20200523, Article, Taichung

[Jasmine0316]

網站 http://www.happyforum.org/ 歡迎超連結並轉寄網址
論壇 http://www.happyforum.org/happy/ 歡迎至論壇討論

歡迎加入Taichung Happy English Club粉絲團



Time：第 506 會，2020 年 5 月 23 日（週六）下午2:30~5:30
Place：
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewtopic.php?t=15

Agenda
14:30~15:30 Session One
15:30~15:50 Speech Session
15:50~16:00 Change Group and then Break Time
16:00~17:15 Session Two
17:15~17:30 Happy Time

Host: Gary
Assistant Host:

Topic::
Via Negativa – The Art of Adding to Your Life By Subtracting From It
Source:
https://siimland.com/via-negativa-art-a ... btracting/

Please Note:
Venue:台中市南屯區 大業路182號 Mos Burger二樓
Thanks a lot for your attention.

Questions:

1. What are your New Year’s Resolutions in 2020? Do you stick to your goals? What fields do they belong to? Do they add things to your life or subtract things from your life?

2. In this article, the author pointed out we are all hoarders, do you agree with that? If yes, what kind of things do you like to collect? If you don't agree, what is your opinion?

3. With your present lifestyle, how busy are you? Do you enjoy being busy? Or, do you want to be busier? No matter what kind of situation you are in, by adding or subtracting something, which way is more helpful for you?

4. As an old saying goes, "There is a limit to our life, but to knowledge there is no limit. With what is limited to pursue after what is unlimited is a perilous thing". What do you think of it?

5. Subtracting things from our life is necessary but not easy. Have you succeeded in subtracting things from life and ended up improving the quality of your life?


例會須知
時間地點須知：
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15
協會章程：
http://www.happyforum.org/Association_Principle.htm
各分會章程：
http://www.happyforum.org/Club_Principle.htm
協會會員會費及各分會會員會費及入場費：
http://www.happyforum.org/15.htm
參與例會，請自行列印當週的討論文章，並帶至現場
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewforum.php?f=33
參與例會，請勿討論政治/種族/宗教/性，經勸導無效者，不得參加本會任何活動
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1766
週六晚餐(Saturday Dinner)
http://www.happyforum.org/happy/viewforum.php?f=76
戶外活動(Club Outing)

[Jasmine0316]

Dear Taichung Happiers,

The next decent departure is plotted by the smile of subtracting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF6Z9jCYFno

The voice of subtracting has a note of strong desire for success. How do you define “quality of life”? According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, quality of life is overall enjoyment of life; general well-being. Meanwhile, World Health Organization defines Quality of Life as “an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns.” Then, how do we value our life? Indeed, the quality of life is the echo of the heart and the softer and quieter elements of living. Some elements can improve the quality of life are obvious yet unnoticed. Most importantly, quality of life is not just about wealth, it’s also about shared experiences. Many things that create quality of life are inexpensive—for example, a cycling culture. When each early morning dawns bright and warm, we start hearing the stirrings of life. And we find the most tempting thing in the world is the lightness of a briefcase—everyone wants to take off with it. What lingers in our minds is to locate a lifestyle, which can help us handle the harmonic vocabulary. Socrates had sincerely suggested, "The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." Perhaps, having more things truly drains the color and creativity from us. Perhaps, something impressive and enduring hides under the silent surface of subtracting. Perhaps, somewhere above the acquainted things can attend our minds home. Now, are you ready to meet yourself? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to join us on the journey of stretching out our wings of well-being.

