Ray’s Daily
April 6, 2020
Take a long pause …breathe and know that things are happening for you not to you.
Ashton Kutcher
As we begin another week of isolation it would be easy to lose sight of who we are and our role in the world. In my case, I am still a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. I am a member of a senior community made up of many friends as well as appreciated staff.
While I miss my ability to personally be with my friends and family I can still communicate with them, in fact in some ways we are closer. I have learned to appreciate so much that I often took for granted in the past. Of course, we need do all we can to stay healthy and to help others stay well.
Maybe we can benefit from a pause in our life as we have known it. Here is an excerpt from an article that gives her thoughts on what changes are happening in the world as we wait for better days.
Maybe This Forced Pause Is Actually Good for the Planet
By Carrie Ciula
In some ways, these current moments in our world feel like one huge rainstorm—one that, instead of only a few miles, spans the entirety of our planet. And while there are moments that feel scary, as we all navigate uncertainty and unchartered territory, there are others during which glimmers of hope and magic seem to be surfacing.
Among the many posts about ways we can all take action to help keep our families and communities safe, there are also statistics emerging about reductions in gases relating to energy and transport, as well as photos of things like clearer canal water and satellite images showing dramatic declines in pollution levels.
While we’re all taking a break from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines—with all of our consumer-based ways in tow—maybe the Earth will have time and space to reset a little, to find a better balance, to heal.
Maybe we’ll have time and space to think more about the things we want and the things we need, and how our lives and our daily activities and patterns affect the world around us.
Maybe the Earth will surprise us with the ways that it is able to make quick changes during only a brief pause in the output of our everyday industry and pollution.
And maybe we all will notice these changes and they will inspire us to make our own.
~~~
It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.
Kristin Armstrong
~~~
Mrs. Johnson the elementary school math teacher was having children do problems on the blackboard that day.
“Who would like to do the first problem, addition?”
No one raised their hand. She called on Tommy, and with some help he finally got it right.
“Who would like to do the second problem, subtraction?”
Students hid their faces. She called on Mark, who got the problem but there was some suspicion his girlfriend Lisa whispered it to him.
“Who would like to do the third problem, division?”
Now a low collective groan could be heard as everyone looked at nothing in particular. The teacher called on Suzy, who got it right
“Who would like to do the last problem, multiplication?”
Johnny’s hand shot up, surprising everyone in the room. Mrs. Johnson finally gained her composure in the stunned silence.
“Why the enthusiasm, Johnny?”
“The Bible says to go forth and multiply!”
~~~
I’ll believe psychics when one phones me, just in the nick of time, yelling, “Duck!”
~~~
Deep thoughts
* A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…
* If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with “Quit while you’re ahead?”
* I thought about how mothers feed their babies with little tiny spoons and forks, so I wonder what Chinese mothers use…toothpicks?
* If it’s true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the OTHERS here for?
* Go ahead and take risks….just be sure that everything will turn out OK.
* Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn’t zigzag?
* Light travels faster than sound. Maybe that’s why some people appear bright until you hear them talk….
* If it’s zero degrees outside today and it’s supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?
~~~
Sign on my door: “Go ahead and knock, I’m already disturbed!”
~~~
“I see you were last employed by a psychiatrist,” said the employer to the applicant. “Why did you leave?
“Well,” she replied, “I just couldn’t win. If I was late to work, I was hostile. If I was early, I had an anxiety complex. If I was on time, I was compulsive.
~~~
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
~~~
In the Midwest, tornadoes often hit with sudden devastation, and without warning.
In one case, a house was completely whisked away, leaving only the foundation and first floor. A silver-haired farm lady was seen sitting dazed, in a bathtub, the only remaining part of the house left above the floor.
The rescue squad rushed to her aid and found her dazed, but unhurt. She was just sitting there in the tub, talking to herself.
“It was the darndest thing. It was the darndest thing,” she kept repeating.
“What was the darndest thing, Ma’am?” asked one of the rescuers.
“I was visiting my daughter here, taking a bath, and all I did was pull the plug, and the whole darned house suddenly just drained away.”
~~~
Through the sacred art of pausing, we develop the capacity to stop hiding, to stop running away from our experience. We begin to trust in our natural intelligence, in our naturally wise heart, in our capacity to open to whatever arises.
Tara Brach
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than fifteen years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
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