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#887990 03/08/15 06:55 AM
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...or amongst your pots and containers when you have a moment for quiet reflection.

See, you need to give me a bit of leeway here because the subject is all about becoming a better you and doesn't have anything to do with gardening - except that you can think about the maxims there!

Do you remember that Dr Seuss poem:

Today you are you,
that is truer than true.
There is no one alive
who is youer than you.

In 1637 Balthaar Gracian, wrote what has now become known as The Art of Worldly Wisdom . It is a collection of 300 maxims which offer a practical handbook on life and how to live it well and succeed both personally and professionally.

It is as popular today as it has been since it was written as each generation finds a niche in the words.

If you want to buy it go to any book store and ask for the ISBN 0-87773-821-8.

I will add a new and randomly chosen one weekly - and hopefully you will find one that rocks your boat in some way!

Borrow a garden or plan to start one if you don't have one now.
...............................................................

EVERYTHING IS AT ITS PEAK OF PERFECTION

This is especially true of the art of making one's way in the world. There is more required these days to make a single wise person than was formerly required to make the Seven Sages of ancient Greece, and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single person than was required with a whole people in former times.
...............................................................

Cogitate, think, mull over, ponder and all those good actions,

Cheers

Last edited by Lestie4containergardens; 03/08/15 07:37 AM.

Lestie Mulholland
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Contain your Delight - it's easy!
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Hello there,

Oh dear! I am too impatient to wait for Sunday to roll around for these to come weekly - so guess I will just add others as and when.

If you have anything to say here please do. Do you think or contemplate or meditate in your garden area?
...............................................................

So here is one from Dr. Seuss ...

'Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.'

and from Balthazar Gracian ...

DO NOT MAKE MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

As some make gossip out of everything, so others make much ado about everything. They always talk big, take everything in earnest and turn it into a dispute or a secret. Troublesome things must not be taken too seriously if they can be avoided.

It is preposterous to take to heart that which you should just throw over your shoulders. Much that would be something would become nothing by being left alone, and what was nothing has become of consequence by being made much of.

At the outset things can be settled easily, but not afterwards. Often the remedy causes the disease. It is by no means the least of life's rules to let things alone.
...............................................................

Cheers

Last edited by Lestie4containergardens; 03/10/15 10:42 PM.

Lestie Mulholland
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Hi there,

Some more thoughts for your down time in your garden ...

...............................................................

From Dr. Seuss -

'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.'

and from Balthazar Gracian ...

KNOW HOW TO APPRECIATE

There is no-one who cannot teach somebody something, and there is no-one so excellent that he cannot be excelled. To know how to make use of everyone is useful knowledge. Wise men appreciate everyone, for they see the good in each and know how hard it is to make anything good. Fools depreciate everyone, not recognizing the good and selecting the bad.

...............................................................

All the he's would have included the she's these days - this guy was writing in the 17th century when the pronoun 'he' was generic and inclusive.

Cheers

Last edited by Lestie4containergardens; 03/15/15 01:51 AM.

Lestie Mulholland
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Hello,

.................................................................

First from Dr. Seuss...

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

and then

TAKE CARE WHEN YOU GET INFORMATION.
We live by information, not by sight. We exist by faith in others. The ear is the side door of truth but the front door of lies. The truth is generally seen, rarely heard. She seldom comes in elemental purity, especially from afar – there is always some admixture of the moods of those through whom she has passed. The passions tinge her with their colours wherever they touch her, sometimes favourably, sometimes odiously. She always brings out people’s disposition, therefore receive her with caution from him who praises, with more caution from him who blames. Pay attention to the intention of the speaker; you should know beforehand on what footing he comes. Let reflection test for falsity and exaggeration.
.................................................................

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
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Hello,

...............................................................

From Dr. Seuss:

'You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.'

and from Balthazar Gracian:

SEE TO IT THAT THINGS END WELL
Some regard more the rigor of the game than the winning of it, but to the world the discredit of the final failure does away with any recognition of previous diligence. The victor need not explain. the world does not notice the details of the measures employed, but only the good or bad results. You lose nothing if you gain your end. A good end gilds everything, however unsatisfactory the means. Thus, it is part of the art of life to transgress the rules of the art, you cannot end well otherwise.

.................................................................

Have to be realistic I suppose. Naïve to think otherwise.

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
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Hi all,

I thought we would take a week's break from Balthazar because I came across this piece of writing and I thought it would give much pleasure etc. to think about it when sitting in your 'quiet time' container garden or on your balcony next to the palm tree!

What do you say?

.................................................................
This advice written by Kent M. Keith (1968) was posted by Mother Teresa on the wall of Shishu Bhavan, her children’s home in Calcutta.

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down
by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.

People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

.................................................................

Cheers now


Lestie Mulholland
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Back to Balthazar Gracian this week - here is one to get the little grey cells working. Sitting in your favourite spot will help too!

DO NOT TURN ONE BLUNDER INTO TWO
It is quite usual to commit four blunders in order to remedy one, or to excuse one piece of impertinence by still another. Folly is either related to or identical with the family of lies, for in both cases, it needs many to support one. The worst of a bad case is having to fight it, and worse than the ill itself is not being able to conceal it. The annuity of one failing serves to support many others. A wise person may make one slip but never two, and that, only in running and not in standing still.
.................................................................

A lecturer I had once who was teaching us how to 'read' Balthazar said we should relate the thought/s as closely as we could to an experience we were very familiar with and then apply it rigorously. He said it was the only way to grow through this writing.

I found that advice very useful, maybe you will too.

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
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Here's something to contemplate while surrounded by nature in your garden you on your patio amongst your containers - from Dr Seuss ...

"You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And you are the one."

...............................................................

and from Balthazar Gracian ...

NEVER DIE OF ANOTHER'S BAD LUCK
Notice those who stick in the mud, and observe how they call others to their aid so as to console themselves with a companion in misfortune. They seek someone to help them bear misfortune, and often those who turned the cold shoulder on them in prosperity, now give them a helping hand. There is great caution needed in helping the drowning without endangering oneself.
...............................................................

I will have to think a lot about this one above - I am not sure what he is getting at, but will try and see if there is an example of this in my life that I can relate to, to help me understand his point.

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
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Here's something to think about ...

From Dr Seuss:

You’ll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut.

.................................................................

and from Balthazar Gracian:

DO NOT TAKE PAYMENT IN POLITENESS
This is a kind of fraud. Some do not need exotic herbs for their magic potion, for they can enchant fools by the grace of their salute. Theirs is the Bank of Elegance and they pay with the wind of fine words. To promise everything is to promise nothing - promises are the pitfalls of fools. The true courtesy is the performance of duty; the spurious, and especially the useless, is deceit. It is not respect, but rather a means to power. Obeisance is paid not to the man but to his means, a compliment re offered not to the qualities that are recognized but to the advantages that are desired.

Boy this guy does make a person chew mental gum!

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
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Contain your Delight - it's easy!
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From Dr. Seuss ...

** If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.

and from Balthazar Gracian ...

NEVER TALK ABOUT YOURSELF
To do so you must either praise yourself, which is vain, or blame yourself which is weak-minded - it is unseemly for the speaker and unpleasant for the listener. And if you should avoid this in ordinary conversation, how much more so in official matters, and above all in public speaking, where every mere appearance of unwisdom really is unwise. The same want of tact lies in speaking of someone in his presence, owing to the danger of going to one of two extremes: flattery or censure.

This is a tough one - what do you say?

Cheers


Lestie Mulholland
Container Gardening Editor

Contain your Delight - it's easy!
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