Posts by Pat:
So what’s my question?
A flower doesn’t stop being beautiful just because somebody walks by without noticing it. The flower just continues to be its glorious self: elegant, graceful, and magnificent.
Mother Nature has provided us with these immeasurably valuable teachers that blossom despite their short lifespan, stars that continue to shine even if we fail to notice them, and trees that don’t take it personally if we never bow down in gratitude for the oxygen they provide.
We have an incredible and unlimited capacity to love, but the question is: Can we do it like a flower? Without needing to be admired, adored, or even noticed? Can we open our hearts completely to give, forgive, celebrate, and joyfully live our lives without hesitation or need for reciprocity?
Sometimes it seems like we even go beyond taking things personally and are noticeably deflated when unappreciated. Sometimes even devastated. We get hurt if a friend forgets our birthday, our boss fails to recognize the astonishing work we’ve done.
Can you imagine a flower copping an attitude for not being praised or the moon dimming its glow because we’re too self-absorbed to notice it more often?
Maybe we need a reminder to shine no matter what, to love unconditionally, to be a kind and thoughtful soul (even when nobody is watching).
P.S. And maybe, if we’re so inclined, we could go hug a tree and say, “Thank you!”
What Jefferson Really Meant
When you talk with folks about happiness, they often quote Thomas Jefferson’s famous line from the Declaration of Independence about eveyone being entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We’ve been conditioned to believe that happiness is something for us to pursue. But that’s not what Jefferson really meant by the pursuit of […]
Need another reason?
A story from the famed basketball coach George Raveling resonates with me about an invaluable lesson from his grandmother who had raised him. “Why did the slave masters hide their money in books, George?” she asked him when he was a young boy. “I don’t know, grandma, he said. “Because they knew the slaves wouldn’t […]
The panther, the dog and the squirrel…
As we get older and find ourselves looking for a gate to open rather than climbing over the fence, we can at least say to ourselves, “I may be slower, but at least I am wise.” With that thought in mind, here’s an oldie but goodie for you! One day an old German Shepherd starts […]
The Two Oreo Principle
Who doesn’t love Oreos? After all, they are chocolate! Once they are in the house, we may just start eating a couple each day. You know, one of those tiny, seemingly inconsequential things that add up over time. So if we crunch the numbers…Two oreos a day for an entire year at 45+/- calories for […]
Be-Do-Have?
Most people believe that they must first have something (money, time, love) Before they can do what they want to do (travel the world, write a book, have a romantic relationship) Which will ultimately allow them to be something (happy, peaceful, motivated). Paradoxically, this have-do-be paradigm must be reversed to experience happiness, success, or anything […]
Here be dragons…
“Here be dragons” (hic sunt dracones in Latin) means dangerous or unexplored territories, in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons, sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potential dangers were thought to exist. Though only on one historical map, this famous phrase may well have served […]
Rules for chocolate?!
Before sharing some of my favorite “chocolate rules” I need to acknowledge (as a previous retail owner of a chocolate store) that I really do know that it’s important for us to be somewhat discerning about the chocolate we eat! After all M&M’s are only a last resort and most of those milk chocolate bars […]
When is enuf, enuf?
What is enough? We are intelligent enough to know that we don’t know everything–that most of our experience falls somewhere in between the black and the white, the right and the wrong, the truth and the lies. When will we know enough, though? I sometimes feel like Goldilocks, with the porridge choices being either too […]