best I can. A thought most of us would like to follow.

Life can throw many hurdles in our path and for some these hurdles are too high to overcome or move out the way, but with the help of friends and family these paths can be opened to allow one to shine and be the best they can.

This was my response to the limerick:

Simple words and simple lives are simply just the best
Accepting this and you will find a solution to the rest
Your worth will soon astonish
and then it will abolish
The thought "not good enough" to simply be impressed



Have a Happy day

The Sound of Silence

I wonder how often we actually stop to listen to the sound of silence. Not often enough. Life is so busy and hectic at times we forget to appreciate what is around us.

Do we ever take the time to watch a blade of grass fluttering in the breeze or a butterfly gently land on a flower and see the glorious colours they possess as they stretch their wings, all in a moment of pure silence.

I have read that the sound of silence is an illustrated seranade to the art of listening to one's inner voice amid the noise of modern life.

A little story.....

 

Some times silence is the only friend you want near you. Embracing the silence is to embrace life itself. There is so little silence, and yet it is everywhere if you just look hard enough. Nothing can truly break it, yet you can never grasp it. The tiny clicking of keys, the vent on a computer, cars passing by, dogs whining. It is never with you, not even while sleeping. How can something that is always there be so hard to reach, so hard to touch, so hard to grasp at? I must say silence is a good friend, a friend that rarely visits. Never to talk to you, but you hear it always. Never to look at it, but you see it everywhere. We cannot achieve true friendship with silence as human beings. We speak too much and listen too little. We don't take note of the small silences but rather the loud actions. Stop and listen, stop and hear your best of friends whispering to you and you alone. Do you hear him? Are you attempting to fathom what you hear? Don't try, for that subject is outlying for a mortal to attempt to understand, just listen. Enjoy the sweet sounds of silence. Alas the sweet silence must go again as you come back to your life, as you enter the noises and the actions of society once more. You feel at ease now....you feel relieved....almost as though you have spoken with a friend you hadn't seen in a long time....You just want to go back and listen once more.

The deepest sound is silence

Have a wonderful day 

The Fine Art of Writing

I remember as a school girl writing essays and my writing book being passed around the class being told I had lovely writing.  This was quite embarrassing to say the least, however, I did have some pride in the way I wrote and was therefore quietly pleased.

I always wanted to own a fountain pen and so I bought myself a calligraphy pen and I loved writing with this pen, I enjoyed writing with the broad tip.

I miss handwriting, there is a very personnal touch to a letter written by hand. I would take some time to write particularly as I enjoyed writing which became almost a story, before I knew it I was on to my third page of writing just about everything that had or was about to happen at that particular time. My sister gave me a diary one Christmas and I religiously wrote something in it everyday for many years. I still have my diary and often read it, however, I have given up daily jottings of events.

Sadly, typrwriters took the place of handwriting and now the computer and technology has superceded even the good old fashioned typewriter to a stage where we no longer need bother about handwriting making the written word almost extinct.

There are many different cultures that have very artistic lettering such as the Japanese. I have a friend who is learning to paint in Japanese calligraphy and I have to say this is indeed a fine art to be able to do which is very interesting and lovely to look at.

I would like to think that perhaps one day the fine art of handwriting will appear once more giving joy to those who enjoyed doing so.

Have a marvellous day and try handwriting your next letter, you may even enjoy the feeling.

Be kind to one another

Hope

I have only now discovered that the other day a very lovely elderly couple who live in our community have lost their home. Whilst they were enjoying a night out, their home was burned to the ground. All they were left with were the clothes they were wearing and their car. Home and possessions gone forever. Our thoughts go out to them.

It is times such as these we realize there are those worse off than ourselves.


In a fleeting moment all is gone forever
A lifetime of memories up in smoke
Pain and tears break a heart in two
And things will never be the same again.

But life goes on and we pick up the pieces
With help from friends and family
We see a light ahead, a way forward
That light is what we call hope.


Spare a thought for those who have suffered great loss

Enjoy your day