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A story for the rest of your life...   Message List  
Reply | Forward Message #210 of 241 |
Dear Friends,
I'd like to invite all friends to enter the new year with 5 - 15 mins of meditation.
If you like you can use the "World Peace Meditation" or the "Five Minute Miracle"
recordings I've shared with you (links below). The whole idea is to begin the year in a pure
state of consciousness. Let us all practice together at 12:00am or at 6:00am 
local time Jan 1st, 2009. 
Here now is a beautiful and inspiring story thats perfect for the occasion of the new year.
A friend shared it with me today and I just kept thinking about
it all day and even dreamt of when I took a little afternoon rest!  
I feel you will appreciate the message very much as well.
 
Wishing a Happy New Year each one of you!
Nithya Shanti
 
 
 
 
 
A story for the rest of your life
 
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
"Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over."
I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead
"I will come next Tuesday",
I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
 
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy.
Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there.
When I finally walked into my daughter Carolyn's
house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children.
I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
 
I told my daughter, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! 
The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and
there is nothing in the world except you and my grandchildren
that I want to see right now.  I don't want to drive another inch!"
 
My daughter smiled calmly and said,
"We drive in this weather all the time, mother."
 
"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears,
and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
 
"But first we're going to see the daffodils.
It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this." 
 
"Carolyn," I said sternly, 
 
"It's all right, Mother, I promise.
You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
 
So we went!
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road
and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church,
I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read,
 
"Daffodil Garden ---->"
 
We got out of the car, each of us took a child's hand,
and I followed Carolyn down the path.
Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped.
Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken
a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak
and its surrounding slopes.
 
The flowers were planted in majestic,
swirling patterns, great ribbons
and swaths of deep orange,
creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink,
and saffron and butter yellow.
Each different-colored variety was planted
in large groups so that it swirled
and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue.
 
There were five acres of flowers!
 
"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn.
"Just one woman," Carolyn answered.
"She lives on the property. That's her home."
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house,
small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory.
 
We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster.
 
"Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking"
was the headline.
 
The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.
 
The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain."
 
The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
 
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience.
I thought of this woman whom I had never met,
who, more than forty years before, had begun,
one bulb at a time, to bring her vision
of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.
 
Planting one bulb at a time, year after year,
this unknown woman had forever changed
the world in which she lived.
One day at a time, she had created something
of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.
 
The principle her daffodil garden taught me
is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time.
 
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
"What might I have accomplished
if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five
or forty years ago and had worked away at it
'one bulb at a time' through all those years?
 
Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"
My daughter summed up the message of the day
in her usual direct way.
 
"Start tomorrow," she said.
 
She was right.
It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays.
The way to make learning a lesson of celebration
instead of a cause for regret is to only ask,
"How can I put this to use today?"
 
The Daffodil Principle.
 
Stop waiting.....
 Until your car or home is paid off
 Until you get a new car or home
 Until your kids leave the house
 Until you go back to school
 Until you finish school
 Until you clean the house
 Until you organize the garage
 Until you clean off your desk
 Until you lose 10 lbs.
 Until you gain 10 lbs.
 Until you get married
 Until you get a divorce
 Until you have kids
 Until the kids go to school
 Until you retire
 Until summer
 Until spring
 Until winter
 Until fall
 Until you die...
 
There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt,
and, Dance like no one's watching.
 
If you want to brighten someone's day,
pass this on to someone special (like I did to you!)
  
Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!
Don't be afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin. 
 
- Author unknown
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
 
You can download the meditations here...
 
World Peace Meditation:
 
Five Minute Miracle of Love: 

Feel free to share this message with your friends!

 


Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:49 pm

nithyashanti
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Message #210 of 241 |
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Dear Friends, I'd like to invite all friends to enter the new year with 5 - 15 mins of meditation. If you like you can use the "*World Peace Meditation"* or...
Nithya Shanti
nithyashanti
Offline Send Email
Dec 26, 2008
1:49 pm
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