I have a feeling I should paint
what I am supposed to paint.
So I sit.
And there my hand moves and I made a
picture.
-- Norval Morrijeau
The writer sits, head in hands,
amid a mound of crumpled paper wads. The deadline is tomorrow and not
even the first paragraph is written.The writer has been working nonstop
since the early morning hours. Frustration pushes the writer up from
the chair and out on a long walk in the woods to the stream. After an
hour of plunging through lush woods, a rest by the stream listening to
the sounds of the rippling water is refreshing.Back at the typewriter, the fingers
move, the words flow, the job is done. Sometimes we need to quiet
ourselves to let our inner resources flow through our outer noise. We
are always doing what we are supposed to do. Even when things don't
seem to come together just right, there is a purpose, even if only to
let us know we need to do something else for a while.How much simpler our lives can be
if we only have the faith to accept what happens as a guidepost along
a path that is naturally correct.
Drag your thoughts away from your
troubles . . .
by the ears, by the heels or any other
way you can manage it.
It's the healthiest thing a body
can do.
-- Mark Twain
It requires very little effort --
and no imagination -- to start feeling sorry for ourselves.Often, it is easy to feel sorry for
ourselves in our families. Instead of being inspired by the
sports talents of an older brother, the popularity of a lovely sister,
or the fame of a parent or relative, we often take the easier
attitude: "I'm denied all that he or she has." If we work hard at developing our
own abilities so that we can excel, we will find ourselves proud of,
and applauding, what others do.If a personal problem brings us
self-pity, we must remind ourselves that all people have problems. We can cope as well as the best of
people if we learn from them and think positively.
Withdrawal is a preparation for
emergence.
-- Nor Hall
A man lost his family in a car
accident and wanted to be alone for a while, but he worried whether he
was doing the right thing. Then one day a friend told him that
when pine cones fall off the lodge pole pine trees, they are sealed
shut so the seeds inside can't get out. The pine cones lie on the
forest floor -- sometimes for decades -- until a forest fire sweeps
through. Heat from the fire melts the seal
and the seeds fall out and finally grow, and that's why the lodge pole
pine is called a "fire-origin species." The man felt good about himself
when he heard the story. "Fire-origin species" is a good
name for people who've been burned by life and find new growth as a
result.
