Monday Musings

 

"Open your mind and your heart be still."--Shawn Phillips

Good morning to everyone out there in Blogland.  It's back to work Monday, and here I am.  Wish I could say I was raring to go, but nothing could be further than the truth.  It's just too nice and 'springy' outdoors to be cooped up in an office.  

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to watch the news.  Does nothing good ever happen anymore?  This morning I heard about the subway terror plot, a seven alarm fire which has made over 60 people homeless, and a man getting hit by a car and killed in the neighborhood where I work.  All this in a span of the first ten minutes that I got up.  I mean, I like to know what is going on around me, but lately it's becoming a bit much...so much violence...wars...hatred.

Many of us try hard to ignore much of what goes on around us, but as much as we may try to bury ourselves into  our little cocoons, the world continues, and eventually the time comes that even we have to admit to ourselves that the world is not the beautiful, peaceful place that we want it to be.  A day doesn't go by when one doesn't watch or listen to some negative news on the media...which, by the way, has evolved into the 'messenger of doom' that keeps on infecting people with bad news.  Why?  Negative news sells more than positive news.  

After having our minds poisoned by all of these negative issues, how is it possible for one to focus on positive living?  Is it even possible?  It seems to me that we are always thinking on how we are going to tackle some problem that we may have or that we are busy tackling other issues...thus lacking time for personal development.  But, even when facing these challenges, we need to keep a positive attitude about life.

The world about us is constantly changing.  The trees turn from green to shades of yellow, orange and red, then back to green again.  Yet, even if we spent our days staring at the trees, we could not actually see the colors changes for change requires time and patience. Think of the world as a tree, a tree with many branches and nations...and in each of these nations are little communities where individual people live.  We are the roots of this 'world tree'.  And, as we begin to make a conscious effort to accept and love others regardless of our differences, the branches that extend from us and cover the world will begin to grow strong. It all begins with us.  The peace we make within ourselves can be reflected everywhere.  And the first step we can take is to have hope for ourselves and for our universe.  Hope is a melody that will keep us going...it comes when we believe in the goodness of our world.