Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 29 January 2022

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‘Hope is a thing with feathers.’

‘How diminished our world would be without birds,

those dinosaurs with feathers and songsmiths with wings.’

Photo:Pinterest

Hope is the thing with feathers

'Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.'- Emily Dickinson 

‘We read so much into birds. The canary down the mine whose death warns miners of gas and the dove with a green twig that tells Noah the flood is receding feed into a feeling that birds are sign-bearers, omens, the gods’ messengers. Across history, across cultures, birds are also an image of escape. “Oh, for the wings of a dove,” says King David, so he could fly to the wilderness and be at rest.

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Written by: Kamran Mofid

Published: 27 January 2022

Hits: 582

Life in the Slow Lane Is the Route to Happiness, Contentment and Inner Peace

 Photo:Good Magazine

Life and the Cult of Busyness

GIPHY

As The School of Life has so candidly observed, ‘​For the last two centuries, a cult has been spreading widely and rapidly around the world devoted instead to a single, striking ideal: busyness. This cult of busyness insists that a good life is one of constant activity and application, where every hour of the day must be filled with intense activity.

This mindset isn’t only making us tired and stressed. It’s based on a fatal misunderstanding of what we actually need to be productive: namely, regular periods of inactivity that allow our minds to work effectively. Quiet days, in which nothing much happens and we don’t accomplish anything (days the busy person would consider dull and wasted) can be deeply fruitful.

In moments of stress and exhaustion, we need to prescribe the remedy of slower, quieter days ­­­– and to free ourselves from the oppressive ideal of the busy life that is slowly destroying us.’

Photo: SchoolofLife

‘We live in a time when many people experience their lives as empty and lacking in fulfillment. The decline of religion and the collapse of communism have left but the ideology of the free market whose only message is: consume, and work hard so you can earn money to consume more. Yet even those who do reasonably well in this race for material goods do not find that they are satisfied with their way of life. We now have good scientific evidence for what philosophers have said throughout the ages: once we have enough to satisfy our basic needs, gaining more wealth does not bring us more happiness.’- Peter Singer

‘What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.’ - William Henry Davies

And Now, the Biggest Question of them All: What is the Antidote to BUSYNESS and the Age of Anxiety?

As Prescribed by the GCGI for many years now, The Antidote to the Cult of Busyness is to Do Nothing!!

'When Doing Nothing Is Doing Everything’

‘To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.’- Oscar Wilde

‘Going nowhere ... isn’t about turning your back on the world; it’s about stepping away now and then so that you can see the world more clearly and love it more deeply.’- Pico Iyer

'A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men… of men in whom every vital impulse slowly withers, as though they were cut flowers in a vase.'-Bertrand Russell

…’because I live in a society that tells me I should never be alone. I live in a society that tells me I should always be connected, I should always be doing something,... We’ve become so busy that our days are mapped out to the second, our sleep is forced off rhythm by lack of time, our solitude is planned out to the minute, and we’re expecting ourselves to do it all. Another paradox to explore is that solitude was birthed in community; as we cannot know summer without winter, we lose sight of solitude when we isolate ourselves from community. Do the people around me truly know my needs in and out of solitude? How can we encourage one another to find those crevices of ourselves to love and explore more. How can we truly go away from commitments and people to come back more full of love, understanding, and compassion towards ourselves and others?’... Cassidy Hall

The Art of Living a Happier life: Solitude- The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You

Happiness is to Do Nothing

What is Money? Is it Money Money Money, Must be funny?

First, I invite you to watch this very beautiful video, with its timeless lyrics, words of wisdom, all about MONEY. This, I hope will focus and sharpen our minds on what is to come a bit later, the wonderful Story of Money!

This is the story of how the modern world fell in love with money

The Lesson to Learn from Trump’s Chaotic and Shameful Life Journey: Before Becoming Great One Has to be Good

This is How to Balance Purpose and Profit to become a Force for Good

Hello Fat Cats! Do you fancy a dialogue for the Common Good?

In Praise of ‘Enoughness’ and 'Lagomist' Econom

In Praise of Frugality: Materialism is a Killer

What is Happiness? What is the Good Life? Lessons from the ancient philosophers to help improve our lives today.

 Life is too short not to live it simpler

What is the essence of a good life?

The Road to Bliss: My Joyous Journey in the Company of Poets

​Land As Our Teacher: Rhythms of Nature Ushering in a Better World

‘Nature and Me’: A Beautiful and Inspiring Path to repair our relationship with life

On the 250th Birthday of William Wordsworth Let Nature be our Wisest Teacher

What a blissful day it was visiting "The loveliest spot that man hath ever found”

The IPCC Report- I Refuse to give up Hope: Earth Is A Mother that Never Dies

Rethinking Education at the Time of Coronavirus Crisis: The Time is Now to Explore the Benefits of Nature-Based Education in Our Teaching Models

 Detaching Nature from Economics is ‘Burning the Library of Life’

A Sure Path to build a Better World: How nature helps us feel good and do good

 Healing the world as if the web of life mattered: In Praise of Ancient Wisdom

Let us use our mobile phone cameras with different eyes: Mindful Photography to Nurture Positive Emotions, Gratitude and Appreciation

A very telling and moving story of life and death, who we are and why we are

The old , frail professor, a former student and the insights on life’s biggest question

GCGI and our Path to a more Meaningful, Rewarding and Happier life

Photo by William Patino Via JuciyWorld

GCGI is our journey of hope and the sweet fruit of a labour of love. It is free to access, and it is ad-free too. We spend hundreds of hours, volunteering our labour and time, spreading the word about what is good and what matters most. If you think that's a worthy mission, as we do—one with powerful leverage to make the world a better place—then, please consider offering your moral and spiritual support by joining our circle of friends, spreading the word about the GCGI and forwarding the website to all those who may be interested.