resistance – Beguine Again

Apr92018 by Donna PierceNo Comments

Mindful Monday: To be grateful is to be resilient

awareness, Gratitude, mindfulness, Thanks

"A century ago, Albert Schweitzer, theologian and Nobel Peace Prize winner, remarked, 'The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.' He was right: to learn gratitude is to know the 'mystery' of life. But he was also wrong in a very important way. "Everyday there is reason to not feel grateful and not to practice gratitude. Terrible, distressing, painful, and sinful things happen all the time. The emotions of thanks elude, and it is easy to choose ingratitude. Yet, as I watch the news and fear grips my heart about whatever comes next, when a friend is diagnosed with cancer, when a loved one dies, that Bible verse, the one Albert Schweitzer alluded to, th...

Mindful Monday: Resist with love

awareness, Buddhism, justice, mindfulness, peace and justice, Resistance, Uncategorized

"There’s resistance with aversion – focusing on everything you’re against, using hatred as a motivator; and there’s resistance with love or non-hatred, focusing on your values and what you stand for as a motivator. So I propose that when we resist with love, we’re more oriented to focusing on what we’re FOR rather than what we’re against. We’re not focused on having and demonizing an enemy. We’re focused on justice. We know what’s causing suffering and we act with fierce compassion…but not with hatred. Because we are motivated by love and what we value, we live to fight another day, month, and year." -- Bill Scheinman ... for Mindful Monday ... Source: "Wise Resistance," Bill Scheinman, 2017 Photo credit: "Women's March on Washington - 1/21/17," Molly Adams, 2017. ...

A REMINDER: Why We Need to Resist

Freedom, justice, Resistance

The family patriarch was a big man a big crude red-faced rooster of a man with cock’s comb of jet that wilted in the golden glow of an honest sun He wrapped fear around himself in the way of a frail old woman with her shawl His boom and blather made the girl shiver like the surface of a pond brushed by a dark wind In a greedy closet big enough to live in he gathered his indulgences and ego props He grew fat and aggressive on flesh foods and alcohol He drove a big car and parking it made sure to intrude on his neighbor’s grace He thought himself a “man’s man” and kept the women in their places, as defined by him He whipped the elder son into nervous abandon, trying to craft him into a clone and a validation To keep the upper hand, he pitted his boys against each other, ...