Socrates/Plato: Complaining of the Youth

"The children now love luxury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are tyrants, not servants of the households. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers." I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.~attributed to Hesiod (8th century B.C.)

What would happen if Socrates changed his prospective of how he saw the children that he speaks of as being disrespectful, and viewed them in a different light? I’m thinking the stress levels of all concerned would have been lowered!

So it seems that the youth of today are just like the youth of times gone by. What can we do about behavior we do not like? I guess setting examples are always good, or perhaps it could be as simple as just being present. Living in the now and taking precious time together.

There are so many obstacles in this busy world of ours that get in the way of being present or being “there”. I wonder what would happen if we all learnt how to live in the moment, in the now. Not worry about the past as that has gone and cannot be changed, and the future comes soon enough without focusing on it too much.


While we are lucky to have children around us, we should take time and live in the now. I know that cannot be a 24hour place to be, but for a short time daily would be a good start. Don’t let the moments fly by, they are not ever retrievable.

Here we are, Monday again!

Reflecting on the week, a lot has been happening. On a world wide scene the financial markets are making history and world wide news, markets and banks falling, advertising doom and gloom and panic in the community. All eyes are looking at our countries leaders to Lead! Wars and terror still make headlines and you have to ask "is there ever any winners?"
At home in Australia, spring has begun and we are suffering a history making drought! Some areas not having had proper rain fall for well over 10 years! In Melbourne, the city is excited with the end of the football season and the start of the spring racing (horses) season.
There are many distractions going on, and they are all out of my control even the ones which effect me!
In my smaller community, I am hearing of friends fighting different battles. From leukemia, to prostate cancer to throat cancer to mental illness to breast cancer to brain damage to marriage trouble. All so varied and each so traumatic to each individual and each family.
All this has really highlighted to me how grateful I am for all I have. I have no control over global or larger happenings in the world, but I can tell my family and friends how much I appreciate them and love them, and choose not to take that for grated.
I heard someone say the world is going through a "birthquake" ~ perhaps we are getting a bit of a shake up, and God wants to remind us to treasure the ones we love.

Our deepest fear is not ...

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,

“Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?” Actually, who

are you NOT to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small does NOT serve the world. There

is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to manifest the glory that is within us. And as we let our light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Spoken by Nelson Mandela

1994 Inaugural Speech

This is a wonderful posting that I have very gratefully copied from a friends blog, with her permission. It talks about our fear, so often the fear we have is the fear of not failing but of actually succeeding!

Feeling that we are not worthy to have all that we want. Well if not you, then who is worthy, why aren't you just as worthy as the next guy?

I hope this resonates with you as much as it does with me. I also hope that it may give you courage that you may have been looking for, to go that extra step and live your true desires.

Dreams

"you can't make your dream happen, if you don't have a dream!"

When was the last time you took time out to do some dreaming of your own? Perhaps you have forgotten how too, or even been so consumed with the fast pace of life that you do not have time for dreaming any more!

If you find it hard to get in touch with what you want; divide a sheet of paper in half, length ways and ask yourself ~ what don't I want? eg You may not want bad health, lack of money, no friends, unsatisfactory job, dull holiday destinations, lack of excitement, putting up with an old car etc. List these on the left hand side of your blank sheet, then write the opposite of your don't wants on the right had side. This is a good simple exercise to give you an idea of what you want. When you know what you want, then you can take action toward getting it.

While you are doing this, extend yourself ~ do a mind dump of everything and anything that you think of. Even if you feel that it is not achievable now, list it. Even start a vision board with cut-out pictures of wants and dreams. How can you bring about your wants and dreams, if you don't see it, feel it and want it?

Dream big and dream bold and have fun seeing what happens. :0)

Who am I when no ones looking?

There’s a soul-searching question for you!

It’s a question that I like to throw out to my clients;
it’s a question that no one else in the whole world can
answer for you. Can you answer it ~ truthfully answer it.

Don’t say what you want others to hear or see, or how
you think your expected to behave, act or feel. Have
you forgotten or lost the answer over the years. Often
the need to be responsible, having a career, family,
mortgage or just growing old can make you loose sight of you? 

Take some time to re-visit your childhood.  Think back to some of
the fantasies, games and dreams you had all those years ago, when
anything was possible and the world was your oyster.
When it didn’t matter what anyone else thought and when
you had no inhabitations and life was fun. 

If your not liking what you’re seeing when no one
else is around, ask yourself what you need to do, to
change this. Is there just so much on your plate that
there is no longer time just for you or is there
something missing that you need to add to your life
to make you feel more 

Go find a grassy place and lie on your back and look for pictures
in the clouds and think about who you really are when there is no
one looking.   

I hope you like what you see.

Getting started

I have been absent for a few weeks, enjoying a wonderful overseas holiday and am now ready to jump back into work. Today I start my new job of full-time student. Though I have had a productive morning, I cannot stop thinking of all the housework that needs attention! That is going to be a big issue with working from home. It is time to bring into practice all my time management skills and be disciplined at following a daily schedule.

Why is it always so much easier to see what others need to be doing and to give advice to them? So, I will lead by example and walk the talk so to speak and put procrastination behind me and plan my diary. I think that once you have written something down, you are more inclined to commit to it.

Earlier this year I sat and listed all the components to my ideal job and also a list of things that I wanted to achieve for the year. Well, I am happy to report that my ideal job is life coaching and I have taken all the steps to make this happen. On my second list of things to do, I am still working through it, but it is good to have and to revisit every now and then. I don't want to come to the end of another year and feel that nothing has been achieved. It is in every ones power to change that around and live a fuller life.

Why not do a list for yourself and title it:- In The Next 12 Months I Will .... and you can then think of 4-5 things you'd like to achieve under headings such as health, spiritual, family, work, finance and leisure. See what you come up with, it is fun to do and a great sense of accomplishment when you can tick some of them off.

But now, its time for a coffee!

“...the greatest miracle for me was getting started.”
—V.S. Naipul

Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

“Oh, the Places You'll Go!”---Dr. Seuss

This is such a great passage from one of Dr Seuss’s children’s poems. It really tells us, that what we decide to do is really up to us. We get to make the decision; do we decide to move forward or to play it safe and stay where we are? There is a lot of power in choice. There are also consequences in staying safe! When we decide to make a move, whatever it may be, whether in our work, relationship, where we choose to live, we are giving up a secure place of what we know. We are making a conscience shift to a place of possibly no power, of the unknown, even though (through past experience) we know that it is usually only for a short time. Eventually the fear we hold becomes familiar territory and as it fades away we take new ownership. So decide to be brave and move forward, take the first step. Make yourself proud and as one clever marketer likes to say – Just Do It!

You’re off to Great Places! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So...get on your way! -Dr. Seuss