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“Sometimes, it’s hard to do the right thing.”

I’ve heard this comment several times in the recent past but it always surprises me! 

Is our society falling short on integrity?

Integrity helps us to do the right thing.

 

Integrity

Choosing courage over comfort;

Choosing what is right over what is fun, or easy;

And choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them.

                                                                                                       Brene Brown

 

Integrity requires self-awareness, self-control and commitment to upholding one’s values and principles when in the face of temptation or pressure – even when no one is watching.

It is choosing your thoughts and actions based on your principled values rather than personal gain.  People of integrity do not hide their reactions or opinions.  They do not manipulate others through deception, peer pressure, guilt or shame, and they do not pretend.

Integrity is not about being popular.  It may mean extreme unpopularity because, you did the ‘right thing,’ regardless of popular opinion – integrity does take courage.  Doing the right thing regardless of popular opinion can cost you family, friends, your livelihood or worse case scenario, your life. 

Having integrity does not mean that you will never make mistakes.  It does however mean that you have learned valuable life lessons from your mistakes and taken honest measures to correct them.  In other words, you have gained some wisdom from your mistakes and evolved into a better person.

Integrity happens when inner-wisdom matches the decisions we make and act upon.

“Sometimes, it’s hard to do the right thing.”

Is it?  Or, have we just become too afraid to do the right thing? If so, what does this say about the society we live in? Corruption lacks integrity.

Using integrity is about being able to live with your own conscience.

When you are true to yourself,  it’s easy to do the right thing. 

Have courage.

 

Remember:  Using integrity is a reward! 

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

 

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They gathered around the podium while he delivered insincere words with a vulpine smile.

The posh, stood behind their Leader in mute support.  Their heads bobbed in feigned agreement while they fixated on his every uttered word – they being his well paid entourage.  

A mob, enamored by the devilish Ruler but blind to his self-entitled ego, clamored about the podium hypnotized – enthralled – agog.  Drawn to his magnetic darkness, the crowd of followers had become nothing more than envious slaves duped into thinking they were free.  Instead, they were mere minions drawn into the black shroud of a false idol.  Infected by the beast’s insidious nature, and honeyed words their fervor the cause of chaos. Entranced and unwittingly infected, the gathering populous now formed in collaboration with the elitist cult to spread unease throughout their communities.

Those who were observant had no need to listen.  The Devil’s state and demeanor made it glaringly evident to those with keen vision that, ‘his’ only intent was on cursing the world and taking its power. (more…)

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Piglet:  “How do you spell love?”

 

Pooh:  “You don’t spell it, you feel it.”

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

 

           

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I am chasing the winter blues.

It’s hard to create a work of art when you are feeling under the weather.  Fever and delirium make sentences nonsensical. Your spirit seems to float away from your body – out of this world.  You feel completely disconnected. The most talented of artists use the dark times in their lives to create beauty.  It takes fortitude and resilience to recover from illness let alone create art. 

I haven’t been feeling well – not at all. 

I am not a good patient.  I do not like being under the weather, I’d rather be in it, outside in nature.

The blues are pulling at me like a magnet.  I can see them from my window. They taunt me as they dance and skip along the snow drifts daring me to catch them.

The day is early.  The sun is only beginning to rise.  I slog into my winter gear surprised that I am not collapsing under its weight and head out the door.

The air hangs softly in the distance a paler color of white than the snow lying on the ground. ‘Angel’s breath,’ I smile at the thought of it as some blue disappears with the sun’s first rays.

‘Most people chase rainbows in order to discover magic and I’m out chasing the blues. But, why limit one’s self,’ I think bemused. (more…)

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Nothing is as black and white as it seems,

If the world seems drab,

Color it,

A picture can paint a thousand words.

 

2023, Welcome to another colorful year!

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

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Many people like to romanticize the good old days – truth is times were hard back then.  When my Mother was a little girl, her family lived on the CC Ranch southwest of Nanton, Alberta.  The Ranch, situated on Willow Creek was silhouetted by the wild and beautiful Rocky Mountains. The land was filled with bush and farther in towards the mountain was thick timber.  Visitors to the ranch were a rarity. Her writing tells of a time not so long ago when many people still relied on horsepower, grit and man’s best friend to survive.  With that being said, I hope you enjoy the following story based in the wild and untamed Alberta Foothills that she loved:

Dawg

By: J.V. Andrus  

Slowly across the top of a hazy hill came a weary rider pushing along a small, shaggy herd of long horns.  A white dog followed on the heels of the rider. Occasionally from behind, the white dog eased up alongside the long horns to press curious calves back into the herd then he’d fall back into line with the dozing rider.  The little group descended the hill down into a small valley lush with a carpet of thick green grass. 

