Rebecca J Hanna

Credit: Ancient World (Facebook) Once, men and women did not sleep as we do now. The notion of “eight hours straight” was foreign. In the Middle Ages, the night unfolded in two distinct breaths: the first sleep and the second sleep. As the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky turned to dark velvet, people would retire early, surrendering to the hush of night. After four or five hours, their eyes would open—not from anxiety or disruption, but from rhythm. This pause in the night was a quiet, secret world. By candlelight, they prayed, leafed through worn books, or sipped spiced wine. Some crossed the street to knock on a neighbor’s door, while others lingered in the kitchen, telling stories to their children, hands wrapped around warm cups. It was the heart of the night, and yet life moved gently—intimate, unhurried, profound. When the invisible clock of darkness signaled, they returned to bed. The second sleep carried them to dawn, when the rooster’s crow marked the beginning of the day. For centuries, this was the rhythm of rest—recorded in diaries, stories, even medical manuals. But the 19th century arrived with streetlamps, factories, and the clamor of urban life. The middle hours of the night lost their enchantment, and people began to sleep “all in one go.” By the 20th century, the memory of segmented sleep had faded. What was once a natural rhythm became misunderstood. Today, we might call it insomnia. Then… it was simply the most human way to live in harmony with the night. See less — in New York.

Credit : Motorland (Facebook) Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, often used what he called the “Five Whys” rule. Whenever he faced confusion or a difficult decision, he would ask himself “why?”—five times in a row. By the fifth answer, the real truth always came out. Let’s say you suddenly decide you need a luxury coat. First “Why?” — Why do I want this coat? Answer: Because I want to impress people. Second “Why?” — Why do I want to impress people? Answer: Because I want them to notice me. Third “Why?” — Why do I need people to notice me? Answer: Because I feel insecure. Fourth “Why?” — Why do I feel insecure? Answer: Because I haven’t achieved what I want yet — I feel stuck. Fifth “Why?” — Why haven’t I achieved what I want? Answer: Because I’m doing something I don’t actually love. So tell me — what does that coat really have to do with it? Sakichi Toyoda said that the answer to the fifth why usually reveals the root cause — something deeper and often hidden from the surface. That fifth “because” shines a light on what’s buried inside. It exposes the real you — the one behind all the excuses and distractions. It’s a powerful tool to discover what you truly want, what scares you to admit, and what, in the end, doesn’t really matter at all.

Just now-two crows came to my leafless fig tree and ate a dried fig--then this comes through my feed on FB. --had to share!

From Shakespeare's As You Like It: "I do desire we may be better strangers."

"If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life." ~Thich Nhat Hanh (Book: The Miracle of Mindfulness (Art: Painting by Anna Ancher)

"Take a moment to notice which nostril feels more open right now. One side will usually be clearer while the other might feel a bit blocked. When your left nostril is more open, your body is in a calmer, rest and digest state. When your right nostril is more open, you’re in a more alert or active state. This naturally shifts every couple of hours in what’s called the nasal cycle, where we tend to breathe about 75% through one nostril and 25% through the other. This cycle is controlled by your autonomic nervous system, helping your body stay balanced without you even realizing it." -Anthony Goldsmith #bodywisdom

"Beneath the root and rib of the world, where worms write scripture in loam and stones remember the sea, there is a hum older than language. I have heard it in the bone-dark, a low hymn rising through my body, the chthonic breath woven through the underbody of the world, moving through soil, shadow and the soft rot of becoming. The gods there, wear mud for skin, their breath the rhythm of life and death, their hands braiding beginnings and endings together beneath us; turning dark to bloom, silence to breath, rot to womb. I’m drawn to that darkness, to the tender mouths of fungi translating the dead into nourishment, to the roots whispering in green tongues through the damp corridors of decay. This underworld is not hell, but humus: the warm, breathing dark from which all things rise. And somewhere in that dark, I feel myself, made of its chthonic under-song, a creature stitched from seed and compost, learning again and again how to belong to the dark that midwives the seed." #potry #art ——— • WORDS Brigit Anna McNeill • • ART Ruth Evans •

Credit: Gardening Hacks (Facebook) https://vegetablegardenblog.com/try-simmering-10-sprigs-of-rosemary-and-enjoy-the-amazing-benefits-that-follow/?fbclid=IwY2xjawN1pSFleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFXMTR0R3IyTHhXcUo0d0o0AR4Ld6Hxt4VGdcxU4Iy6z5XkB9O8dS5fThapr9i1U8eNlLstd8ZkMGUvi16B_A_aem_ifoE-azUFsQdoAVSyDCC7Q

#health

#funny

“Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a feather bed.” ~Terence Mckenna

#funny