Five Star Friday's 218th Edition Is Brought to You By William Boyd

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by the far-reaching effects of seemingly simple things, simple things that can better our lives, our connectedness, the fact that our stories matter, our ability to help carry and release each other's grief, and William Boyd:


photo credit: Michael Fennell

I have taken refuge in the doctrine that advises one not to seek tranquillity in certainty but in permanently suspended judgement.

     — William Boyd, Brazzaville Beach

Happy Friday!

"Churches Without Chairs: How Christians Used to Worship" from The Second Eclectic:

The injustices that came with pews show us how much influence a technology can wield when we thoughtlessly adopt it. Who would have imagined that a few pieces of furniture would reinforce the class system? Today, segmentation still happens. People still tend to sit in the same general locations each Sunday. But the class conflict has diminished more or less—the pews have been better integrated.

But it took a few hundred years. It took a few hundred years before the injustices of pews were acknowledged and put right.

Today, with the technologies we’re installing, chairs seem benign. And as our technologies become more powerful, the extremes can run further and their impacts deeper before we see well enough to reverse them. Who knows what effects they will have had by then.

"After Newtown" from The Gallivanting Monkey:

I see so much "we're helpless, it's hopeless" and it makes me want to grab every last person by the shoulders and shake them furiously until their heads fall off. You are NOT helpless. It is NOT hopeless. Stop repeating that toxic, soul-killing, planet-harming lie. We're connected to each other. It's not a metaphor. What takes place within one of us affects all of us. If you genuinely don't like feeling helpless, then rejoice. You're not. Get to work.

"28 Brilliant Tips for Living Life" from zenhabits:

Sometimes the littlest change can make a world of difference.

Start waking a little earlier and spending some quiet time to start your day? The rest of the day has been transformed.

What little change might change your life? You can pick one or two from the list below at random — I can almost guarantee that one of them will do worlds of good for anyone.

"Bearing the Unbearable" from Planting Dandelions:

Maybe these sudden pangs of sorrow were invitations to carry a bit of her burden for a moment. Maybe, by taking in that pain, I was somehow converting it at a collective, unconscious level, so that my friend could catch her own breath for a second. Maybe human suffering is meant to have an overflow valve — what one of us cannot handle alone, spills over into the hearts of others. Who knows? But the thought gave me peace, and forever changed the way I meet grief that arises from other people’s tragedy.

"Our Stories Matter Because We Matter: Thoughts On the Power of Our Voices" from Brené Brown:

In times of national crisis we often think, "My stories don't matter – this isn't about me" or "I'll stay quite because I'm somewhere in the middle of the obnoxious people raging on TV." The truth is that in the midst of tragedy nothing matters more than our stories. Our complex, nuanced stories are the path to healing and change. They are the truth and there's no better foundation for change than the truth.

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Comments

[Tina Rowley]

My word, thank you so much for this. I'm surprised and honored to find my post here, especially in this particular round-up.