Kindness

Thinking Out Loud ~ Falling in Love

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Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince meeting a fox. The fox asks the Little Prince for a favor that will change both their lives.

The fox was silent and looked a long time at the little Prince: “Please tame me!” It said’

“I want to,” replied the little Prince, “but I don’t have a lot of time. I have friends to find and lots of things to know.”

“We know only the things we tame,” said the fox. “Men do not have more time to know anything. They buy things all made at merchants. But as there is no point of merchants of friends, men do not have friends anymore. If you want a friend, tame me.”

“What should be done?” said the little Prince.

“We need to be very patient,” answered the fox.

Note: We may fall in love at first sight, but we haven’t fallen in love with the person we first saw. We fell in love with an image. Falling in love is a process much like the peeling of layers of an onion. There’s always another layer. With each layer we learn something new about the person with whom we are falling in love. Each day is a new falling in love adventure. There is no steady state. We are either falling in love or falling out of love. Falling in love takes patience and hard work and it is worth the time and the effort.

Poem for Today ~ Walk and Touch Peace

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Walk and Touch Peace

Thich Nhat Hahn

Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.

Source

Thinking Out Loud ~ Love, It’s Wonderful

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The Little Prince Learns Something Important

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince meeting a fox. The Little Prince discovers something about himself..

“I am looking for friends,” said the little prince. “What does tame mean?”

“It is something really forgotten,” said the fox. “It means create connections.”

“Create connections?” said the Little Prince.

“Of course,” said the fox. “You are only a little boy for me just like 100,000 little boys. And I don’t need you. And you don’t need me either. I am only a fox just like 100,000 foxes. But if you tame me, we will need each other. You will be unique in the world for me. I will be unique in the world for you.”

Note: “This is what love does to us. It tames us. We discover the someone in our world who loves us and whom we love. We give our heart to this person and this person gives their heart to us. We trust each other believing that each one of us will hold each other’s heart with care and love. When we are tamed by love there is no need for anyone else in our world. We have found the one person who could tame us and we agreed to be tamed.

Thinking Out Loud ~ We Each Have a Part to Play

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Creating Meaning in Our Lives

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince visiting another planet, this planet was the smallest of all the planets with a lamppost and lamplighter. The Little Prince said:

“Perhaps this man is foolish. However, he is less foolish than the king, than the vainglorious, than the businessman, and then the drinker. At least his work has meaning. When he lights his lamp, it is as if he gave birth to one more star, or to a flower. When he blows out his lamp off, it puts the flower, a star to sleep. It is a very beautiful occupation. It truly is useful since it is beautiful. . . . He is the only one that does not seem ridiculous to me. It is, perhaps, because he takes care of things other than himself.”

NOTE: Forgetting about ourselves and caring more about others creates meaning in our lives. It seems so simple that connecting with others is the pathway to living a full, happy, and meaningful life. We don’t live in silos, we live in communities and communities are made-up of people who are meant to help each other and build the community so it will prosper and thrive. We each have a part to play no matter how big or small in building our community.

Feel Good Tip ~ Boost Your Relationships: The Power of Giving Full Attention

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Make Your Partner Feel Special

One easy way to make the person in our relationships feel good is to give him/her our full attention. Make them feel that he/she is an important part of our lives. When our social media is more  important than the person sitting next to us, we send a signal . When we take a sincere interest in them and what they have to say, we also send a signal. When are partner feels good that’s a good sign that we also feel good.

Feel Good Tip ~ Helping Each Other is a Win-Win Experience

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It Happened on the Way Home

I was driving home from the gym today. I’m in a great mood after my workout. The traffic is moving smoothly. I’m in the right hand lane. I stop for a red light. There are several cars in front of me and the lines in both lanes are getting longer. The light turns green, Oh, oh, there’s a sign ahead saying the right land is closed. I check my rearview mirror and start planning how I am going to edge into the left lane. What a minute, a guy in a black pickup truck in the left lane, just off my left shoulder, flashes his lights and lets me pull in. What a nice guy. I wave to him and tossed him a thumbs up. I had no choice, I did the same for a car in front of me wanting to pull into the lane. Helping each other is a win-win, feel good experience.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Dare to Say, I Love You

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Three Power-filled Word: I Love You

Saint-Exupéry in writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince leaving his planet and flower, “’Goodbye’, he said to the flower. But it did not answer him. ‘Goodbye’, he repeated. The flower coughed but it was not because of his cold. ‘I was a fool,’ it finally said. ‘Excuse me try to be happy.’ He was surprised by the absence of reproaches. He just stood there all bewildered, the glass case in the air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.  ‘But yes, I love you,’ said the flower. ‘You did not know, my fault. This has no importance. But you have been as stupid as me.”

NOTE: Three words, I love you may be the most difficult words for a human being to say. I know someone very well who, as a young child, stopped telling his father that he loved him. It wasn’t because he didn’t love him, it was because it wasn’t said. One day this person was inspired by a sermon at his church and he decided to call his father that night and tell him he loved him. After talking to his father for 45 minutes, he finally had the courage to say I love you. And he said it every time he spoke to his father and it made all the difference for him and his father. Have the courage to say I love you. You never know it may be returned to you. In any event, you will have made the world a little bit better because you had the courage to say I love you.

Feel Good Tip ~ Life is Better Together

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Where There Is Love There Is Life – Ghandi

Life may be less complicated alone. Life, however, is better together. When our lives are shared there is someone we can count on. There is someone to celebrate the joyful moments. There is someone to console us in the sorrowful moments. Life together may be complicated at times, but the benefits from a loving relationship far outweigh the cost.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Love is the Passport

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The Silent Presence of a Friend is All

Saint-Exupéry in writes in The Little Prince, “He could not say anything else. He burst suddenly into sobs. Night had fallen. I dropped my tools. . . . I took him in my arms. I cradled him. . . . I did not know what else to say. I felt very awkward. I didn’t know how to reach it, where to find it . . . it’s so mysterious. The country of tears!”

NOTE: It’s not easy to console a friend when they are beset with grief, when they are crying uncontrollably. The country of tears is far beyond our reach. A friend told me, “Ray, depending on the weather all you do is shiver or sweat.” His words had an impact on me. Words are not necessary. One’s presence is what matters. Holding another’s hand or embracing another when they are overflowing with sorrow matters. Love is the only passport into the country of tears.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Setting Aside Biases

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Looking Beyond Appearances

Saint-Exupéry in writes in The Little Prince, “I have serious reasons to believe that the planet where the little Prince came from is asteroid B-612. This asteroid was seen only once through the telescope, in 1909, by a Turkish astronomer. Then, he made a great demonstration of his discovery at an international Congress of astronomy. However, nobody believed him because of his costume. The grown-ups are like that. Fortunately, for the reputation of asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator imposed on his people on pain of death, to dress like the Europeans. The astronomer remade his demonstration in 1920, in a very elegant garment. And this time, everybody accepted his opinion.”

NOTE: It is easy to judge people based on their appearance. If someone appears to be different from us we often allow our biases to rule over our reason. When we look beyond appearances and into the person we find something all together different. We discover someone much like ourselves. It’s better to set aside judgments and listen. We may learn something.

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