Postcards from the Funny Farm

I was out watching my two girls play by the pool and an interesting thing happened. My youngest reached for an inflatable ring next to some car covers that was being blown away from her by the desert winds. I told her to hold on and daddy would get it. She persisted in reaching for it as if it was the most amazing item in the world. I couldn’t help but wonder why such a vanilla, plain and unexciting object would be so important to her. There were three others like it by her and a life jacket as well. Then I got to thinking: she has gotten used to that faded plastic ring that probably cost us less than a dollar. To her, it has become an object of fun. I started remembering all the bikes I had as a kid and some of the stuff I really loved but wasn’t worth much.

A lot of times in my life I think along the lines of “They just don’t make them like they used to.” This is because I am naturally nostalgic about the things of my past, namely: of my youth.

We’d do well to remember two things based on this ring:

1. Things have no “value” to our lives apart from the meaning we assign and pour into them. This is especially true for kids. -and-
2. Instead of drawing close to things we should open our minds to all things. If you like IBM computers, try MACS and vice versa. Etc.

My daughter showed me with her ring today that what I do is just as good as what my parents did for me and life is simple to a child. She may remember that ring for years as a simple of playing in the pool with dad based on the meaning she assigned to it. I think probably this afternoon I would have expired it to the recycle bin had she not shown me it was special.

Do you have an object or a memory of one that you assign(ed) meaning to?

“when you accept everything for what it is without labels you are outside of your ego”
-Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

To me this is such an excellent thought. I’d say about 70-80% of ALL our anxiety is borne out of imagined conclusions. We could turn that imagination into creative thoughts to make our lives better. Did you know that most inventions I read about when I write my for biographical series “Amazing Visions” came about as a result of a person trying to make his/her life better? In some cases I’ve been reading about lately for celebrities, it can make the difference between contentment and adrug treatment center.

This house is ours. We move into it tomorrow. My mind would never have grasped we could own a house like this with a pool. It is a result of possibility thinking on the part of my wife and I and steady work toward a goal. This is my first home and I will be 39 years old next month. Those impossible dreams should turn into visions for all of us.

Do you know an example of a visionary? Maybe a famous person? Maybe your uncle Bill? Maybe you? You might want to blow us away and write about them for my Amazing Visions Writing Contest. It’s gonna be huge. Here’s a thought for today:

Let what is … BE. Down the road ahead, the only limitation is in your mind