There is nothing like a brisk morning walk outside your norm, into the woods and away
from people.
And while you're at it, give yourself permission to entertain your own thoughts without the
influence of others.
I took such a walk this morning, in the woods, with a heavy fog over everything.
It was beautiful.
And like Robert the Bruce, I contemplated the spider and her creations.
Each web was a work of art.
The spider makes webs, not cars, not houses, not cabinets or books.
The spider is simply a spider that does the best she can with the resources that she has
and without any regards at all to outside influences.
I also play the what if game, you know, thinking outside the box.
Sometimes that's pretty silly, but it's fun.
Entertaining ideas away from the accepted norm.
For example, what if you're a scientist, a PhD, and you're observing the behavior of
an atom, only to find that in the center it does not behave as predicted at all, but behaves
as you think.
Your thought is the influence.
What if that were true, and you come to the realization that thoughts are powerful?
Would changing your thoughts make a better person?
What if, huh?
What if you're unable to decipher your own values in that you're unable to state what
you are?
So you make a list of what you have been told.
Your race, sex, hair, eyes, religion, height, weight, etc.
And then you're asked to pick the two most important attributes.
Try it and see how you see yourself.
Did you pick skinny blonde?
Is that what you are, a skinny blonde?
Isn't it amazing how these two things, the way you see yourself, has determined how you
see the world, how you have boxed yourself into a very parochial view of your life, and
how you perceive others.
Isn't it?
Okay, how about this?
Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the center.
To the left side of the paper, list all your important resources, such as having a hundred
dollars, for example, having a car, having two hands, having an education.
List the resources that you own and the resources that are important to you.
On the right side, list your passions.
What you truly love to do, working with wood, drawing, making clay pots, whatever.
List your passions and true love, not what you have been told, but your true love.
Now here's the question.
Have your job used your resources in pursuit of your passion?
Why not?
So in looking back, are you where you thought you would be ten years ago?
Why not?
I had a woman tell me once that one of the best advices she ever received was to spend
some time and define herself based on her own values, not what others told her she should
be.
She decided that there was nothing she could do about how others saw her.
Nothing at all.
They're seeing her based upon their perception.
Maybe they saw her as a fat Protestant with black hair, and everyone insisted that she
adopted these superficial characteristics as a definition for herself.
She refused to do that and avoided discussions based on such superficial characteristics.
She saw herself as a positive, brilliant, beautiful lady with the abilities worth developing,
and that's how she saw herself.
She decided that she would simply stop defining herself in terms of surface coloring and other
nonsense, and instead attach herself to peers who shared her value system.
Needless to say, it was not a popular decision, and it was not politically correct.
Oh well.
She was the one who told me that if you love yourself, and this is a quote, if you love
yourself more than anyone else or anything else, you can never be manipulated by being
too dependent on others, and in loving oneself and in pursuing one's passion based on one's
ability, then happiness was guaranteed.
She went on to say that many entertainers and ordinary people destroyed themselves because
they bought into the assessments assigned by others.
They paid so much attention to the outside looks, something which they had very little
or no control and forgot to develop the inner beauty and self-reliance.
What if she is correct?
You know, I never actually saw a spider this morning, but I'm judging the spider based
upon his handy work.
Isn't it interesting that many people will judge me and will judge you based upon our
handy work and not necessarily who we are?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
