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Stillpoint

Stillpoint

Hello, Wonderful Person!
Keepers of the vine

YOU MAY FIND THIS HARD to believe, but you’ve got an amazing body! 

Did you know, for example, that your body’s organs, tissues, bones, immune system – all your bits-&-pieces – are made up of cells. An estimated 30 trillion microscopic cells. That’s right, 30,000,000,000,000 of them! 

But wait: there’s more! 

Inside each of those tiny cells, packed into a space smaller than you can see, is your DNA – the long spiral molecules that contain your unique genetic code (basically, the recipe-book instructions for the making of you). 

Listen to Hannah Ashworth (in the BBC Science Focus Magazine): “The DNA in your cells is packaged into 46 chromosomes in the nucleus, and supercoiled so it takes up less space.

“Try holding a piece of string at one end, and twisting the other. As you add twists, the string creates coils of coils – and eventually, coils of coils of coils. Your DNA is arranged as a coil of coils of coils of coils of coils. This allows the three billion pairs inside each cell to fit into a space just six microns across. 

“If you stretched the DNA in one cell all the way out, it would be about two metres long. And all the DNA in all your cells put together would be about twice the diameter of the Solar System.” 

Mind-boggling, right? And super-encouraging, we reckon. You’re neither small nor insignificant – you’re just very well folded!

HOME TRUTHS

Don’t forget: 

while 

   you’re 

      busy 

         DOUBTING 

            yourself, 

               someone 

            else

         is 

      admiring 

   your 

STRENGTH!

UNKNOWN

UNPACKING

Everyone comes with baggage. 

     Find someone who 

     loves you enough to 

     help you 

     unpack.

UNKNOWN

MOVE IT!

If we were

  meant 

  to 

  stay

  in 

  one 

  place, 

we’d have 

  roots 

  instead 

  of 

  feet.

SEEING THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

Do you ever look around at the state of the world or just where you are – especially during this pandemic and all the uncertainty it poses – and think, This is not how it’s supposed to be! I certainly do, on a regular basis! Families separated by closed borders … the effects of the pandemic itself on our nation’s health, economy, relationships … it feels like a bit of a mess sometimes, and definitely NOT how I envisage things should be.

However, a recent beach-wander, admiring the views and picking up bits of sea-glass for my collection, gave me a tidbit of inspiration …

Sea-glass – broken, buffed by sand and wave, altered by its time in the sea – is more beautiful because of everything it’s endured. Sea-glass is glass as it’s not supposed to be. It’s no longer an intact item … no longer practically useful … no longer clear or sharp. But aesthetically? Well, that’s a different story. Its beauty is in its softness and its misty translucency. It is a thing that glows, its soft edges the result of its tumultuous history.

It strikes me that we have a choice when we hit rough patches in life. We can either focus on how our circumstances are not what they’re supposed to be, and become sharp (and bitter) as a result. Or we can let them gently mould us into a softer, more beautiful version of ourselves. We can find ways to reach out, even while we’re separated. We can forge harmony where there’s division. We can care for those isolated, whose isolation has only been aggravated by the pandemic … 

I’m trying to take a lesson from these treasured bits of sea-glass, allowing myself to be changed for the better by the challenges of our times. 

TRACY CARTER – GRAPEVINE

BE SOFT …

Don’t let the world make you hard.

Don’t let pain make you hate.

Don’t let bitterness steal your sweetness.

KURT VONNEGUT

ROUGH WEATHER?

We are not all in the same boat.

But we are in the same storm.

Some have yachts,

some have canoes

and some are drowning.

Just be kind and help whoever you can.

DAMIAN BARR

WHEN PARENTS GET OLD …

Let them grow old with the same love that they let you grow …

     Let them speak and tell

     repeated stories with

     the same patience and interest 

     that they heard yours as a child …

Let them overcome, like 

so many times when  

they let you win …

     Let them enjoy their friends 

     just as they let you …

Let them enjoy the talks with 

their grandchildren because 

they see you in them …

     Let them enjoy living among 

     the objects that have 

     accompanied them for a 

     long time, because they 

     suffer when they feel that 

     you tear pieces of this life 

     away …

Let them be wrong, like so many

times you’ve been wrong and 

they didn’t embarrass 

you by correcting you …

     Let them live, and try to 

     make them happy on the last

     stretch of the path they 

     have left to go …

Give them your hand, just like 

they gave you their hand when 

your started your path.

UNKNOWN

SILLY – KIND – WEIRD

None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your heart like hidden treasure. Be silly. Be kind. Be weird. There’s no time for anything else.

NANEA HOFFMAN – SWEATPANTS & COFFEE

COMPANIONS

Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers. 

But, most of all, surround yourself with those who can see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.

EDMUND LEE

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