Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Musuem
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Herd mentality
“Sheep only need a single flock, but people need two: One to belong to and make them feel comfortable, and another to blame all of society’s problems on.” ~James Rozoff When I was a kid, my parents often discussed politics and watched talk shows featuring guests with opposing viewpoints. They subscribed to (and read) both local and national newspapers. The three of us enjoyed rehashing important issues around the dinner table, giving me an opportunity to learn what I thought and valued during those discussions. I was encouraged to develop my own opinions — even if they didn’t mirror those of my parents. Herd mentality was not encouraged. My folks…
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Finding our way back home
“This is the bright home in which I live, this is where I ask my friends to come.” ~David Whyte “Home” is a small but expansive word. What does it really mean to make a home, to feel at home, or to be at home with oneself? At the same time, the buildings we call home reflect who we are, which is why inviting people inside our homes is an intimate gesture that extends beyond basic hospitality. My mother had a gift for creating beautiful homes, and I inherited her appreciation of the domestic arts. In a nursing facility near the end of her life, she was confined to a wheelchair and talked constantly…
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How generosity grows
“A field is empty, but if you put in the effort to grow something then you will have a garden. And that’s life. If you give something, something will come back. Give nothing, nothing will come back. To grow a flower is a miracle: it means you can grow more. Remember that a flower is not just a flower, it is the start of a whole garden.” ~Eddie Jaku, The Happiest Man on Earth Have you ever noticed that generous people seem to have a surplus of wonderful things in their lives? In today’s quote, Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku reminds us that we reap what we sow in the field of…
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Living in the past?
“Nostalgia is also a dangerous form of comparison. Think about how often we compare our lives to a memory that nostalgia has so completely edited that it never really existed.” ~Brene Brown Some people believe nostalgia is a casualty of aging — but I’m not so sure that’s true. I’ve been nostalgic (and overly sentimental) since I was a kid. I’m the sort of person who loves old houses and anything with a history. I find comfort in rereading passages from novels with nostalgic themes (Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine comes to mind) and sometimes I view the past through proverbial rose-colored lenses. Which might be why today’s quote hit home…
- Friendship and relationship advice, Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Musuem, Health & wellbeing, Spirituality
It’s all so complicated …
“Life is actually quite simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~Confucius Human beings have a knack for crafting lives of infinite complexity. For starters, we shame ourselves if we’re not always “busy” or available on demand. We overburden our schedules with more commitments than we can easily manage, and consequently create more drama, more problems, than we can aptly resolve. Then we spend hours responding to hundreds of virtual strangers on social media platforms — and wonder why we don’t have a spare moment to gather with real friends for coffee. This year, why not aim for pure-and-simple choices in every aspect of life, from household chores to…