“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” ~Carlos Castaneda
Little or big, what is going well for you? In the midst of all of life's stuff, what can you find that is flourishing? Maybe sipping a spot of tea on the porch? Or walking the dog around the block in the last warm dusk of Autumn? Doing a puzzle? Laughing with your family? Making a butternut squash soup (Airlie Center, VA recipe below)
In Man's Search for Meaning, concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl writes this:
"As the inner life of the prisoner tended to become more intense, he also experienced the beauty of art and nature as never before. [.....] If someone had seen our faces on the journey from Auschwitz to a Bavarian camp as we beheld the mountains of Salzburg with their summits glowing in the sunset, through the little barred windows of the prison carriage, he would never have believed that those were the faces of men who had given up all hope of life and liberty. Despite that factor---or maybe because of it--we were carried away by nature's beauty, which we had missed for so long. In camp too, a man might draw the attention of a comrade working next to him to a nice view of the setting sun shining through the tall trees of the Bavarian woods...... After a minutes of moving silence, one prisoner said to another, "how beautiful the world could be."
Even in a bleak period, where can you find a teeny gem in your life (Tom Balles, Dancing with the 10,000 Things)
Happy practicing to you all
With gratitude and respect,
Jan
And the Butternut Squash Soup Recipe:
2-3 lbs Butternut Squash (I roasted it 1st last time for even more flavor)
1 Yellow onion diced
1 quart Vegetable or Chicken stock
1 C heavy cream
1 Clove garlic
Bay Leaf
Salt and Pepper as needed
Brown Sugar (or maple syrup) as needed (not too much...may be 2 tsp maybe 1 Tbls)
Saute onion and garlic lightly. Add squash, stock, cream, bay leaf. Simmer until 1/4 liquid has reduced. Blend soup with an immersion blender to your desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and brown sugar. Add more stock to desired thickness.