When another month arrived, and my thinking cap was a dust heap under the bed, I realized that the only course was to conjure up something good. Taking that literally the subject for July became “Good things to think”. I’ve always felt that a good thing to think is to trust that my heart can and will lead the way – for it, better than my mind, knows the gifts I’ve been given and will surely help me give them away.
Phrases Posted on Facebook, July 2021
What would be a good thing to think on Independence Day . . . maybe that freedom comes with practice? Taking care of liberty is a daily task. It means refusing to listen to one’s inner voices of oppression. Those voices, even when not uttered out loud, somehow escape invisibly into our shared world and collectively become the oppression of others.
To think we are right may feel good (most of us feel we are right in our own world view). But thinking instead that a personal point of view is only a colorful part of a massive kaleidoscope of diversity makes us right on. We’ll then live in mutual radiance, far more than what is “so-called right” for only one or a few.
Long ago walking with my seven-year-old son, a mangy dog approached us. I said, “What an ugly dog!” My son’s little shoulders went up, and he stood very still and looking at me sternly said, “Mom, you don’t know what’s on the inside.” It has been a good thing for me to think about ever since.
With scientific proof no blade of grass is better than another, no grain of sand is better than another, and no snowflake is better than another. Each is unique and unrepeatable among others of its kind. That’s true for us humans as well. How utterly amazing it is that no two things are identical. What a wonder-full thing to enjoy and think about.
Good memories bring smiles to our faces. Any time we need a good thing to think about, we can recall a time when our hearts were open and fully met.
It’s summer and now some of us can take a vacation, go away and experience something new. How grand is that! It reminds me of a Swedish saying that I love.
“Bortta bra, men hemma bast”. The “a” in bast should have two little dots over it. The saying means, away is good, but home is best. It’s never failed for me to love coming home again. A good thought to remember.
A good thing to think is that you always have a choice to give up “having to be right” and being right where you are instead with an open mind.
A wonderful thing to think about is that moment when you were visited by an intimate gentleness that found its way to your heart and made its home there.
When I was a kid my Dad taught me a saying in Latin, which I paraphrase here. “The stone isn’t hollowed by force but by water falling often.” Hard things in our lives tend to be loud. That makes us notice them for sure! Good things in our lives tend to be quieter, and it seems they don’t get equal attention. But goodness does in time hollow stone. So let’s notice every drop of it that comes our way.
SERENDIPITY, what a fun word that is! It seems to me to that word has some hip-hop or a little bit of jazz in it. When serendipity just happens to happen, we are light on our feet once more, and the world seems full of possibility. To dip into serendipity is a good thing not just to think about but to actively court. Turn on the music!
