Great News, Nature is a Gift, and Baring it All in a Window

Good Morning from Prince Edward Island, 

What a beautiful fall so far, the day air is warm and the night air crisp. 

I hope this finds you well and up for being together today. 

Kettle on? Is cuppa ready? Thank you for letting me into your time and space. 

Some exciting news from the Island this week. 

A recently launched literacy program for Island children has had to temporarily close its registrations after meeting its annual target within a day.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is a book gifting program where kids under five receive a free book in the mail every month. The P.E.I. Literacy Alliance had secured funding for 2,000 kids for the year and launched the program on Wednesday. Read more of the CBC story here.

I love the fact this program through these books become a bridge connecting young minds to creativity provided through the story and the mind of the story writer.  It becomes an opportunity for the parent(s) or guardian(s) or grandparent(s) or family or educator to connect to the children they are reading to.

It brings the child into a connection with the world around them or at least to a connection within the story and or the characters in the book. 

It connects the child’s mind to the thinking process and growing with an understanding that reading is fun. Caveat: Only if those who are reading it share with a sense of wonder, mystery or fun. A great book would be all three. 

I went searching for a video this morning that might endorse when I starting thinking about ‘connection’ and I found a Brene Brown Ted Talk and a quote, I liked. 

I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgement; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship. ~ Brene Brown

Here is the 2010 video of Brene's. Unfortunately, the technology at the time didn't have the tools available to embed the video into my blog. So here is the link to: The Power of Vulnerability 

From the video: There was only one variable that separated the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people who really struggle for it. And that was, the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they're worthy of love and belonging. That's it. They believe they're worthy. And to me, the hard part of the one thing that keeps us out of connection is our fear that we're not worthy of connection, was something that, personally and professionally, I felt like I needed to understand better. ~ Brene Browne

Life is all about connection. Young to old. Old to young. We are all connected.  When we feel we are not, the mental isolation leaves us feeling lonely and alone.  Unless you made the decision to intentionally retreat to recreate and reactivate the healthy soul that aches to be free and live the remaining days in peace.

We all need silence every once in a while to get the noise/ internal voice lies under control.

True silence is the feast of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment. ~William Penn

Where to go from here? 

Perhaps a long walk in nature later today. 

Nature is a Gift, stated so well by one of my favourites spiritual writers, Henri Nouwen

In recent decades we have become particularly aware of the crucial importance of our relationship with nature. As long as we relate to the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the fields, and the oceans as properties to be manipulated by us according to our real or fabricated needs, nature remains opaque and does not reveal to us its true being. When we relate to a tree as nothing more than a potential chair, it cannot speak much to us about growth. When a river is only a dumping place for our industrial wastes, it no longer informs us about movement. And when we relate to a flower as nothing more than a model for a plastic decoration, the flower loses its power to reveal to us the simple beauty of life. When we relate to nature primarily as property to be used, it becomes opaque, and this opaqueness is manifested in our society as pollution. The dirty rivers, the smog-filled skies, the strip-mined hills, and the ravaged woods are sad signs of our false relationship with nature.

Our difficult and very urgent task is to accept the truth that nature is not primarily a property to be possessed, but a gift to be received with admiration and gratitude. 

Only when we make a deep bow to the rivers, oceans, hills, and mountains that offer us a home, only then can they become transparent and reveal to us their real meaning. ~ Henri Nouwen

Amen.

Today, while writing I have been listening to some wonderful classical music. 

Sample Listen Here: Sergei Babayan playing Rachmaninoff: Préludes; Études-Tableaux; Moments musicaux

Sergei Babayan was born in Gyumri, in Soviet-controlled Armenia, on January 1, 1961. His family was musical, and he began his studies at age six in Armenia, taking lessons there with Georgi Semerdjiev. At the Moscow Conservatory, his teachers were Mikhail Pletnev, Vera Gornostayeva, and Lev Naumov. Babayan took his first trip outside the Soviet Union in 1989, which produced a breakthrough in the form of a consecutive series of competition victories at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition, and the Scottish International Piano Competition.

I hope Sergei’s tickling of the ivories tickled you enough to reconnect yourself to (fill in the blank) ______________.

Have a wonderful weekend and may next week be fruitful for you. 

With love from Prince Edward Island.

Sincerely, 

Bruce & Mille 

Housekeeping Note: This week, we seemed to have had a programming glitch with our system.  Some of you received “Welcome” notifications and this may have confused you. This was not our intention. My apologies. 

We are in the process of 'cleaning' our list of 65,000. Over the next bit, you may receive an email requesting you to confirm your email address for us. 

I hope you will join us as I wish to have our list built around the highest of standards. 

ps.

Customer: I'd like to try that dress in the window.

Assistant: I'm sorry madam, I'm afraid you'll have to use the fitting room, like everybody else.