“I can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It’s all a question of how I view my life.” ~ Paulo Coelho
treasure
Reflection: It Takes Heaps of Courage
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~ Joseph Campbell
Inspiring Quote: A Great Treasure
“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.” L. Frank Baum
Searching for Treasure
Searching for treasure must be built into the human DNA. We’re always seeking something better, something beyond us. We invent things to help us search like genies in a bottle. Seers on mountain tops. We stop in antique stores looking for a hidden treasure. We go to auctions hoping for the same. All the while we avoid the one search that will take us to our most important treasure, taking the journey within to discover who really are. Helen Keller said, “What I am looking for is not out there, it is in me.” Dare to journey within. You’ll find some dark places, heal and forgive them. What will surprise you will be the overwhelming amount of light you find.
Today’s Thought: You Have So Much to Offer!
When I was in the army bootcamp, the drill sergeant would flick the lights on at 4 a.m. and scream, “Get up, if you’re snoozing, you’re losing.” The exact expression was much more colorful, then he added a few more unforgettable lines. I was motivated. I didn’t want his wrath. The lesson has remained with me, you’re snoozing, you’re losing. We each have so much to offer. Part of our life’s work is to discover what our great gifts are and then put them to use to benefit others. There’s no age requirement. The amazing thing is that as we move through life, we continue to discover new gifts within ourselves. We are a treasure that yields to continuous discovery.
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 ~ The Mad Hatter Offers a Lesson About Time
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Lewis Carroll’s work, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is available for free download from Project Gutenberg here.
Alice sighed wearily. “I think you might do something better with the time,” she said, “than wasting it asking riddles with no answers.”
“If you knew Time as well as I do,” said the Hatter, “you wouldn’t talk about wasting it. It’s him.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Alice.
“Of course you don’t!” the Hatter said, tossing his head contemptuously. “I daresay you never spoke to Time!”
Note: I once stopped for dinner at a highway restaurant. My waitress didn’t stop moving for a moment. She was going back and forth, this way and that way in perpetual motion. From what I could see nothing much was getting done. I could barely catch her attention. She filled her time with busyness. The time we have is a treasure. A moment of time lost, is a moment lost forever. When we understand the preciousness of each moment, we gain a new perspective of what is important and what is not so important. Maybe the Hatter is right, we need to get know Time.
Photo of the Day ~ Search in the Right Places
What are you searching for? Everything you need is within you and close by.
Don’t overlook your treasures.
What If . . .
What if I won the lottery? How many folks have thought about that question? It’s why state sponsored lotteries are big money makers. They operate successfully on our dreams. Yet, the chances of winning the top prize in the lottery are slim. One time I was traveling and the woman sitting next to me on the flight told me her husband won the Texas state lottery for twenty million dollars. He died shortly after that and now she was traveling to all the places they talked about seeing. I wondered if it were possible, would she exchange the twenty million for the life of her husband. The bible offers this advice, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Where is your treasure (lottery)?
