thinking out loud

Thinking Out Loud: Don’t Let Your Wounds Cripple You

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Which Don Quixote replied, wounds received in battle confer honor instead of taking it away; And so, friend Panza say no more. But as I have told thee before, get up as well as thou can, and put me on top of thy beast in whatever fashion pleases thee best, and let us go hence . . .” ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Note: We have all been wounded. The poet, Robert Bly, would do workshops for men. He would give them sticky notes to place on the parts of their bodies where they felt they were wounded. We’ve been wounded emotionally and physically. No one is immune. Instead of bemoaning our wounds. We can look at them with great delight. We can see how strong they have made us. We were strong enough to receive the wound and to heal. We gained strength and endurance from the wound. I can review my life and look at the times I was wounded. I didn’t enjoy being wounded. But I am grateful for how strong they have made me. Don’t let your wounds cripple you. Let your wounds be a source of strength.

Thinking Out Loud: Will You Always Wonder?

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“He who does not know how to take advantage of luck when it comes to him, has no right to complain if it gives him the go-by . . .” ― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Note: At one point in my career I had a wonderful colleague who had much more experience than I. She gave me this piece of advice: When an opportunity comes by, grab it. Because it probably won’t come by again. My experience proved her to be right. I made some mistakes and let good opportunities pass me by. I also had wonderful adventures because I grabbed the opportunity knowing that it would not come by again. I do think luck favors the bold. Dare to take a risk. You never know until you know. And, if you play it safe, you’ll always wonder what might have happened if.

Thinking Out Loud: Persevere Through the Tough Times

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Senor,” said Sancho on hearing this, “It is the part of brave hearts to be patient in adversity just as much as to be glad in prosperity. . . . Fortune is a drunken whimsical jade, and, what is more, blind, and therefore neither sees what she does, nor knows whom she casts down or whom she sets up.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: We all have streaks of things going well and things falling apart. The wise learn to take to the good with the bad. They know that every storm will end. If they don’t quit and persevere they know life will once again turn around and the sun will shine on them. They are humble when it is going good and learners when it is going bad. Persevere during tough times, enjoy the good times.

Thinking Out Loud: Defending the Defenseless

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“Seeing what was going on, Don Quixote said in an angry vie, “Discourteous knight, it ill becomes you to assail on who cannot defend himself, mount your steed and take you land and I will you know that you are behaving as a coward.” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Throughout our world, in our cities and towns, and in our neighborhoods, there are people too weak to defend themselves. In a scene from the movie Romero, a peasant woman stops Archbishop Romero on the street and says to him, “If you do not speak for us, who will?” In Ralph Ellison’s book, The Invisible Man, Ellison says, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” Who are the invisible people in your life that need defending?

Thinking Out Loud: Become a Prospector of Good

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“The girls were looking at him and straining their eyes to make out the features which the clumsy visor obscured, but when they heard themselves called maidens, a thing so much out of their line, they could not restrain their laughter, which made Don Quixote wax indignant, and say, “Modesty becomes the fair, and moreover laughter that has little cause is great silliness; This, however, I say not to pain or anger you, for my desire is none other than to serve you”” Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Don Quixote’s view of the women was different from that which most had of them. Don Quixote saw beyond the surface and saw the goodness each woman had that was obscured by their reputation. How often I judge others by appearance or reputation only to be humbled when I more deeply discover the person’s gifts. When we look for the good in others, we usually find it. When we cut them some slack, we often find that they are cutting us some slack. We are imperfect beings working our way through life. I think it’s better to be prospectors for the good in others and in ourselves.

Thinking Out Loud: What Do You See?

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“The moment he saw the inn he pictured it to himself as a castle with its four turrets and pinnacles of shining silver, not forgetting the drawbridge and Moat and all the belongings usually ascribed to castles of the sort.  To this end, which to him seemed a castle, he advanced, and at a short distance from it . . . hoping some dwarf would show himself upon the battlements and by the sound of trumpet give notice that a knight was approaching the castle. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Don Quixote was a dreamer. He saw things not as they were but as they could be. That’s the way it is with dreamers. One person looks at a house and sees a building. Another looks at the same property and sees a home overflowing with love. One person sees a piece of bread and tosses it in the trash. Another sees a piece of bread and sees a meal. How do we look at ourselves? Do we look at our lives with dull, clouded eyes. Or, do we look at our lives with a dreamer’s eyes seeing not what is but what we will become?

Thinking Out Loud: Dream on Dreamers

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“He did not care to put off any longer the execution of his design urged on to it by the thought of all the world was losing by his delay, seeing what wrongs  he intended to right, grievances to redress, injustices to repair, abuses to remove, and duties to discharge.”― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Have you had a great dream? The dream of a fool? Did someone accuse you of being a Don Quixote? If you have, congratulations to you. You had the courage to follow your dream. What appears to be foolish to others is real to dreamers. I imagine the conspiracy theorists of the 15th century probably said Columbus’s discovery of American didn’t happen. It was fabricated. People who dare to dream and to follow their dream regardless of the shouts of the naysayers are the people who make a difference. Do you have a great dream? Grasp hold of it, pull it tightly to you, toss what you need in your backpack and head off in pursuit of it. We need you.

Thinking Out Loud: Love is All

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“He, Don Quixote, came to the conclusion that nothing more was needed now but to look out for a lady to be in love with, for a knight-errant without love was like a tree without leaves of fruit, or a body without a soul.”― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: When we’re in love all is right in our world. The sky is bluer, the sun brighter, and passing clouds give images of hearts and doves. Love is an elixir like no other. Every living creature needs to be loved and to love. Love is all. Love always wins.

Thinking Out Loud:

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Cervantes  work, Don Quixote.

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

Note: Are you a dreamer? Do you dare see life as it should be and not as it is? If we dare to live our lives as we believe the world should be, we have to be prepared for the criticism of those who lost the ability to dream. They fear a world where there is no global warming. They fear a world where love reigns. They fear a world where people of every race, culture, ethnicity, and gender can live peacefully together. I prefer to be a dreamer and believe the dream is within our grasp.

Thinking Out Loud: There are Consequences to Our Actions

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Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Harper Lee’s  work, To Kill a Mockingbird.

“Atticus said to Jem one day, “I’d rather you shot at tin cans in the backyard, but I know you’ll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it.

“Your father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Note: When a developer drains a swamp destroying the habitat for thousands of animals, the developer destroys something beautiful and innocent in his/her quest for money. When we shame and condemn another, we, like the developer, destroy a part of the person being shamed. When we use false statements to support a lie we degrade ourselves in the process. All the mockingbird does is to sing. I have mockingbirds that frequently visit my yard and compete with me for ripened figs. They always win. I also win because I hear them singing. It’s better to consider the consequences of our actions before we act.

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