This short story I’m told comes from Japanese Folklore and has been passed around the internet quite a bit, however I think it is good enough to review again. There is much to be learned from this simple story. Reflect on it, take ownership of your life, and apply the lessons learned and you will be blessed.
"Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors.
A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house.
He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."
In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door.
When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.
All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?"
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
All You Need is Love
“When others needs start to matter more than our own, and when others successes are more exciting to us than our own, we are beginning to experience love.” Author Unknown
Recently I had a sweet experience that reminded me of a very important life lesson. In fact, in many ways, this is probably the most important thing we can learn in this life. And if learned, practiced, and truly taken to the heart, it will have a dramatically positive impact on our life—probably more so than anything else.
About a week ago I was visiting a friend who for some time has been very discouraged with his job. Through previous conversations he had told me that he loved to write books and that he considered publishing some in hopes of supplementing his income. During my most recent visit with him he told me his book sales had exceeded all of his expectations and that he felt like he had “won the lottery.” I was and am so thrilled and excited for me. In fact, so much so that I was surprised about how happy I was for him. These feelings made me stop and think about them. I realized I wasn’t happy for him because of any other reason other than I sincerely wanted him to be happy and do well. Love was my motive that caused such emotions.
Perhaps because it is February and nearing Valentine’s Day, or perhaps it is because I am getting older and more sensitive but today I’m writing about love. Real love for our fellow men equals power in life. Love breaks down walls, builds enduring relationships, produces positive feelings, and creates an environment of safety. When love is present, things become easier. Love can move people to do some extraordinary things.
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I am not talking about romantic love but the love we have for others when we want them to be successful regardless of how it might or might not impact us. I’m talking about putting some else’s concerns, needs, and wants before ours. I’m talking about sacrificing for the good of others.
When it comes to tapping into the power of love, motives are everything. Just because we are helping someone with a difficult assignment doesn’t mean we are showing love. We can often do the right thing but for the wrong reason. This is not love. Love towards our fellow men means our sincerest desire is to help them.
So how do we develop this love? I think it takes time, patience, and practice. It is not something that happens overnight but is a continual lifelong pursuit. Two simple suggestions to help us on this path are the following.
First, learning people’s names goes a long way in showing people we care. I know a lot of us meet tons of people every day and many of us claim we are not good at remembering names but taking a few extra seconds to remember a name shows we care.
Second, free up time. When we are too busy to take time to show love to those around us then we will never be successful. Freeing up our calendars enough to have some flexibility will allow us to show love toward others. When a friend wants to talk, a co-worker needs some help, or our child would like a little extra attention, making sure we are not over booked can help us spend showing love toward others. In the end, the most important thing in life is not always about what we accomplish but rather the type of person we become.
Love matters, and it matters a lot. Most of us are too self-absorbed to truly love others. If we can learn to love others we will greatly enhance our satisfaction and success in life. Though maybe not quite like the Beatles were meaning it when singing it, in a lot of ways they were right. To be successful and happy in life, all you need is love.
Recently I had a sweet experience that reminded me of a very important life lesson. In fact, in many ways, this is probably the most important thing we can learn in this life. And if learned, practiced, and truly taken to the heart, it will have a dramatically positive impact on our life—probably more so than anything else.
About a week ago I was visiting a friend who for some time has been very discouraged with his job. Through previous conversations he had told me that he loved to write books and that he considered publishing some in hopes of supplementing his income. During my most recent visit with him he told me his book sales had exceeded all of his expectations and that he felt like he had “won the lottery.” I was and am so thrilled and excited for me. In fact, so much so that I was surprised about how happy I was for him. These feelings made me stop and think about them. I realized I wasn’t happy for him because of any other reason other than I sincerely wanted him to be happy and do well. Love was my motive that caused such emotions.
Perhaps because it is February and nearing Valentine’s Day, or perhaps it is because I am getting older and more sensitive but today I’m writing about love. Real love for our fellow men equals power in life. Love breaks down walls, builds enduring relationships, produces positive feelings, and creates an environment of safety. When love is present, things become easier. Love can move people to do some extraordinary things.
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I am not talking about romantic love but the love we have for others when we want them to be successful regardless of how it might or might not impact us. I’m talking about putting some else’s concerns, needs, and wants before ours. I’m talking about sacrificing for the good of others.
When it comes to tapping into the power of love, motives are everything. Just because we are helping someone with a difficult assignment doesn’t mean we are showing love. We can often do the right thing but for the wrong reason. This is not love. Love towards our fellow men means our sincerest desire is to help them.
So how do we develop this love? I think it takes time, patience, and practice. It is not something that happens overnight but is a continual lifelong pursuit. Two simple suggestions to help us on this path are the following.
First, learning people’s names goes a long way in showing people we care. I know a lot of us meet tons of people every day and many of us claim we are not good at remembering names but taking a few extra seconds to remember a name shows we care.
