Monthly Archives: December 2016

3 Things I Want You To Do Today

  1. Read Andrew Sullivan’s article from New York Magazine entitled, “I Used to be a Human Being.” http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/andrew-sullivan-technology-almost-killed-me.html?platform=hootsuite
  2. Listen to this little moment. https://gravitycenter.com/2903-2/
  3. Reflect on this poem called “Barter” by Sara Teasdale.
Life has loveliness to sell,
     All beautiful and splendid things,
Blue waves whitened on a cliff,
     Soaring fire that sways and sings,
And children’s faces looking up
Holding wonder like a cup.
Life has loveliness to sell,
     Music like a curve of gold,
Scent of pine trees in the rain,
     Eyes that love you, arms that hold,
And for your spirit’s still delight,
Holy thoughts that star the night.
Spend all you have for loveliness,
     Buy it and never count the cost;
For one white singing hour of peace
     Count many a year of strife well lost,
And for a breath of ecstasy
Give all you have been, or could be.

Podcast 45: Reflections on Meister Eckhart with Dr. Jim Finley

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James Finley, Ph.D. lived as a monk at the cloistered Trappist monastery of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, where the world-renowned monk and author, Thomas Merton, was his spiritual director.

Currently, Jim leads retreats and workshops throughout the United States and Canada, attracting men and women from all religious traditions who seek to live a contemplative way of life in the midst of today’s busy world. He is also a clinical psychologist in private practice with his wife in Santa Monica, California.

In this episode Jim shares his insights and reflections on the work of the great mystic Meister Eckhart.

You can download or stream this episode and all other Let The Music Play Podcast episodes in iTunes and at AshtonGustafson.com.

Big Love,

Ashton

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Small

In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love. Mother Teresa

Aim small, miss small. The Patriot

The smaller your world, the bigger your life. Gary Keller

Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao Tzu

A person’s a person, no matter how small. Dr. Seuss

Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else’s hands, but not you. Jim Rohn

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Whole and in union. > Fragmented and divided.

Have you ever met a whole person? If you have, they stick with you. Their words, their insights, their expressions, their actions, and their responses all echo from a place of wholeness, unity, reconciliation, and compassion. Everything about them is like a song. A song that heals. A song that illuminates. They know that they don’t know and somehow this has mysteriously connected their dots of life, meaning, and purpose.

Have you ever spent time with a fragmented or divided person? Every moment offers them an opportunity to earn another Masters of Victim Administration. They’ll hand out mirrors as often as they can but they’ll never look in one themselves. The problem is always “over there” and it could never be “in here”. They define everything, including themselves and others, through the lens of competition, criticism, ranking, fragmentation, and division. For some reason they would rather chop and retweet wood with the media to fuel the fires of noise than be an unnoticed vessel for redemption. This is consciousness at the lowest, reptilian level.

The etymology of the word and the idea of a person, comes from the latin verb personare. Per = through….sonar = sound. A sounding through. The original meaning of what it meant to be human was to be a sounding through. How beautiful is that?

Lesson(s) of the day:

  • The message of hope and the music of Love cannot travel through something that is fragmented and divided.
  • We have to start sharing the good and healing moments and movements that are happening and not the loud and clanging symbols of quid pro quo.
  • Most noise makers, unfortunately, haven’t been shown a better way. That’s where you come in.

 

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