I love comedian Steve Martin. Especially in the movie LA Story. A modern fairytale (well modern in the 90’s when it came out) about a guy trying to keep up with life while fighting his mid-life crisis. I chose this quote because of it’s simple truth. We tend to complain about days the sun isn’t shining. But the only time the sun doesn’t shine is… at night. Even when it’s cloudy, the sun is shining. If however you feel it isn’t, it’s because of you, not because of the sun. You’re the sunshine of your life.
The Japanese Samurai used the dragonfly as a symbol of agility, power and victory. In early China the dragonfly was linked with prosperity, good luck and harmony. However in European and early-American myths, children were told that if they misbehaved, a dragonfly would sew shut their eyes, ears and mouths. Hmm, ok so where Japanese and Chinese children felt blessed when being in the presence of a dragonfly, European and American kids would run for their lives screaming. How interesting! A difference in thoughts, feelings and behavior, all because of a different story about the same little insect! To me this is a beautiful example of how stories create our perception of reality. And a reminder that in order to create a reality that works for you, you must create your own story.
Music. Everyone has their favorite piece, song or tune. For different reasons, but with the same effect. Music gives us chills. Chills of happiness, sadness, celebration or mourning, chills of life and death and everything in between: it can all be felt when you open up to music. Your music. Listen to it everyday, close your eyes and be. If music was a movie, this is what the connoisseurs would say.
Oh, sure we all wait for a SIGN from time to time. Before getting into action we’re waiting for the right time, the right circumstances, the right people etc.. But how long are we going to wait? And what if this SIGN never appears? In an earlier post I quoted Mark Twain: “The secret of getting ahead, is getting started”. The truth is you don’t need a sign. But hey, if you still want one: here it is!
Everybody is a genius in his or her own way. Everybody is unique in what they have to learn and what they have to offer. But when you judge yourself using the wrong criteria, you might believe you’re not good at what you do, you’re unsuccessful or even stupid. The key trick is to discover the right criteria to judge yourself upon. You will then discover, you are indeed a genius.
Many people try hard to spend their time effectively and constructively on doing ‘useful’ things. Because they’ve been taught that ‘time is precious’ and so it should be ‘well’ spent. In making that effort many people also experience some pressure. Because what exactly is ‘useful’ and what if they don’t spent their time ‘well’? The interesting thing is that it doesn’t matter what you do with your time, what matters is what you want to get out of it. And having accomplished that, makes it a time well spent. And so, because from monday to friday we are so focused on doing ‘sensible’ things, why not use the weekend for doing something completely pointless. Just because it will break the routine. It will be refreshing! It will lead to a crazy adventure! It will set you free from that constant pressure of having to do something ‘useful’. In fact, doing something pointless in this case, is very useful.
There are many ways to add color to your life, but what does it really mean? A quote by French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) inspired me to think about this. He said: “An unfulfilled vocation drains the color from a man’s entire existence”. Simplified it means that if you don’t do in life what you were meant to do, your life has no color. But Mr. de Balzac speaks not of your ‘entire life’, but of your ‘entire existence’ being colorless if you don’t find and live your purpose. That means your physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual being, everything you were, are and ever will be – and all that without color! Now, that’s serious stuff! It’s a call for real living! It’s an call to go out, search, find and live your purpose. Maybe you already know what it is. Maybe you’re already living it too, maybe not yet. Maybe you’ve just started to think, feel and wonder about what it might be. But in whatever stage you are, finding and fulfilling your vocation is not something you do once. It’s a life long process. And it’s being in this process consciously, that adds color to your life.
