Flow don't bob

There's a difference between bobbing and following the flow. Sometimes it's great to bobble for awhile. But eventually, part of being an adult is about making decisions. Making decisions knowing you don't get to do everything. That you have to release some of the things you want to do. Hopefully, you listen to the flow of the universe, then being a grown up, you make a choice saying "I may never get to do that other thing". But the alternative is you end up doing none of it. 

Don't take it personally

Why are they walking in my way so slowly? Why would he take the last one? Why is the ambulance making our car pull over when we're already late? So often we take things personally that have nothing to do with us. We create a story that's based on no information and we let it get us angry. Or worse, let it hurt us.

Maybe it's time to breathe. Then, if we are going to create a story let it be one that uplifts us. Maybe they're walking slowly because they've just found new love and are savoring it. Maybe he took the last one because he's getting it for a friend he hasn't seen in a decade. Maybe the fact that we pulled over for the ambulance means a life gets saved. Instead of victims, we're heroes. Instead of being hurt we can smile and pass it on.

What you say matters

There are many reasons to listen more than speak but one of the most important is realizing how impactful our words can be. People do hear what we're saying and it can haunt them or enlighten them for a long time after we may have even forgotten saying them.

Words can be weapons. Like all weapons when used carelessly they can leave disaster and suffering in their wake. On the other hand, words when used purposefully, with thought and care, can lift up not only one person but generations for centuries.

I'm not saying every time you speak you need to be channelling Seneca. Just be mindful how much power you're wielding.

Spring

The great thing about spring is that one day you wake up, look around and everything is green again. It feels like only yesterday the trees were brown and bare.

Of course, that's not the case. The change just happened a little every day. A little growth, a little unfolding, a painful stretch as the green leaf finally breaks through the bark that we thought was so permanent.

That's really how the most important things in life happen. A little every day and then one day you're ready to notice just how much you've bloomed.

The halfway point

I'm halfway through the challenge given to me by a friend to post a thought a day and it seems like a good time to tell you why I'm doing this. For a while, a friend (the person in the photo below. No, that's not me) of mine had been telling me I should tweet or facebook and share some ideas. That, in turn people would share ideas back and a sort of online discussion would. I can't exactly say why I'm unwilling to commit to any of those things. But I will say, that I came up with this instead. I said, I'd post a thought a day for 30 days and maybe people would find it. I like the idea that nothing is random and if you happen to stumble across something on here, then you were meant to. If you feel like opening up a discussion from there, I'd be excited to respond. If nobody found it that would be okay too.

It's beautiful that we live in an age where we all have a voice. But, not everyone needs to shout from the rooftop. At last for now maybe some us like whispering in the breeze.

Wasting time

I'm not going to suggest there's no such thing as wasting time. As individuals time is our most precious resource and there's lots of ways it can be spent doing things that we could consider a waste of it.

What I am going to suggest is that no one activity is by itself a waste. When done mindfully even sitting doing nothing at all can be immensely beneficial. More and more research comes out all the time regarding the benefits of meditation. I think some would even consider it the single most beneficial thing you can do for yourself. Conversely, even things that are widely thought of as productive can become a waste of time when done without thought.

Meetings are a good example of both. A mindful meeting where two or more people are getting together to solve a problem is probably why we have fire. Ir's certainly why we can build giant structures that fly. On the other hand, mindless meetings where people talk AT one another are rarely of much or any use.

That all being said, I'm working on not considering anything a waste of time. Especially not creative endeavors. The temptation is there and it becomes an easy excuse to let ourselves off the hook. But I'm working to remember that many of the things that turned out to be of the greatest value to me as a growing individual, didn't have that apparent value while I was doing them. I'm working at instead doing everything mindfully.

Poor us

When we see someone on the fringes of society we look at them, as if from a distance thinking, "poor them". Really, what we should be thinking is closer to, "poor us". Because we're all closer to that then we're comfortable to imagine. Hence the dismissal. Maybe it's time to stop dismissing. To accept that that could have been and might still be all of us.

Let's even assume for a second that your current life path makes it pretty unlikely for you to end up homeless or drug addicted. Probably not as secure as you think. But let's work from that.

What horrible circumstances lead to that person being addicted to drugs? To need so badly to escape or numb from life? We all have things we numb ourselves from. How hard is it to imagine an event so horrible you can't move forward? How hard is it to imagine the wrong person entering your life at the wrong moment and hurting you so badly you need to escape yourself? How that can compound itself. Or, maybe it was the lack of person or people in your life telling you, "you're okay" at the right time, that they love you regardless. That they believe in your beauty.

Or, consider the set of circumstances and lack of support that are completely out of our control that could lead you to being without a job and eventually a home.

The point is, it could have happened to you and through pure chance you avoided it. So that should lead you to two things. First, gratitude. Gratitude that the universe has smiled on you to this point. But more importantly, it should lead you to feeling obligated. Not obligated to give money or things. Simply obligated to feel empathy and understanding. Obligated to acknowledge that that is a human being JUST like you, who hasn't had the luck you've had. The least you can do is look them in the eyes, smile and share a moment of the warmth you've been blessed with.