Philosophical ideas to get through hard times

Someone sent me this who is in lockdown in Spain:

“And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.”

~Kitty O’Meara~

Serenity Prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot.
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Sleep well tonight.

Sleep the sleep of the just.
-anonoymos

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead

Great Trisher. Great wisdom.

So far; only me; l will persist.

Sleep the sleep of the just.
-Anonymous.

I always go for poetry in difficult times- Emily Dickinson Hope is a thing with feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

Epictetus said
In the days ahead there will be many conflicting ideas and ways. You will be tested and you will be thrown on your own. Simply seek within and go your way in peace. It will matter not to you how the wind and storm will rage because you will remain unaffected.
Good words then and appropriate for now.
Dawn xx

Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul. Alice Walker

Good night all
Sleep the sleep of the just.
- Anonymous

Really great if people could come back and post regularly in order to keep thread going which is really important at the moment.

HOPE how necessary it is to us and yet it is easy to lose heart. Yet a young girl had the informed presence of mind to write the following

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."
- Anne Frank

She lived for just 15 years. The two go hand in hand - trouble and joy, but best to juggle them as best you can. Her words are an inspiration now.

A family member posted this link to a set of mindfulness exercises to help us cope. I find them helpful.

www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath

Sleep the sleep of the just.
- Anonymous.

To one and all
Hoping to keep this thread going as we were never in need of such sage advice from the past in order to deal with the uncertainty of the future.
Sleep well tonight.
Dawn xx

Solid words at 23.13 Lemongrove. So much is now out of our control.

Great other views points.

A lion chased me up a tree and l enjoyed the view from the top.
- Confucsus

That is what l am trying to say to my youngest son as he is seeking employment after College shortly and the world is on its axis now and it is for him to look at the bigger but more importantly the longer picture now.

All shall be well,
And all shall be well,
And all manner of thing shall be well.

Mother Julian of Norwich

but also:
'Take what you want, says God, and pay for it'.
(Spanish?)

Exactly Dawn ??

‘What is this world, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’

"Sleep the sleep of the just."
Anonymous.

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."
- Socrates
This struck a chord with me because busyness is the modern gold standard currency .Busyness almost equates to greatness.
But we do in fact need time and space to think our way out of trouble and peace and stillness to lead us into happiness and contentment.

Till another new day tomorrow. Dawn.

There is a saying ( applicable to human behaviour) that there is nothing new, under the sun.
We can choose to be panicked, fearful, anxious, or we can choose to be calm and hopeful.
As whatever will happen is mostly out of our hands, a certain stoic or fatalistic attitude can be the best one.

Great wisdom so far everybody. Thank you.

Rosecarmel- and to expand your point further -

"Ring the bell that you can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That is how the light gets in."

- Leonard Cohen
(Modern day stoic)

Nice thread. I think it's comforting to know that people who lived long before us and without the comforts and 'sophistication' we take for granted were still wise and shrewd observers of humanity.

Ancient Story, Modern Message: The Cracked Pot

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots. Each pot hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her shoulders. Every day, she used this device to carry water to her home.

One of the pots was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. The other had a deep crack in it and leaked. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this situation occurred daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the woman one day by the stream, saying, “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.”

The old woman smiled and replied, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walked back home you watered them and made them grow. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table and give to my friends and neighbors. Without you being just the way you are, there would not have been this special beauty to grace our homes and lives.”

Sometimes, it’s the “cracks,” or what we perceive as imperfections, in this reality that create something unexpected and beautiful. These “cracks” allow something to change and ultimately make the whole much richer and more interesting. Every thing and every being has its own unique purpose and destiny to fulfill. This is one of the great beauties of the Tao.

I also like ‘Man plans and God laughs’ which my DH pipes up with whenever things I’ve planned go awry - like now!

An Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent him a sentence to be ever in view and appropriate in all times and situations.
They presented him the words. And this,too, shall pass away.

Should have said: That's from Alain de Botton