thinking

Thinking Out Loud ~ The Little Prince: The Fox’s Secret About Love

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Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince and the fox parting. The fox tells the Little Prince a secret about love as they are parting.

“Goodbye,” said the little prince.

“Goodbye,” said the fox. “Here is my secret. It is very simple: we see well only with the heart. The essential is invisible to the eyes.”

“The essential is invisible to the eyes,” the little prince repeated in order to remember it.

“It is the time you have spent for your rose that makes your rose so important.”

“It is the time I have spent for my rose,” the little prince said in order to remember.

“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox. “But you must not forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose.”

“I am responsible for my rose, the little prince repeated in order to remember.

Note: Two people, who are deeply in love, sitting together can look at each other and know that each is loved; they read each other ‘s thoughts; they know when each other is troubled; they know when each other is happy; they know when they are in each other ‘s company that there is no place else in the world that they would like to be. Their hearts are communicating and beating as one. I hope you have this kind of love in your life.

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.

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.

Thinking Out Loud ~ What Really Makes You Happy?

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It’s Not as Important as Some Think

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince visiting another planet, this planet was inhabited by a businessman. The businessman tells the Little Prince he owns the stars.

“And what is the purpose of owning the stars?” [asks the Little Prince].
“My purpose is to be rich.”
“And what is the purpose of being rich?
“To buy other stars if someone finds.
“That one, the little Prince said to himself, he thinks a little like my drunk man.”

NOTE: The things that money can buy can often bring us great joy. When money becomes our total pursuit and the possession of material things our primary goals we miss so much. We miss the joy of living and experiencing all that life can bring. We miss the relationships and joy that relationships can bring to us. We miss the joy of family life. All because we allowed ourselves to be become blinded by the illusion that things bring us happiness.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Is It Time to Make a Good Decision?

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It Takes Courage

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince visiting another planet, this planet is inhabited by a drinker. The Little Prince asked the drinker why he is drinking,

“To forget,” replied the drinker.

“To forget what?” asked the little Prince who was already complaining.

“To forget that I am ashamed,” confessed the drinker lowing the head.

“Ashamed of what inquired the little prince who wanted to rescue him.

“Ashamed of drinking!” Completed the drinker who definitely shut himself up in silence.

And the little Prince went away, puzzled.

NOTE: some years ago I read a book written the Harvard Negotiating Team on decision making. One of the key points they made has remained with me. They said, in the book, often the best decision we can make is to stop making a bad decision. It takes awareness to know that we are making a bad decision. Once we are aware of our bad decision, it takes heaps of courage to admit it and stop making the bad decision. In its place, we can make a better decision.

 

Thinking Out Loud ~ A Bit of Humility Goes a Long Way

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Yes, One Can Be Too Full of Him/Herself

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince visiting another planet, this planet is inhabited by a vainglorious man. The Little Prince asked the vainglorious man a question,

“But the vainglorious man did not hear it. The van glorious man only hears praise. ‘Do you really admire me a lot?'” he asked the little prince.

“What does admire mean?”

“Admiring means recognizing that I’m the most handsome, the best dressed, the richest, and the most intelligent man on the planet.”

“But you’re alone on your planet!”

“Do me this favor. Admire me anyway.”

NOTE: Have you ever been in the presence of people like the van glorious man? I have and it’s not a pleasant experience. They only talk about themselves and their interests as they drone on. Those who are like the vainglorious man are unable to learn from the vast diversity of people that surround them. When we open ourselves to listening to and learning from the vast diversity of people who surround us our worldview broadens, and we grasp a greater understanding and compassionate feel for other human beings.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Watch Where You Point Your Finger

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Who am I Really Judging?

Saint-Exupéry writes in The Little Prince of the Little Prince leaving his planet and visiting another planet governed by a king. The king makes the Little Prince the minister of justice. “Ah! But I have seen, said the little Prince who bent over to take a look at the other side of the planet. There is nobody there either.”

“So you will judge yourself, the king answered. It is the most difficult it is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed to judge yourself well, you are a truly wise man.”

NOTE: How easy it is for us to judge other people. We see this in social media. We see this on the news shows. We see it on sports broadcasts. We hear it on politically slanted podcasts. People are paid to judge other people. No one is paid to judge him or herself. When we look at ourselves in the clear light of day we may see things that we do not like. Often we will project what we don’t like in ourselves on others. It’s ironic that when we judge others we are often judging ourselves.

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.

Thinking Out Loud ~ Love Will Change Us Forever

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Learning to Love Takes Time

Saint-Exupéry in writes in The Little Prince, “I should not listen to him,” he told me one day.  . . . It is necessary to look at them (flowers) and smell them. Mine perfumed my planet, but I did not know how to rejoice. He told me yet: “then, I have not known how to understand anything! I should judge it on its actions, not on its words. It embalmed me and lit me. I should never have run away! I should have guessed it’s tenderness behind its poor tricks. The flowers are so contradictory! But I was too young to know how to love it.””

NOTE: Learning to love takes a long time. It doesn’t happen in the blink of an eye. It takes a heart willing to listen and learn. It takes a heart willing to set aside judgments and seeing beyond the words and into another heart. Love can be frightening, if we have the courage to let love in our life it will change us forever.

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