Because one calls
Yagi Jukichi
Because one calls,
Something appears.
Because one does not call,
Something disappears.
thinking
Today’s Thought: Who Do You Know?
How many of your neighbors do you know? I grew up in a cold water flat tenement building by the railroad tracks. One thing the neighborhood had going for it was that each of the floors in the tenement buildings on the street had a porch. People strung clotheslines from the porch and hung out clothes to dry in the summer and freeze solid in the winter. On summer evenings people would sit on the porches and chat with neighbors in adjoining buildings or passing by on the sidewalk. Everybody knew everybody. That’s gone now. If we’re not careful we’ll live in nice homes and apartment buildings surrounded by lots of people yet knowing few. It takes courage and effort to connect with neighbors, to learn their name, and to stop and chat with them for a moment or two. Connected people have each other’s back.
Today’s Thought: Your Smile Carries a Beautiful Message
“It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’m not sure if we’re losing the ability to smile. Maybe we’re so fearful and distrustful of each other that we think smiling is a sign of weakness. Most people I see are in a rush to get to somewhere, talking on their smart phones and gesturing with their free hand. They walk purposefully with a game face on that says “don’t mess with me.” Smiling is a simple gesture that sends a text message from the heart to a momentary encounter with another person. A warm smile lets someone know the world is a friendly place. It lets the other person know that someone (the person offering the smile) recognizes they (the person receiving the smile) exists. The person offering the smile receives as much benefit as the person receiving the smile.
Thinking Out Loud: Learn to Think and Question
Don’t listen to the person who has the answers; listen to the person who has the questions. ~ Albert Einstein
NOTE: We’ve all worked with or lived with them, the answer man or woman. They have the truth. They can’t be shaken. And, they challenge anyone who would dare suggest there’s a different way of looking at an issue. I don’t know the cause of the malady. I do know one way out is to continue to question, understand, and explore. Answers don’t always come easy. They require hard word, patience, and persistence. We may discover the answer we were pursuing was the wrong answer; if we take what we learned, apply it to a different question and begin investigating we may have success. Having an open mind is always preferable to a closed mind. One grows, the other decays.
Thinking Out Loud: Rise Up and Take on the Challenges
“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
NOTE: Have you ever failed? I have and combined we don’t have enough toes and fingers to count the ways I’ve failed. It happens. Failure only stops us if we give it power over us. Failure only stops us if we give in to despair and hopelessness. When life throws you a challenge in 2024, don’t give up. If you’re knocked to your knees, rise up. Let the challenges you’ll face in 2024 know they better be ready for a fight and you won’t back down.
Thinking Out Loud: Love Loves Without Conditions
“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”
~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
NOTE: Love needs no reason to love. Love loves without conditions. Love loves in spite of flaws. Love Loves because love is unable to act in any other way. We know when we are loved this way. It isn’t an intellectual way of knowing, it is a heart felt way of knowing. We know in spite of our flaws and imperfections we are loved. When another person offers you that kind of love, you have everything you’ll ever need, you’ve found your treasure because love found you.
Thinking Out Loud: Let Your Dreams Light Up Your Passion
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
NOTE: 2024 is ahead. What unfulfilled dreams do you have? Have you put your dreams on a shelf to wait until the right time? Now is the time. Now is the moment. You won’t find a better time or moment than now to ignite the fire in your belly to chase your dream or to embrace a new bolder dream. Turn your dream into an adventure. Let your dream light the spark that sets your passions ablaze.
Thinking Out Loud: Earning a Hero’s Reward
“Do not trouble your hearts overmuch with thought of the road tonight. Maybe the paths that you shall each tread are already laid before your feet, though you do not see them.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
NOTE: It seems to be part of our human nature to worry. We worry over things which haven’t happened. Perhaps it is our penchant for security as we seek to control the events of our lives believing we know how they should turn out. From my experience, I am happy I wasn’t able to control how things were to turn out. I would have lived a boring life. When we open ourselves to accepting the unknown, we free our heroic spirit to bravely face the challenges that lie ahead. Each challenge tests us. Each challenge teaches us. If we’re brave and don’t retreat, we earn a hero’s reward at the end of the journey.
Thinking Out Loud:
“For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
NOTE: The new year is will be here in a few days. It offers 366 days (2024 is a leap year) of adventures. Will you choose to be an adventurer or will you chose to watch life pass by? Age doesn’t matter. Adventures await us. Now is the time to start dreaming of the adventures you want to take. Adventures come in all sizes and shapes. No two adventures are exactly alike. Think of an adventure as experiencing life differently than you’ve been experiencing it. Sometimes life thrusts an adventure upon us. Other times, we can choose to explore new and exciting adventures. Yes, there still are so many things each of us has never seen.
Thinking Out Loud: Who Are You?
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
NOTE: Emerson takes away all excuses. It’s up to us to decide who we want to be. There is a huge difference in choosing between what I want to be and who I want to be. What I want to be is a choice of careers. We pursue the what. Often in pursuit of the what our what changes. Who I want to be refers to something much deeper and intrinsic to our being. Only those close to us and our self know the who I am. Other people see us in terms of what I am. Do I choose to listen to the voices demanding I become more of what I am? Or, do I listen to the internal voice that says, “Who are you? And, who are you becoming?” Take time to reflect on those questions. What would those who are closest to you say?
