Hope Springs

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier  - Alfred Lord Tennyson

During COVID New Zealand’s Prime Minister added the Easter Bunny to her country’s list of essential workers. In the west the Easter bunny is akin to Santa Claus bringing eggs and chocolate to children.  This tradition originated in Germany in the late 1600’s where it was believed both eggs and rabbits symbolised fertility and rebirth, both signs of spring. Eventually the practice found it’s way to the USA and Hallmark.
 
This year we are doubly blessed to be celebrating the year of the rabbit. 2023 was ordained to be a year of longevity, peace,  prosperity and hope. Tonight’s full pink moon will be celebrated as ‘Passover Moon’ among the Jewish; Muslims, Ramadan; Hindus, the birth of Lord Hanuman;  Buddhists, Bak Poya; and  for Christians Shrove Thursday.
 
Both the Chinese and Aztecs had myths featuring rabbits.  In both cases the rabbits selflessly offered themselves as food for hungry travellers.  Unbeknownst to the rabbits the travellers were gods in human form. Touched by this noble offering the rabbits were elevated to the moon. "You may be just a rabbit, but everyone will remember you; there is your image in light, for all people and for all times."

Tonight take a moment, gaze at the moon. Remember Hope is a waking dream. Aristotle Fleetwood Mac reminds us that yesterday is gone, yesterday is gong.  To open our eyes and look at the day and see things in a different way. It'll be better than before.

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Inspiration

Keep you face towards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you. Walt Whitman

Sunflowers symbolize faith, happiness, long life and good luck. They are cheerful flowers used to remove toxins and pollutants from nuclear disaster sites and inspire artists such as Van Gough and scientists too. They are heliotropes, plants that track the movement of the sun from east to west. A team of scientists at UCLA replicated this feature into solar arrays to maximise exposure to the sun.

The definition of inspiration is a person or thing that excites or stimulates, it can be a creative idea, divine guidance or the act of breathing air into the lungs. Often times we seek inspiration. We know what we are but not what we may be. Shakespeare So we seek, if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. Vince Lombardi. Sometimes doubts and fears arise, we feel we are not making the progress we had hoped, setbacks occur.  Robert Louis Stevenson suggested that we do not judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.  For it is the wise man who plants trees knowing they will never sit in their shade. Rabinranath Tagore This week I invite you to look with new eyes to seek inspiration from nature, after all the secret of getting ahead is getting started. Mark Twain

Kung Hei Fat Choy

‘Kung Hei Fat Choy’Means ‘wishing you prosperity’. Prosperity is defined as an abundance of money or possessions or simply a plentiful supply of a desirable thing. Oftentimes prosperity is defined as net worth. However last year we have seen revenues fall, businesses close, and health decline all catalysing a reset in personal values..

“A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.” Chinese Proverb

This year I invite you to make my(your)self rich by making my(your) wants few. Henry David Thoreau 
To realise the most precious resource we all have is time. Steve Jobs
To  not just make money, make a difference. Grant Cardone
To  not let making a living prevent you from making a life. John Wooden 
 
And remember money can’t buy me love. The Beatles
With that, a prayer for the new year from Pope John XXIII
Consult not your fears, but your hopes and your dreams.
Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential.
Concern not yourself with what you tried and failed in, but what it is still possible to do.
Now is the time to put aside past and present setbacks and failures and look with confidence to the new day called tomorrow.

In Memoriam

The darkest moments of our lives are not to be buried and forgotten, rather they are a memory to be called upon for inspiration to remind us of the unrelenting human spirit and our capacity to overcome the intolerable. -  Vince Lombardi
 
We pause to honour  the spirits and lives of those that have come before. 
Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.-  L.M. Montgomery for their memories are the fuel we burn to stay alive. – Haruki Murakami
 
In my interview with Bloomberg this week I shared that I dwell in possibility. - Emily Dickinson

The ancients said ‘he who has hope has everything’ and I live in hope that humanity will prevail. For “Without memory, there is no healing. Without forgiveness, there is no future. - Desmond Tutu  The past can’t be changed but the future is in (y)our power. Mary Pickford  

Facing the Future

My lips are chapped from the winds of change. Sarah Vowell

Slowly restrictions are being lifted and we emerge to a new way of being. Social distancing is a norm so is the taking of temperatures, zoom calls, alcohol gel and wearing a mask in public.  I look towards the future, dwelling in possibility. Emily Dickinson  for it is no more uncertain than the present. Walt Whitman
We can choose to face to the future with apprehension or anticipation. Jim Rohn. Robert Frost says, in three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life.  It goes on.

Winston Churchill said it was wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see. This is particularly true given the the fluidity of change. The same winds blow on all of us. of disaster, opportunity and change. It is not the blowing of the wind but how we set our sails that makes the difference. Jim Rohn

This week I invite you to accept the past without regrets, the present with confidence and the future without fear anon.The past can't be changed but the future is in your power. Mary Pickford for there are  far better things ahead than what we leave behind. CS Lewis

What's the buzz

'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.' Henry Ford

Did you know Aerodynamically, the bumble bee can't fly, it's short and fat.  But it doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway. Mary Kay Ash.  How?

The hum of bees is the voice in the garden. Elizabeth Lawrence
Sweeping their wings back and forth at 150-200 beats per second creates vortices lifting them off the ground.  We hear buzzing.
  
Ralph Ring proved bees levitate. Next to their throat is a tube acting as a resonance chamber.  As the wings flap, the frequency builds in the chamber until it equals that of earth or the Schuman Resonance, freeing the bee from gravity and allowing it to hover. (Watch Ralph explain Bumble bees can’t fly)

This week I invite you to  free yourself from earthly cares by creating your own buzz with this simple meditation.

Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers. Robert Green Ingersoll

Reality is something you rise above. Lise Minelli

Rebirth and change

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly. Proverb

A caterpillar is born, it eats, then wraps itself up in the darkness of a cocoon and waits.  It doesn't plan the outcome, nature does. Transformation means literally going beyond your form. Wayne Dyer    Because A rebirth out of spiritual adversity causes us to become new creatures. James Faust
It is impossible to predict our futures, yet we know Right now we are standing at a massive point of rebirth. Lars Urlich.  I invite you to take this time to connect with that which you hold most dear. For the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being. C. G. Jung
Find it, embrace it, be grateful for it. Remember, No matter how hard the path, you can always begin again. Buddha