Second, free up time. When we are too busy to take time to show love to those around us then we will never be successful. Freeing up our calendars enough to have some flexibility will allow us to show love toward others. When a friend wants to talk, a co-worker needs some help, or our child would like a little extra attention, making sure we are not over booked can help us spend showing love toward others. In the end, the most important thing in life is not always about what we accomplish but rather the type of person we become.
Love matters, and it matters a lot. Most of us are too self-absorbed to truly love others. If we can learn to love others we will greatly enhance our satisfaction and success in life. Though maybe not quite like the Beatles were meaning it when singing it, in a lot of ways they were right. To be successful and happy in life, all you need is love.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Burntham Rewind: Hard Things
This is a Burntham Rewind--this post was originally posted July 20th, 2010.
My family and I recently returned from a trip to Utah—hence the dearth in blogs lately…During the trip we spent much of our time at a beautiful lake near the Bear River Mountains. One day our group planned various hikes through the majestic mountains with rugged terrain and peaks that soared to nearly 10,000 feet. With a pregnant wife and three young children my family decided we’d stick to the flat, even surfaced three quarter mile hike. However, at the last minute we decided to try the somewhat steep and rocky 8 mile hike—just to see how far we could make it before turning back. To my surprise, and with my 2 year-old son in arms nearly the entire trip, our family completed the eight mile hike together.
In life, we are often faced with challenges and opportunities that are difficult and often seem impossible. However, our potential and capacity is amazing. Many times we underestimate or do not realize what we can do. Many times we put self-imposed limits on ourselves and fail to venture to the unknown or dare to do the impossible. Whether it’s fear, a lack of confidence, complacency, or other reasons, we often hold back and do not push ourselves. For some reason, somewhere along our life journey, we begin to believe we cannot do hard things. I have learned through this hiking experience and others though that we can do hard things. We can do things that are beyond our own wildest imaginations, if we allow ourselves to believe and try.
At the beginning of the day I never believed my family could or would complete the trip. I thought it would be too difficult for us, but we did it. It wasn’t always easy, and at times I doubted we’d make it all the way; but we did. And because we did, we were able to view some of the most spectacular images and enjoy the peace and serenity of the mountains. We saw wild flowers blooming in colorful, luscious fields, majestic peaks soaring high above us in the air, a buck scampering across snow in search of food, and a calm crystal-clear hidden lake. The reward for our efforts was beauty and tranquility all around us, as well as a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. And for my 5 and 6 year-olds, who walked the entire trip on their own, they can now look back on this experience and feel good about who they are and what they can achieve.
So what rewards are we missing, because we are unwilling to do hard things? And why do we deny ourselves of the incredible sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from achieving difficult tasks? Our potential is great, and each of us has the capacity to do great things. Let’s stop holding back, and start believing that we can do hard things!
My family and I recently returned from a trip to Utah—hence the dearth in blogs lately…During the trip we spent much of our time at a beautiful lake near the Bear River Mountains. One day our group planned various hikes through the majestic mountains with rugged terrain and peaks that soared to nearly 10,000 feet. With a pregnant wife and three young children my family decided we’d stick to the flat, even surfaced three quarter mile hike. However, at the last minute we decided to try the somewhat steep and rocky 8 mile hike—just to see how far we could make it before turning back. To my surprise, and with my 2 year-old son in arms nearly the entire trip, our family completed the eight mile hike together.
In life, we are often faced with challenges and opportunities that are difficult and often seem impossible. However, our potential and capacity is amazing. Many times we underestimate or do not realize what we can do. Many times we put self-imposed limits on ourselves and fail to venture to the unknown or dare to do the impossible. Whether it’s fear, a lack of confidence, complacency, or other reasons, we often hold back and do not push ourselves. For some reason, somewhere along our life journey, we begin to believe we cannot do hard things. I have learned through this hiking experience and others though that we can do hard things. We can do things that are beyond our own wildest imaginations, if we allow ourselves to believe and try.
At the beginning of the day I never believed my family could or would complete the trip. I thought it would be too difficult for us, but we did it. It wasn’t always easy, and at times I doubted we’d make it all the way; but we did. And because we did, we were able to view some of the most spectacular images and enjoy the peace and serenity of the mountains. We saw wild flowers blooming in colorful, luscious fields, majestic peaks soaring high above us in the air, a buck scampering across snow in search of food, and a calm crystal-clear hidden lake. The reward for our efforts was beauty and tranquility all around us, as well as a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. And for my 5 and 6 year-olds, who walked the entire trip on their own, they can now look back on this experience and feel good about who they are and what they can achieve.
So what rewards are we missing, because we are unwilling to do hard things? And why do we deny ourselves of the incredible sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from achieving difficult tasks? Our potential is great, and each of us has the capacity to do great things. Let’s stop holding back, and start believing that we can do hard things!
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