Subtract, like your doctor is watching! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOnlduSDrfs American Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, and speaker Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) simply asserted, “The body is like a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the instrument in good order.” Well, speaking of this “instrument”, we need nothing to remind us of the magic of nature. Nature is full of possibilities. Have the patience for nature—for its drama and its development. Surrounded by the calm, cool nature, we find a sense of balance, and the dragging unease decreases. Tell us, please, how nature can be wild and tame at the same moment? How does the nature’s memory feed us? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq0GY3-ncI0 In addition, has sports/exercise always been part of your plan? Do you believe in a life of actions? As soon as we begin to exercise, pleasures redden our faces, and the past devastation dilutes and comes controllable. What do you carry around in your body, Basketball or Ballet? What lives willingly and lovingly inside your every muscle, every bone? http://ti.me/2Gl9LTY I know, I know, the mission impossible for our health is the battle to the lure of a good meal, which is powerful enough. Even before picking up the Yoga Mat, we stare at scones, at strawberry ice cream, longingly… Still, remember the new (yet not so new) punctuation: Less-is-More. Better not give a practical presentation of your heartfelt appetite? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl8k2ncIQMc

Subtracting blurs the line between expectation and reality. https://www.boredpanda.com/relationship ... uda-devir/ Everyday life is a performance in one way or another. Subtracting teaches us to find our own way in our own time—we have to choose to be ourselves; we have to choose to live by our own values. Stop waiting for anything; start making the best of every moment we’re in—even when we pause, without pausing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFnusmIT8PM Furthermore, the state of flow is where true happiness lies, says psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Boredom is the opposite of flow; creation is the best solution. The simple joy of creation on our faces marvelously turns us back into the sweet boys/girls. Besides, what is the state of flow but another name of the development of an open, loving heart? In other words, happiness and kindness go steady with each other, forever. There is not one without the other. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... well-being American writer, poet, and scholar of comparative religion Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) concluded that “Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” Therefore, while we try to plant the seed of happiness, the paradox keeps haunting us: Less is more. Yet…yet…yet, is there even a way to avoid feeding vanity? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVuVlk2E_e4

“The Choice” (by William Butler Yeats)

The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.

Subtracting? Art teaches us what to disown and when to disown it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49AjkXtUVYo An art book is a key to our minds. Everyone sees their selves more clearly through art. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008), Russian novelist, philosopher, and historian, endorsed the purpose of art, which has been our home, our comfort food, and our emotional support. “Art extends each man’s short time on earth, by carrying from man to man the whole complexity of other men’s lifelong experience, with all its burdens, colors and flavor.” So, what is the secret force that empowers art to move us beyond our private taste, and to bring us to something outside ourselves? Let us be given to flights of imagination to find it out, shall we? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0q7nMyCgqA A good art work is a miracle, with all the enthusiastic essentials of a living thing. Besides, museums always accentuate the collections of all types of curiosities. In the museum, when the beauty and strange sensation melt us, it takes us a moment to ponder. What is hidden in these art works? What can they reveal? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa6eA4slIyo (Please switch to English subtitles.) When art works are making their mark, what might unlock our doubt and fear? Within every piece of art, each audible or inaudible composition translates a privately portrayed journey. Art begins to change us when inspiration takes us to a place where questions are planted and grew, where uncertainties flourish… https://philpapers.org/rec/MCMBPA-2

What shapes our choices? Purely the condition of our soul. While authenticity gradually colors our vision of humanity, it dawns us that learning about ourselves is the most important to us, and our faces are blossoming into smiles. The smile is our acknowledgment of acceptance and appreciation. If only we thrive on subtracting. The less we are obsessed with, the more we value the structure. Far from being reducing or restricting, we find subtracting liberating--something abundant yet invisible is playing with harmony. If we concentrate most of our satisfying energies on subtracting, the tangible and the intangible, it will be impossible to see a way on earth not to be filled with a sense of glory and prosperity. Afterwards, the happiness begins, the looking forward to the happiness begins, and the remembering the happiness begins. It feels like all the other adventures of our life have led toward this one. All we have to bear in mind is the peace pined by Goethe, “Each situation, each moment, is of infinite worth; for each represents a whole eternity.” Perhaps, reading is the only thing needs no subtracting, because the pleasure of reading and our gratification persist and progress. Oh, your books are whispering again: Don’t lose ourselves in the noise. Join us. Thanks!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oqGx5hL8h0






With Gratitude,
Jasmine