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Month: November 2023

November Thanks – 20

“Find Love…, and Love will come looking for you”

I love this line from Paul McCartney’s Young Boy. It succinctly tells about the principal source of all bountiful things in this world. It is Love. We often mistake other things for it, but, as the new world is presently unraveling, it is necessary to get back to where it all began.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

So, Love never fails, and this is what we should aim for: to never fail those whom we love and who love us in return. Be it people or animals, buildings or trees, they all last only as long as we love them. Sadly, we spend eternity waiting for Love whereas the task is to find it, to open our hearts to receive it, and to take it further, to spread it far and wide.

When we learn to be proactive in this, our world will have changed forever.

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 19

Warmth is something we take for granted. A house should be warm, and so should our tea and meals, and winter clothes, and a hot water bottle. Little do we think, though, about the warmth of our hearts and souls. The cold we sometimes feel has nothing to do with the lack of clothes or low heating. It comes from within; it comes from other people. It causes loneliness and insecurity, frustration and disenchantment.

I’m grateful for people who shared their warmth with me when I needed it. Today I share my warmth with others to make them more confident, to let them feel love and acceptance. It is a great power – to give others what you have in excess.

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 13

Of all things I’m most thankful for I’d single out the friends that I acquired after 2014. The year when the Crimea reunited with Russia, a massacre in Odessa happened and a Malaysian Boeing’s catastrophe orchestrated.

I came to realise then that a few people I thought were my friends turned out to be quite alien. And I’d cope with that had it not been for their hell-bent determination to put me straight. As far as they were concerned, I was a victim of the state propaganda. In my turn, I couldn’t come to terms with the fact that we used to read the same historical texts and learn the same dates, and all graduated “cum laude”, yet for some inexplicable reason the opinion of the so-called global community mattered more to them than the actual facts.

In the end I decided I wanted more like-minded people in my life, and in the years that followed I found a lot of them, indeed.

Many of us avoid changes for fear of losing what we’ve got. To think about it, this is how a deficiency thinking is formed: we convince ourselves that unless we keep to what we have now there will be no more in future. And so we choose to persist in misery lest we experience happiness. What do you choose?

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 12

In expressing our gratitude we should not lose the sight of one, most curious fact. We thank God and the Universe for providing us with opportunities. We are capable of thanking ourselves for grabbing those opportunities. But rarely do we acknowledge, or even realise, that a person or people we help and serve are also god-sent. They are an opportunity, too, and we should be thankful for having them in our life. By experience, it can take a while to figure this out; once you did it, though, you will always be thankful for being surrounded by people and things.

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 11

Britain celebrated Remembrance Day, and I wrote on my Russian Telegram channel about it. November 11th was first marked in 1919 by the decree of King George V. Since then, and especially after the World War Two, people remembered those that fought and died in other conflicts. In fact, in one of the ceremonies I watched they even remembered the soldiers who died in the Boer War. The day that began with commemoration of the victims of the First World War has evolved into an occasion to remember all soldiers of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

In Russia, we also remember the tragedy of World War One, but we do it on August 1st, the day the war started. In recent years, we have largely come to see this event as a personal tragedy of the Russian state and its people. Following the successes at the front in 1916, it was probably assumed that Russia won the war; however, the events of 1917, with its two revolutions and deposition of monarchy, annihilated every achievement of the Russian army. The separate peace treaty between the Bolshevist government and Berlin effectively left Germany to struggle alone on the Western front. Russia, in turn, was engulfed by the Civil War.

It is hard to feel gratitude for such events, but as I said in an earlier post, it is these events that ultimately teach us the most valuable lessons. And so I’m grateful for this experience that my country had once undergone that now supports its domestic unity.

Manchester Cenotaph (@Julia Shuvalova)

November Thanks – 9

I’m moderating my first mastermind, and this is a new thing for me. I can see where I’m falling back on my previous managerial experience, and what aspects of it need improving. In general, though, this is quite inspiring – to lead a group of females who wish to reach their personal and professional goals. So far we have all made good progress, and, with two more weeks left, there’s plenty to do. I’m grateful for this opportunity. In fact, it was my goal at the start of the year, and now I’ve accomplished it.

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 8

My gratitude note is short today. I’m grateful for the quiet inspiration that spurred me to make a good progress on my work.

We have come to think of inspiration as a bout of madness that engulfs you, leaves you sleepless, restless and void of all human desires. But there is a different kind of it, gently guiding you on the path of your story. I really enjoyed it today, and I’m looking forward for more.

November Thanks – 7

November 7th used to be widely celebrated as the birth of the Soviet State. It was considered a benign democratic antidote to the tzarist system.

If we take seriously the fact that the three-coloured imperial flag was changed to the monocoloured red standard, we might say that the October Revolution was the first attempt at a colourful revolution. It wasn’t the Georgian Orange but the Soviet Red that heralded the epoch of “adopted” democracies that ensued.

Today people’s attitude to the October 1917 events has changed, mostly towards a more balanced view of the Romanovs and the role the October played in the events of the first half of 20th century in Russia and elsewhere in the world.

Am I grateful to those late October 1917 events? I see little point in even contemplating this question; but since I chose to give thanks to things, I shall. I believe a sure sign of human maturity is the ability to turn a loving eye to the past of one’s family and country. It is healthier to evolve at one’s own speed, no doubt. Yet in the case with a revolution one has to remember that it never happens for no reason. The society was ready for it, but not for its aftermath. And so we can be grateful for the opportunity to distinguish between the common good and the common evil. The events of 2023 with an unsuccessful mutiny have proved that the people have learned a historic lesson.

Source: Pinterest

November Thanks – 6

Today I spent a fairly hectic day. I gave three classes, wrote some prose and posts, recorded a couple of extracts from Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World. I’ve had this book in my library for a while, having brought when I was yet in England, but it’s only now that I’m being a truly dedicated reader. I’ll do another post about it later.

Tiredness has worn on, and I’m planning to go to bed as soon as I finish the post. But before I put a full stop I want to thank the bountiful power for endowing me with creativity. This is a truly divine gift.

Source: Pinterest
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