Magnets

“There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first... when you learn to live for others, they will live for you.” ~ Paramahansa Yogananda

Magnets in our hearts attracting friends is a nice thought. However, we tend to forget, when thinking about magnetic personalities, that magnets also repel. Magnets have two poles, a positive and a negative. If the magnetic attraction (the positive) in our heart is unselfishness and thinking of others first, then what is the repulsion (the negative)...the opposite of course, selfishness. I think we need to be careful of our magnet and remember that it has both capabilities.

Unselfishness, while a wonderful thing... well, I just cannot see it yet how living unselfishly for others results in them living for us. I am not even sure if that is what it's all about. In fact, I am sure that living unselfishly is more about God than anything else. We do it because that is in His way...not in an attempt to get others to do things for us.

If our purpose for living unselfishly is to get others to live for us...then are we truly being unselfish to begin with? Isn't it about Him?

More Roses...

“It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses we must plant more trees.” ~ George Eliot

 

If a rose is like a compliment, a "little thing", a thing to bring us happiness, beautify our life, it will never rain roses. Life is not simple, those things do not come easily.

Someone told me that maybe I need to give myself "the little things". I tend to think that in giving others roses/"little things", I am giving myself "little things" at the same time. I just work that way.

But there are also days that I would like to be handed a rose that I did not grow. And I think that what this quote means is that we cannot expect to get those roses/"little things" easily... we have to work for them by planting trees...giving to others, living by example. And if people are paying attention, care enough to take the time and show you they have noticed, a tree will grow and they will have many roses to share. They can give a rose to you and to many others, too. Maybe one day, we could all have more roses.

 

 

No Ordinary Moments

“This moment deserves your full attention, for it will not pass your way again.”

Dan Millman wrote in his book "Pathway of the Peaceful Warrior" that "there are no ordinary moments." What he means by that is like the attention a martial artist gives to his kata, we ought to give to every thing we do throughout our day...from dressing ourselves, to sweeping the floor, to caring for one another. In the book, the character Dan is distracted by a pretty young woman while putting on his track pants. As he attempts to flirt and make eye contact with her, he puts both legs into the same pant leg and ends up falling over making a fool of himself. There are no ordinary moments...attention to dressing oneself is just as important to the kata (a martial artist would never break kata to flirt with a pretty young woman).

Moments slip by quickly. In each moment we can seize opportunity to grow personally in some way, enrich someone else, enjoy the beauty of nature, meditate, pray, be a companion, share kind words...there are so many wonderful things we can do with our moments and we can do them in so many ways for so many people (ourselves included).

Every moment is important...every moment counts....if you have something to say, something you want to do...it is important to give it your attention...moments get lost...opportunities get lost...people get lost.

Red Boots

Red boots...my favorite pair of footwear. I bought a pair of red boots this past December all because of Mary Horowitz, the main character in the movie "All About Steve." In the movie, she always wore a pair of red boots and when asked, "Mary, why do you wear those stupid red boots all the time?" She replied, "You wanna know why? Because it makes my toes feel like 10 friends on a camping trip, that's why." 

 I think that what Mary really meant it that the red boots made her happy. Mary did not have friends. Mary was somewhat of an oddity. Her passion was creating crossword puzzles and she had a love or words. She lived at home with her parents and did not have much of a social life. People were always pointing out what they thought was wrong with her. I think, Mary wore her red boots because they lifted spirits. I think when people put others down, our natural inclination is to look down, and when Mary looked down, she could look down and see her red boots and think of her toes as "ten friends on a camping trip." I think the red boots gave Mary something to hold on to in a dark times and and get her through difficult moments. I think Mary Horowitz is the kind of person I would like to call a friend...she is a wise woman...with her passion for words, she turned it into a career, and she realized the power of words, she said "“There are meaningful words, there are pointless words and then, there are words that hurt!”



I have my red boots. I wear them for the same reason I think Mary Horowitz did...they are a reminder to think of good things in dark moments.