March 24th, 2017

March 24th, 2017


Affirmation: I am powerful now and powerfully connected to myself.


Word of the Day: esoterica (pl. n):
1. things understood or meant for a select few; recondite matters or items.
2. curiosa.

Spring

Again the violet bows to the lily.
Again, the rose is tearing off her gown.

The green ones have come from the other world,
tipsy like the breeze up to some new foolishness.

Again, near the top of the mountain
the anemone's sweet features appear.

The hyacinth speaks formally to the jasmine.
Peace be with you. And peace to you, lad.
Come walk with me in the meadow.

The Friend is here like water in the stream,
like a lotus on the water.

The ringdove comes asking, Where,
where is the Friend? With one note
the nightingale indicates the rose.

Many things must be left unsaid because it is late,
but whatever conversation we have not had
tonight, we will have tomorrow.

____


Starfish

Stories, metaphors, and parables are very powerful to me, which is why I have been sharing a lot of them with you all recently. In keeping with that theme, I will share another story with you today. You might have heard it before, but I believe that it bears repeating and remembering:

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching.  As the boy walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea.  The boy came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

- Adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

All of us have opportunities and chances to foster and create positive change both in our lives and in the lives of others and the world at large. However if you’re anything like me, you often find yourself thinking, “I’m so busy. My plate is beyond full. I am stressed, rushing around, and overwhelmed. I don’t have time. And let’s be real here, how much of a difference can I really make?” 

This train of though is particularly present when we’re talking about addressing large-scale social problems like tackling world hunger or finding a cure for cancer. Yet, it also pops up all the time in our everyday lives. Thus, when I catch myself thinking that way, I try to remember this story. You and I might not be able to change the entire world individually, but at least we can change a small part of it, for someone. And that someone can even start with ourselves. As the saying goes, “to the world you might be just one person, but to one person  you might be the world.”

One of the main reasons we procrastinate is because we see the challenge before us as overwhelming. If you feel ineffective in your life and liable to procrastination, a good way to counter this tendency is to break the seemingly insurmountable and gargantuan tasks down into smaller pieces and then take those one at a time – like one starfish at a time. And to that one starfish, it can make a world of difference. The ocean won’t seem as overwhelming when you’re focused on dealing with just one wave at a time.

“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

― Edward Everett Hale

Today, I invite you to identify one person in whose life you would like to make a difference today. What is one “starfish” move you are going to take in order to do so?

Next, pick one nagging task that seems daunting and break it down into the smallest steps that you can. Then, try to take just one step at a time, focusing only on each individual step along the way.

What is one starfish move you can take today – and each day – to make a difference in your world?