{"id":2596,"date":"2022-02-27T09:32:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T09:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/?page_id=2596"},"modified":"2022-02-28T00:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T00:26:11","slug":"unfinished-business","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2022\/unfinished-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfinished Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>Michael Hughey<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I call it \u2018Unfinished Business\u2019.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2598\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2598\" style=\"width: 474px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-2598\" src=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business-829x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"474\" height=\"585\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business-829x1024.jpg 829w, https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business-243x300.jpg 243w, https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business-768x948.jpg 768w, https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business-1244x1536.jpg 1244w, https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Unfinished-Business.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2598\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Michael Hughey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It was an inexpensive painting, presumably designed to complement the drapes, rugs and sofas in one\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t looking for a wall hanging, but it appealed to me. I carefully placed it in my shopping cart alongside the gallon of milk, some clothes hangers, and a probably-not-needed-but-stylish lamp that turns itself on when you touch the base.<\/p>\n<p>I could imagine that the artist, having applied those dozen or so rollers of paint, had simply shrugged, thinking \u201cAlright, that\u2019s good enough\u201d. Or maybe it was a more purposeful statement.<\/p>\n<p>Whenever I look at the painting, even casually, it reminds me of the many bits of my own unfinished business:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Writing articles<\/li>\n<li>Visiting websites<\/li>\n<li>Watching movies<\/li>\n<li>Reading books<\/li>\n<li>Straightening rooms<\/li>\n<li>Taking courses<\/li>\n<li>Changing the car\u2019s oil<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But not all my unfinished business involves possessions or entertainment:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Getting out into fresh air every day<\/li>\n<li>Noticing the beautiful things nature has provided<\/li>\n<li>Watching more closely what I\u2019m cooking and eating<\/li>\n<li>Spending more time exercising and less time sitting at the desk<\/li>\n<li>Cultivating the inner voice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And there are probably even more important elements of unfinished business:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Being kind to others, even when disagreeing with them (particularly when disagreeing with them).<\/li>\n<li>Speaking less, listening more<\/li>\n<li>Using encouraging words with young people\u2026and old people\u2026OK, with everybody.<\/li>\n<li>Helping other people and not taking any credit<\/li>\n<li>Feeding the good wolf and not the bad wolf<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This list could easily be many-fold longer, but I\u2019m thinking that we all get the point. I have loads of unfinished business that needs attention. My guess is that we all do.<\/p>\n<p>I like having this on my wall to help me remember.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: left;\" width=\"312\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-glossy fasc-rounded-medium fasc-ico-before dashicons-arrow-left-alt fasc-style-bold\" style=\"background-color: #0315a3; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2022\/blessing\/\">Previous Article<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\" width=\"312\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-glossy fasc-rounded-medium fasc-ico-before dashicons-arrow-right-alt fasc-style-bold\" style=\"background-color: #0315a3; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2022\/young-adult-friends-yaf-all-age-meeting\/\">Next Article<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a class=\"fasc-button fasc-size-medium fasc-type-glossy fasc-rounded-medium fasc-ico-before dashicons-arrow-up-alt fasc-style-bold\" style=\"background-color: #0315a3; color: #ffffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2022\/\">Back to March 2022 Newsletter Main Page<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>Forty-Three<\/em> Newsletter \u2022 Number 515 \u2022 March 2022<br \/>\n<\/strong>Oxford Friends Meeting<br \/>\n43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"mailto:newsletter@oxfordquakers.org\">newsletter@oxfordquakers.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Copyright 2022, Oxford Quakers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Hughey I call it \u2018Unfinished Business\u2019. It was an inexpensive painting, presumably designed to complement the drapes, rugs and sofas in one\u2019s home. I wasn\u2019t looking for a wall hanging, but it appealed to me. I carefully placed it in my shopping cart alongside the gallon of milk, some clothes hangers, and a probably-not-needed-but-stylish &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/march-2022\/unfinished-business\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Unfinished Business<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"parent":2563,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2596","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2687,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2596\/revisions\/2687"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oxfordquaker.com\/newsletter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}