Natalie in June
i am an art-music-lover … bookish at times, creative in my veinsArchive for books
Taking Time to Just Be
I bought a giftbook today, a Helen Exley giftbook for myself from the uni bookshop. I bought this book called ‘Taking Time to Just Be’ because I do feel I haven’t given time to just be with silence and space for my own thoughts. My table tells me I haven’t sat down to think about myself … I still remember last Sunday how I rushed back from church to finish my assignment due before midnight … and that I discovered my room has gone into a chaotic ‘war-like’ state … I didn’t have the slightest idea that morning as I left home.
Well, it was only after class today … that i decided to stroll into the uni bookshop to choose a book for my cousin’s birthday, that I came across this book … and i stood next to the shelf, flicking the book back and forth … I found the effect of the paintings and the words had a relaxing impact on me!
I like this quote very much, it goes ‘One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach – waiting for a gift from the sea’ – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
An excerpt from ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’
“What makes you a coward?” asked Dorothy, looking at the great beast in wonder, for he was as big as a small horse.
“It’s a mystery,” replied the Lion. “I suppose I was born that way. All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be brave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the Kind of Beasts. I learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was frightened and got out of my way. Whenever I’ve met a man I’ve been awfully scared; but I just roared at him, and he has always run away as fast as he could go. If the elephants and the tigers and the bears had every tried to fight me, I should have run myself – I’m such a coward; but just as soon as they hear me roar they all try to get away from me, and of course I let them go.”
“But that isn’t right. The King of Beasts shouldn’t be a coward,” said the Scarecrow.
“I know it,” returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the tip of his tail; “it is my great sorrow, and makes my life very unhappy. But whenever there is danger my heart begins to beat fast.”
“Perhaps you have heart disease,” said the Tin Woodman.
“It may be,” said the Lion.
“If you have,” continued the Tin Woodman, “you ought to be glad, for it proves you have a hear. For my part, I have no heart; so I cannot have heart disease.”
“Perhaps,” said the Lion, thoughtfully, “if I had no heart I should not be a coward.”
“Have you brains?” asked the Scarecrow.
“I suppose so. I’ve never looked to see,” replied the Lion.
“I am going to the great Oz to ask him to give me some,” remarked the Scarecrow, “for my head is stuffed with straw.”
“And I am going to ask him to give me a heart,” said the Woodman.
“And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas,” added Dorothy.
