A mantra for daily living?

Reflecting upon this month's lesson I wonder if we would have lived it differently if not for the first few words...'when in doubt'.  I fear that these words may have made us feel that we can only put this lesson to use when we are experiencing stress or crisis?

Take away the 'when in doubt' and you are left with 'take the next small step' and this to me seems a great way to live every day, and I will share with you why. 

I recently re-opened the book 'The Secret'.  I like to let books speak to me by opening random pages and trust that there is a message there for me.  When I opened The Secret the pages that I read ended with this story by Jack Canfield. 


Think of a car driving through the night.  The headlights only go a hundred or two hundred feet forward, and you can make it all the way coast to coast driving through the dark, because all you have to see is the next two hundred feet.  And that's how life tends to unfold before us.  If we just trust that the next two hundred feet will unfold after that, and the next two hundred feet after that, your life will keep unfolding. 


And so - our lesson this month of taking a step at a time - could actually be the mantra that changes our lives.  Headlights are designed to show enough road ahead of us to be safe in the darkness.  If they were to beam any further ahead, we would probably find ourselves distracted by looking too far ahead into the distance wondering what could be around the bend so far ahead and miss the obstacle right before us that we would have seen clearly if we had been paying attention to what was closer at hand.

Taking life a step at time helps us to:

• stay in the present moment
• pay true attention to those around us
• unburden the worry of what is yet to come
• enjoy life in the moment!

If this month's lesson hasn't spoken to you yet - will this story speak to you so that for the remainder of the month you can try and take things one step at a time and notice the difference in your life?


 

The story of Roy the dog

I was witness to a modern day miracle last week.  A little boys dog had gone missing - no collar or microchip and gone 6 days with only one sighting.  A beautiful and friendly pedigree without a tag, suspicions were such that someone would take him in and unidentifiable, he would never be seen again.  The 8 yr old owner would be heartbroken.  Fliers had been put around all the residential areas, rangers and posties had been notified and still nothing.  When my friend told me this story without a shadow of doubt in my mind or heart I told her to pray to St Francis - patron saint of animals.  I just knew that he would be found!

10 hours later I heard that Roy had indeed been found!  Hiding away up north in the bush, carrying a few extra passengers in his coat and in need of some new paws but otherwise safe and well.  AND found by someone who knew who he was!  Amazing - in the middle of no-where, 2 guys in the bush, one of them knew who his owner was.  A miracle for me.  

Being a part of this wonderful story made me realise the importance of believing.  There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Roy would not be found.  I just knew it in my heart.  So many times when we are faced with troubling or stressful situations, it is hard to have faith and so we do what we are doing this month, just take the next small step and slowly move forward in the hope the answer will present itself.  Well to me this week I learned the lesson that the answer might present itself a little faster if we have the courage to 'believe' in the next small step we are taking rather than just plod forwards.
Steps, even little ones, taken in doubt will always lead to somewhere, but steps taken with belief and purpose can find you on much more solid ground and maybe even with a surprise sign post that you may not have been expecting!  Roy the dog has taught me an important lesson that I had forgotten.  We have to believe! 

One small step for our world....

This week's message is more than anything I could ever write, and it is a little boy's request that it be read around the world.  The words of a outstanding boy who it seems was always taking the next small step -

FOR OUR WORLD

We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment…
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment…
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment…
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice…
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment…
Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.

Mattie J.T. Stepanek ©
September 11, 2001

Mattie died in 2004 aged 13, but not before publishing 7 books of poetry and inspirational writings that have been read around the world.  You can read more about Mattie and his amazingly inspirational life here.  Had I known about him before today I think that his favourite life lesson "Remember to play after every storm!" would have featured on our list!