Positive Pensées
A double rainbow outside of our home recently.
May our thoughts be like a double rainbow.
Kathy King
This is my very first Pensée that I wrote well over a year ago. I knew that I had to find some direction in this empty and quiet house. I sat and wrote each day for hours. I poured out my thoughts. It was almost like dealing with grief. Today I am writing more Pensées just about daily. My brain never stops. But this one, it was the catapult that lauched the musings.
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”
Marcus Aurelius
The Gift of Life, the Universe and Everything.
Thoughts or Pensée’s (Pahnsehs) if you will.
One day I prayed and prayed as to what to call my little musings. This brought to mind the philosopher Blaise Pascal. He lived during the 1600s and was a bit of a genius. His father was an accountant who wanted Pascal to help him. When the task became too laborious, Pascal invented a calculator. That is one of the many things that Pascal contributed to the world of science. If you ever have the time, his works and history are well worth a read. In the latter part of his life he dedicated his time and service to God. Hence his work, Pensées. He never finished the whole book due to his death but what he wrote was pretty amazing. That is the inspiration for my little musings.
Ideas, notions, beliefs, and perception.
Thinking, pondering, music, cogitation.
Call them what you will but our thoughts define us.
Where do you keep your thoughts? Are they full of hope in quite clearly a time of struggle?
Do you think of your family, your friends, or your neighbors?
I took a look around our neighborhood this week and thought, “I have lived here for well over 10 years and I don’t know a lot about the folks that live just a few feet from me.” I felt a great sense of sadness and shame that I am not more involved with those around me. I do believe the last couple of years has really re-shaped our conception of friends, community, and a sense of belonging. Certainly social media has been both a help and a hindrance. I have read several rants recently about how people are awful. Why waste your time, etc. That gives me great sadness. While yes, there are folks who definitely are not great, there are some who are looking for a reason, a purpose to elevate their character. I recently came across a post that said, “Try not complaining for 24 hours and see how it changes your thoughts.” This really struck me. The post brought to mind my husband’s words to me recently (well a lot recently), “Stop saying I have to go do the laundry, I have to go to the store, I have to fill in the blank. Try to replace it with: I get to go to the store, etc.” That one single suggestion completely changed my attitude. Am I still working on it, yes! One of the reasons I started writing again is an empty nest. My house is quiet, the kids are all grown. It’s such a strange time. I told my husband in some small ways it is almost like a death when your role changes from mom of kids to mom of adults. This year my youngest will no longer be a teen anymore. She will be turning 20. Wow. Time flies. I used to hear church ladies say, “Don’t blink! They will be grown in an instant.” They were right. So if you all want to hear funny stories, silly musings, music, and other shenanigans please consider following my journey into the next phase of life. I will leave you all with a quote from Pascal who wrote the book Pensées (pahnsehs) which is translated “Thoughts.” He said, “Kind words don’t cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” I hope you will join me in this journey of finding small bits each day to ponder that can change our attitude in a meaningful way. Does that mean that you ignore that there are bad things going on around you? Certainly not. But rather even when life is a struggle you can find that beacon of light at the end of the tunnel to pull you through until you reach the surface.
No comments:
Post a Comment