I don't look forward to new issues of The Readers' Digest like I used to. Their articles used to be so much deeper--so much food for thought, that many of them became deeply ingrained in my own personal character and point of view; so much so that my sister Arlene chided me that my entire philosophy of life came straight out of Readers' Digest.
Well, she was probably right. Their articles were short, easy to read, well-written, and many of them stuck with me. Yes, I was very young and impressionable, but I promise, they were really good!
Anyway, the first article that I remember having a definite impact on me (somewhere in my early teens, I think) was a brief little blurb called "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff". The only example I can recall involved some friends, including the author, were dining in an elegant restaurant, when an accident caused a plate full of spaghetti to splat all over one diner's beautiful white linen suit. The author was amazed that the white suit guy didn't get angry, but actually seemed to fairly easily laugh it off! When questioned about it, the man said it just wasn't really important enough to get upset about.
I forget the other examples, but the upshot -- the moral of the story, offered 2 rules: 1) Don't sweat the small stuff, and 2) It's all small stuff.
I would like to invite ya'll to think back about moments/steps/impressions, etc., that were, I don't know, I hate to say "Paradigm shifts", but pieces of light that made a difference--immediate or gradual, but that you can look back and see that your attitude shifted, and you reacted differently to certain situations from that time on because of that happening/person/lesson.
Let's see how it goes. As Madmardigan said right before he fell on his can in the snow, "It'll be fun!"
For me it was reading the Celestine Prophecy that helped me understand better about how the light of Christ is in every living thing, and reading the Alvin Maker to understand that there is intelligence in the elements also.
ReplyDeleteI think you were more easily impressed back then. Now you've heard it all or read it all, so it is harder to impress you. Maybe you should write for them because you are pretty deep and insightful yourself!
ReplyDeleteBut mine was a talk by Henry Eyring in conference. Its on my blog, so I'm not gonna write the whole thing here.
Suffice it to say, Love your blog.
I also think we are impressed by things that resonate in us, and they resonate because they are things we already feel intrinsically are true...things that put into words concepts that we already know but haven't exactly put into words yet. Sometimes what we read goes deeper, and/or expands, and the experience of reading it turns into a real benchmark, especially when we're ready for that particular experience and growth.
ReplyDeleteI think I was always kinda easy-going, then I read that, and BOOM, yeah, that's right! That's how I feel! I hadn't thought about it before that, but it was true. For me. And it still is.
I think it's also a matter of priorities. Does a white suit matter as much as a person's feelings? THINGS should never be placed above PEOPLE.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that helps me is to look at things from an eternal perspective. How much will this matter in a hundred years? Does this contribute to my eternal salvation?