Optimism
Friday, May 21, 2004
Taking Humble Steps
As long as I don’t understand why I’m behaving in a certain way, I tend to feel guilty about it. I’ve felt guilty for not updating as often as I have wanted to in the last few weeks. Thinking about why this happens sometimes, I can of course blame it on being occupied with various things, but really I think it comes down to expecting too much of myself. I have tried to learn a lot about writing and web-design, and I have a number of goals in both of these fields that I’m still far from attaining. I have a pretty clear idea of what I like in good writing, but I often feel that I’m not in the right mood—too tired, too sick, too busy, or whatever—to put down writing that lives up to my own standards.
But the real mistake here is to let that stop me from trying—even with just a few words at a time. I need to remember, as many people do, that real progress comes about mainly through the little steps we take on the path towards our goals. The steps that count most are the ones that no one congratulates us for, when we tripped up a little or even just accomplished some small success. Countless little steps cover far more distances than great marathons ever will.
Whatever it is that may be taking place in my life or in the world around me, there is invariably something beautiful there waiting to be discovered… but the approach to that beauty requires humble steps, patient walking, and a steadfast resolution not to let expectations get in the way.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
Wonderful Hope
These last few days I caught a bad head cold, which then progressed, for various reasons, into worse things. Of course, when you are sick, you can’t think of many things, and updating a website seems like a monumental task. Yet I’ve seen other websites’ authors deal with sickness bravely, with such words as “sick now… update later,” or “uggh! I hate being sick! can’t think straight…” But somehow I felt that writing such a thing for Brightwind wouldn’t be right. What’s the deeper meaning behind “uggh”? How is it relevant to you, my dear reader, that I am sick, except as an excuse for not updating Brightwind, and perhaps a plea for sympathy?
Anyway, my particular character is not to bother you with some aspect of my life unless it contains some deeper meaning or is particularly relevant to major things going on with my website (such as the recent redesign).
But then, just as I was getting to feel better today, I realized that something rather interesting is going on here. I no longer have a fever, and my thoughts are once again liberated (although still a bit slower than usual). My headache on the other hand, has merely gotten worse. All day now it’s been pounding around in my head.
But I’m happy about it! Relative to yesterday, today is so much better! My appetite has returned, I can walk around short distances without feeling dizzy! I’m getting all excited about little things like drinking a lot of water and juice and eating a lot of fruits.
And most of all, I have this wonderful hope to look forward to, that my health can only get better I go on taking my medicine and resting as much as I can. It’s amazing how great it feels to be pretty sick after having just been really sick. It feels almost like being healthy again, but maybe even better, because I know that real health is on it’s way.
David's Life • Way of Life • Optimism • (36) Trackbacks • Permalink
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Walking
All you have to be is what you are—not the you that you were in that present moment which has just escaped and fallen into the past, nor the you that will be a long time from now. Very soon, you will have a chance to be the you that you can become just now. That is all you have to be.
The human being is a walking creature. We walk into times of joy and then walk out of them again, but if we keep our feet moving as straightly and we can, each small inch of time brings us a little bit closer to infinity.
Photos • Yunnan • Way of Life • Optimism • (41) Trackbacks • Permalink
Wednesday, November 26, 2003
Depends on Your Point of View
What if you could see all the world’s sunsets and all the world’s sunrises—all at the same time? Such a thing is possible, if you travel to the moon on May 4, 2004. On that day, the earth will eclipse the sun, and the only sunlight reaching the moon will pass through the keyhole of the earth’s atmosphere. The air will scatter the blue light down to the earth, but the red light will make its way back into space, and, from an earthly point of view, will dye the moon with the color of blood.
But from the perspective of someone on the moon, our planet will have a red and gold ring of hope around it, which, for just a moment, will let you see all the world’s sunsets on the west side of the earth, and all the world’s sunrises on the east. You could consider yourself united with millions of lonely poets and happy lovers on earth, finding a home for their heart in that sight.
No one has yet photographed this event from the moon. We can only gaze up and wonder what someone there might see if they were gazing back at us.
Science • Way of Life • Optimism • (53) Trackbacks • Permalink
Monday, November 10, 2003
The Color of the Wind
We see color in the wind just as we see meaning in our lives.
Wind, as we usually experience it, has no color of its own—it simply reveals to us the color of whatever passes through it, whether that be your face or mine, blowing sand or leaves, springtime clouds or sheets of rain.
In the same way, a life’s value comes from the thoughts, actions and spiritual qualities which we allow to pass through it. “True loss,” it has been said, “is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.”
But the air itself can be bright as well. The whole sky shines with the scattered light of the sun. If it is seen over long distances, as in the Grand Canyon, the mass of air will make distant red stones appear blue. In fact, any molecules in the universe have a color of their own as long as they move light around, each one in its own way.
My mind shivers with awe to consider that even the wind has a color, that if you look deeply enough even into the blackest corner of the night sky, you will find the brilliance of billions of galaxies, as well as all the stars, worlds, and peoples that must inhabit them.
Perhaps, behind all the darkness of our small and mortal lives, there is a mysterious brightness, an inherent beauty like that of the sky, which all souls, whether good or bad, must ultimately reflect.
Science • Way of Life • Optimism • (37) Trackbacks • Permalink
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