Photo of the month:
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| Full Moon, over Pacific, May 2010 |
Quotes of the month:
....waiting to take you away
waiting to take you away!
-The Beatles
Each one of us has a unique thing to give....
which is who we are!
- Tim Freke
Each one of us has a unique thing to give....
which is who we are!
- Tim Freke
In 1967, the Beatles put out the Magical Mystery Tour album/movie. There
are several different interpretations of the words and music that I am not going
to get into. My Simple question this month is an invitation to have your own
Mystery experience..... see if it takes you away!
- Have you ever stopped to think about the actual chances that YOU are HERE on the earth?
- And the chances that YOU are HERE in the FORM and appearance that you are?
- And let me just add that YOU are HERE, NOW, in the days of electricity and the Internet, rather than in the days of Columbus, Julius Caesar or the cavemen?
I'll skip the biology lesson here, but we know that conception is a numbers
game. Recently there was a show on the Discovery Channel called, Life
before Birth, that goes over this in much more detail. I suggest it, if you are
interested more in the specifics.
Biologically, we are set up to perpetuate the human race, but in order for
that to happen, nature has set it up so that chance is on its side. The
possible combinations of genes are endless. But HERE you and I are, NOW! This
is amazing to me!
To illustrate this further, I am going to share my first personal
experience with this. I was 10 or 11 and my parents were divorced. I want to
stress that neither of my parents spoke negatively to me about each other. This
was nearly 40 years ago, before there were TV talk shows about these topics, so
I applaud them both and am grateful for them somehow knowing that was
important. At any rate, there was one particular time, when my mother must have
said something somewhat negative about my father. I do not recall specifically
what it was, but I remember saying to her, "If you hadn't married him, you would
not have me." She replied with what I know was meant to be reassuring at the
time, "I would have had you with someone else." I had had enough biology in
school by this time to realize that was NOT true. She may have had a child, but even in my 10 or 11 year old brain, I knew that it would NOT have been ME!
Here is the part that really struck me in that moment.... take a moment to
think about this in your own life. Had your mother had a child with someone
other than your father......
- Your mother would have had a child and
- she would not have known the difference.......
- you are the only one who could know the difference, but
- that is only because you are here.... you were born.
You and I can only have this thought because we were born. If our mothers had had a child with someone else, we would not be here and could not be having this thought. Can you think about this in your own life? What does it make you feel?
Another example, whether you like Oprah or not, one has to admit she has an
amazing life. I heard her say that her mother and her father were only together
one time. Once! What are the chances that she would be born at all? Let alone
in the form and with the drive to succeed that she has? Some of this may be
also due to environment and I don't want to turn this into a debate on nature
vs. nurture, just Simply another example.
Has either of these examples stirred your own sense of being-ness?
I have one more example for you to watch to think about the mystery of our
Universe and our place in it. I encourage you to watch this short video that my son pointed out to me. I have embedded it here in the post, but if you have trouble viewing it, here is a link.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q
The message at the end of the video that you are not the center of the Universe is NOT my message here. My Simple suggestion this month is just to watch the video and then "sit with" the enormity of the Universe. Again, think about the chances that we are here at all, flying through space on a rock, in the vast expanse of the Universe??
It is that time of year... the month when I write about gratitude and ask you to think about what you are grateful for in your own lives. This November, I am Simply going to suggest that as we in United States sit down to eat our turkey this week, consider the fact that YOU ARE HERE, NOW! Consider the chances that you are here at all and consider the idea that YOU matter Simply because you were born! Each of us is unique and each has their own gifts and talents to bring to the world! I, for one, am grateful for that!
If you would like
to contribute to our community Gratitude list, click here....
To read a previous post on gratitude.... click here
One last suggestion for gratitude will echo something I wrote last month about perfection. Last month I talked about the "glass half full" vs. half empty. Gratitude is similar. If you look at a glass filled half way and picture only the part that you do not have, you will be unhappy. But if you "start from zero" or start from empty and see what you DO have, you will be much more satisfied.
Again, to echo last
month, an important point here is that you will be in physically the same place
either way. The only thing that has changed is your perception, perspective or your
point of view. It's your choice!
Until next month,
Happy Thanksgiving!
And keep it Simple!
Penelope
