Insights – Melannie Thomas

Archive for August, 2015

“To me, the irony if this involvement with size, as I observed earlier, is the unwillingness or inability of so many Americans to identify themselves with something as vast as the United States.  Bigger cars, bigger parking lots, bigger corporate structures, bigger farms, bigger drug stores, bigger supermarkets, bigger motion-picture screens.  The tangible and the functional expand, while the intangible and the beautiful shrink.  Left to wither is the national purpose, national educational needs, literature, theater, and our critical faculties.  The national dialogue is gradually being lost in a froth of misleading self-congratulation and cliche.  National needs and interests are slowly being submerged by the national preoccupation with the irrelevant.”

~J. William Fullbright

So many are struggling in our current economy.  Recovery clearly appears to be  favoring those in the top financial tier, including Corporations which are now considered ‘persons’ (http://www.npr.org).   I think I might like to be considered a Corporation, with all the perks and benefits allowed (www.washingtonpost.com).

This quote by Confucius is an insightful look at the reality we share. “In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of.  In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”

“Forgiveness is not a moral issue.  It is an energy dynamic….  Forgiveness means that you do not carry the baggage of an experience.  When you choose not to forgive, the experience that you do not forgive sticks with you.  When you choose not to forgive, it is like agreeing to wear dark, gruesome sunglasses that distort everything, and it is you who are forced every day to look at life through those contaminated lenses because you have chosen to keep them.”

~Gary Zukav, The Seat of the Soul

If you can’t forgive, you open your garden to receive the seeds of bitterness.  I invite you to reflect on the power of forgiveness.

The definitions of different I like are: distinct, unusual and special.  We are all unique.  Like fingerprints, no two exactly alike.  The conflict as it appears to me is between the desire to belong and the longing to be authentic, to express our true self.  Accomplishing this harmony within creates successful social harmony without.

I like being different.  I like being special.  I am pretty comfortable most of the time being unusual.  I accept being who I am.  But I never stop working to grow, to mature.

I like this quote from the remarkably diverse talent, Johnny Depp.

“If there’s any message to my work, it is ultimately that it’s OK to be different, that it’s good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color.”

This week I invite you to celebrate your different self.

We all experience pain in many ways.  It is part of being human.  There are a plethora of remedies to help us manage pain.  Some more effective than others.  When suffering is chronic, intractable or intensely psycho-spiritual, management is often challenging beyond comprehension.

I came across this quote recently, and I find myself in strong resonance with its message. I felt compelled to share it with you.

“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.”   ~Joseph Campbell