by Geoffery Moore | Oct 30, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
When I compare myself to others, I think I’m behind.
Dear Life,
When you compare yourself to others, I think you are a “behind”—and can only become more so, the more you compare.
You are unique, so don’t compare.
Dare to be yourself, be rare.
Which reminds me of a story…
A little girl, the smallest of them all, said, “Tell me a story, granny.” And this is the story her granny told.
“Once upon an apple tree, a beauty of a bud decided she wanted to be the first to blossom. Then the other buds—caught up in the fever of comparing themselves to each other—began to strain and push, wanting to be the first to bloom. However, there was one bud, the littlest bud, who did not join them. She said, ‘Inside myself, I know it is not time for me.’
“That night, a killing frost came, and all the early-blooming buds were lost. But the littlest bud, the late bloomer, survived and bore fruit…following the seasons of her life.”
“Oh,” said the little girl, “I want to be the one who blossomed in her own time.” And she did just that. Years later, she told the story to her own children, adding these lines:
Early bloomers, lost to the frost,
Late bloomers, a blast to the last.
Today, instead of comparing myself to others, I’ll think about what time it is in my life. And I’ll say to that neglected gift, talent, or dream, “It’s never too late to be a late bloomer.”
by Geoffery Moore | Oct 23, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
There is so much suffering in the world that I feel the need to just “turn off” to the suffering of others.
Dear Life,
That’s a real turn-off. I urge you to find the courage and compassion to tune back in…because someday you too may be in trouble and need to activate the emergency broadcasting system. And what if nobody hears you?
Which reminds me of the story of The Maddened Elephant and the Daisy.
The crazed elephant rampaged through the forest, squashing everything in its path. For this great, unhinged mind, the world had disappeared—except as a state for his rage.
Breaking out of the trees, the elephant charged along a high ridge. Suddenly, he heard a tiny scream of terror. Stopping and looking down, he saw a trembling daisy only inches away from death under his foot.
And then the elephant began to tremble himself, for he saw that the little daisy was growing on the edge of a cliff. The elephant realized that if he had not responded to the shrieks of the daisy, he would have plunged over the cliff to his death on the jagged rocks below.
Moral: Responding to the terror of others can sometimes help us save our own lives.
Today, I’ll find a way to lessen the pain or sorrow of at least one human being…not from pity, but as a gift I give to my own humanity.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are adapted and used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups across America in response to the Life That Loves to Happen seminars with Landon Saunders.
by Geoffery Moore | Oct 16, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
I wish, I wish, I wish…
Dear Life,
If wishes were fishes you’d have a boatload, and most of them would be dead and stinking. Wishful thinking is wishful stinking, unless you make a wise wish and then make it come true.
Once, a wise one, thinking about the brevity of life and realizing that disease and death would one day overtake him, asked himself, “What do I wish to be doing when I am overtaken?” And once he had made his wish, he made sure that what he had wished was what he was found doing each day. But every so often, he would stop and ask himself, “Is there anything better I could be doing with my life?” And if there was something better, that is what he would do. He would say to himself, “If there is something I want to do with my life, I had better get on with it.”
Today, I’ll make a wish about how I want my life to turn out, and I’ll live that wish today so that, at the end of my life, I won’t be wishing I’d lived.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are adapted and used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups across America in response to the Life That Loves to Happen seminars with Landon Saunders.
by Geoffery Moore | Oct 9, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
I think I’ve given up. I’ve quit learning. I’ve quit growing.
Dear Life,
Okay, I’ll give your life one last quit—quit quitting! And one last command—you must learn to love the difficult. The result? You’ll exult! You’ll become bold.
That reminds me of a story…
Socrates spent the night before his execution learning to sing a difficult song. When asked why, he said, “Just let me learn one more song before I die.” Socrates was an incessant learner, and he learned late in life that he had thought too much and sung too little. So, on his last night, he boldly sang and surprised his soul with a new song:
Blessed are the bold,
For even when they’re old,
They won’t cease to fight,
But will sing a new song
On their very last night.
Today, I will renew my yearning for learning.
I’ll begin to let the easy slide
And from the difficult I won’t hide.
Then, one day—not too far along,
my love for the difficult
will become my bold song.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are adapted and used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups across America in response to the Life That Loves to Happen seminars with Landon Saunders.
by Geoffery Moore | Oct 2, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
What are you going to teach me today?
Dear Life,
I don’t teach. I play. Now if you want to play, that’s OK. Play to learn, learn to play.
Are you ready to enter the school of play? Well, you do have a healthy I.Q. But the school of play is about your L.Q., your Life Quotient—so let’s start with an L.Q. test.
I see that you have a brain to think with. And eyes to see with. Ah, and a heart to feel with. But bottom line, are you any fun to be with?
Join the school of play—bring a playful spirit to your day—and your L.Q. will start to rise. Plus, the people around you will be glad you did!
Today, I’ll dare to play—to be in high spirits. If storm clouds gather, I’ll cut through them like lightning!
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are adapted and used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups across America in response to the Life That Loves to Happen seminars with Landon Saunders.
Recent Comments