This was as good a place as any to spend a hot afternoon, the rider thought as he eased himself out of the saddle.  He loosened the cinch, dropped the bridle reins and leaned back against the trunk of a huge tree whose branches draped low over the mouth of a stream that bubbled around a rock bank nearby. 

Through half closed eyes he surveyed his herd. 

After drinking from the stream the long horns began to graze from the thick green grass of the flat valley and began picking their way along the low lying hills.

A few feet away, the white dog lay panting; his long tongue lulled out from the side of his mouth and from the end of it dripped saliva.  His huge soft brown eyes held the man’s gaze; ever so gently, his tail swayed back and forth.

Without uttering a word, the puncher butted a cigarette which had been hanging from the corner of his lips and eased down into the warm sunshine.  With the heat of the sun now on him, he slept. (more…)

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Baby, it’s cold outside!

It’s the end of November and it is -13 degrees Celsius (12.2 Fahrenheit). The wind has been blowing with gusts of 42 km (27 mph) and higher so it feels like -23C (-9.4 F).  It’s so frigid that I am unable to think.  Perhaps, I have frozen my brain…

How does a Canadian prevent brain freeze in the winter?

 

Word of the Day – Toque

              /tōk/

Canadian definition: 

A close-fitting knitted hat, often with a tassel or pom-pom on the crown.

People also ask

How do you use it in a sentence?

I will use it in a sentence so that you can both remember what it is and how to pronounce it.

“It’s so cold outside, that I toque a wool cap and put it on my head.”

And, that my friend’s is also how a Canadian prevents brain freeze in the winter!

Stay warm!      

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

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A pale dawn arises,

Snow falls,

Sullen shadows cascade across the land,

Images cold against glittering drifts,

A terrain flash-frozen,

No layers of warmth will cushion heartaches pain,

In winter,

When the wind bites,

Nostalgia quietly visits.

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

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It has taken me some time to silence the thoughts of others and cipher through their parables and codes.

Social media is inundated with an extraordinary amount of negativity.  Many comments are meant to debilitate the vitality of opponents who dare think outside of the box.  It is easy to attack someone whom you cannot see. 

It is also easier to control those whose faces are covered. It removes the aspects of humanism.  Covering ones nose and mouth deprives the brain of oxygen and weakens soundness of mind.

I suspect the past few years has done irreparable damage to human kind.

(I can still feel the agony of those who withheld their screams of terror and disbelief until their eyes deadened and their hearts hardened.)

It’s easier to follow the masses than it is to stand alone. 

Fear can be a strict task master. It drives groups together but it can also break them apart.

Many people gave up. 

Others allowed themselves to become disabled through the pressure tactics forced upon them. Hypnotized, they consumed propaganda spoon fed to them by daily dose of dishonesty and negativity.   They became the fanatical converts who threatened non-believers. Non-believers were ostracized and pushed into seclusion.

There are many fanatics today that seek continued control over the populous.  They have a surplus of information ordained to frighten the weak into a continued life of subservience. 

They want the masses to move through life like robots – zombies with dead eyes, stiff movements and no heart because when you stunt growth or imagination, there is no individuality – no freedom.  This is called censorship. 

What they do not know is that you cannot cripple the heart or mind of an artist! 

The individual pain each person endures throughout life is precisely the gold that shines through an entrapped mindset to create an artist.  Seclusion is all that is needed to break free of the trap.  When one enters the silence, true beauty is created.  This beauty is art.

Art means something different to everyone.  It is a distinct experience distinguished by you alone. Art heals crippled minds, broken hearts and beckons to the individual in each of us, bringing hope.  

You cannot censor hope!

Hope is a light engrained so deeply within the Universe that death cannot even snuff it out.

Artists know this secret.

 They are able to read between the lines. 

They are the truth seekers.

They are the free-thinkers fanatics want to silence.

You cannot cripple an artist, excluding them or forcing them into silence is a gift. 

Silence is where an artist goes to create beauty.  

We can always use more of them – so please, censor away – for in the end, it will be the artist’s who heal the world with their beautiful stories.

 

Remember:

“Those who speak in parables and code harbour great secrets.”

 

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

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Beware,

When the veil thins,

On ‘All Hallows Eve,’

The Pumkin Patch comes alive!

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Thank-you for following, reading, sharing and commenting – The Trefoil Muse

 

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