Nothing

I have a load of ideas and thoughts for a blog post, but not the will to write them.  Much to say and yet nothing.  So I thought I'd put together a short post about nothing.  

"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."

Muhammad Ali

How often have you looked back at points in your life and thought "I wish I'd...."  If only we'd had the courage to say no, to say yes, to say stop or go...

"Having nothing, nothing can he lose."

William Shakespeare

Aha - but what if you're prepared have lots and risk losing everything (per Muhammad Ali)? Does that make life more exciting, or empty?

"To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance."

Buddha

There's our answer - we can have lots, as long as we don't count any of it as ours. Then, when we have the courage to risk it all, and lose it, we'll feel great about it.  

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

Socrates

I am so wise....cos I know all about nothing.

"Nothing will work unless you do."

Maya Angelou 

Yup, and that's why I'm here, typing away about nothing on my laptop.

"Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours."

C. S. Lewis

I really don't want this old laptop... but I clearly have to hold onto it otherwise I'll never be rid of the damned thing.

"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

Theodore Roosevelt

So true.  As I said, this is why I'm sitting here doing something about nothing.

“Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."

Alexander Hamilton

Yes.  It's important not to stand when lying down is an option.

"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."

Lao Tzu

I actually do take wisdom from all these wonderful quotes.  From these wise folk who knew so much and yet so little and thought so beautifully about nothing.

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."
Ernest Hemingway

Darn it, I've nothing to sharpen the kitchen knives on but my wits...

William Shakespeare wrote, in King Lear, "Nothing can come of nothing, speak again." I feel I have proved him wrong. Though I shall speak again, nonetheless.

(c) Naomi Madelin

I am no one's wife

I’m no one’s wife.

I am me.

Recently my husband found out something exciting about a friend of mine’s husband.  “When she comes to our party we can introduce her as the wife of the foremost downwind sail maker in the world!” he effused.

“We could introduce her as herself,” I said.

I am no one’s wife.  I am me.

I am someone’s wife.  But that is not who I am.

I am someone’s mother.  But that is not who I am.

I am someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend.

Even taken all together that is not who I am.

I am me.

When you meet me, please remember this.

All We Need is Just a Lot of Patience

What is patience?


The ability to wait for a bus without giving up and going home.


The skill of walking slowing with a toddler and being amazed, with her, at every stick, stone and flower.


Telephoning a friend and listening to his troubles, when he never returned your last call and forgot your birthday.


Patience can be small and easy, or deep and difficult.


A dictionary definition says it is "The capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset."


Look it up on Wikipedia and the explanation includes:


"Patience (or forbearing) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties."


Sometimes don't you just hate Patience?!  I think of myself as quite a patient person, and then I read this and feel ashamed for even thinking that!  Damn you Patience, for making me feel bad about myself...


Patience is sometimes easier over a distance.  If the friend or family member you had an argument with is overseas, it might be easier to wait for their postcard, or their call, with distance you are able to cool off, see things as they really are, forgive.


But equally distance can try your patience.  Your partner's away and all you want is a word of tenderness, a hug... You don't want to wait.  A text comes, or a phone message, and you're forced to interpret its true meaning.  You feel annoyed, angry, frustrated.  Argh - patience, where are you?!


Wikipedia also says that "Patience is the level of endurance one's character can take before negativity...."    Antonyms include hastiness and impetuousness.



How often have we hastily judged another, rather than waiting patiently to see how a situation plays out, or to allow them to explain themselves better, or to give ourselves time to step into their shoes and see the situation from their perspective?  


How often have we impetuously tooted our horn at another driver, snapped at our partner or done something selfish as a result of impatience?


Guilty.


If we sow seeds in our garden we wait, we water, we watch.  We don't dig it up the next day and stamp on it, or pour kerosene on it and set it alight because it didn't grow.


Things that require our patience often require our nurturing too. Be it a big idea, saving for a holiday, or a relationship.

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions.”  Rilke

"A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains."  Dutch Proverb

"Patience has its limits. Take it too far, and it's cowardice." George Jackson (1941 - 1971)

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind."  Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)