peace and love.
(We know all this, so this is a reminder to all of us....we often quiet the little voice inside of us....but that little voice is intrinsic to our happiness and well-being. We shut our eyes to reality hoping that if we don't see it, it will go away...fact is that the reality - often ugly - is very much around us. Thus, to do a reality check, in effect means that we check off our instant desires with the reality of life around us. Then, even if we do give in to our desires, it is with the full knowledge of life as it is.... And this will change us...make us more real humans.)
Our world is flush with all kinds of material things....and they are so attractive and affordable that we feel that we just cannot live without them. Sometimes we feel that even if something is not within our reach, we just have to have it and so we cut all kinds of monetary capers and spend our time devising all kinds of schemes so that somehow, at any cost, we get this thing that we feel we cannot live without or which we believe is critical to our happiness.
Wise men have over the years, time and time again, told us that it is better to concentrate on the heart and soul rather than spend money running after goods that after a few days or years lose their value and we, without a thought, chuck them into the waste bin.
When we die, we go without any of the things we bought....but we do carry away the energies of love and goodwill, patience and grace, elegance and refinement in words, thoughts and actions with us...
We've heard all this a zillion times but we forget and sometimes it is the picture of a distraught woman who cannot feed her child, or a child rummaging in a pile of garbage, or refugees struggling to find a haven where they can live and bring up their children in relative peacefulness that remind us of our reality. For this is our reality and not the pictures which show fast cars and gold furniture and a person displaying silks and velvets.
Creating and leading an aesthetic life matters...so does generosity of spirit. To be able to forgive those who wrong us, to be ready to walk an extra mile in another person's shoes, to keep our homes clean and pretty with natural things and not expensive articles, to yearn for and create a simple lifestyle, to ensure there is peace in our home and around us....
Red Cloud, OGLALA LAKOTA says: The Elders say that what is important is peace and love. To have material things is okay, but if not, that's okay too. To have peace and love is more important than anything material. Our children will see the value of peace and love only if adults show they are a priority. Too often we think we can offer material things and they will replace the time spent with our children. But the most important way to give our children peace and love is to spend time with them.
These words ring true because, looking beyond our own space, we, each one of us, has a responsibility to the generation that comes after us. We are responsible for the children who come into our lives. The easiest thing, as I have often seen is to bung a digital gadget into the hands of a child who, in fact, needs our attention....our cuddling, our time, and our undivided attention for a few minutes...