1、51 Your Mind Is a Garden Some time ago, Sofan and I were visiting some friends in the country. We were staying a beautiful little guest cabin, surrounded by fruit trees, flowers and even a few goats. Painted above the doorway in brightly colored, flowing letters were the words: Your mind is a garden
2、. Your thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers or You can grow weeds. Little did we know it at the time, but this little poem was to have a profound affect both on our thought patterns as well as our Artworks. It started almost as a kind of game. We decided to make a real effort to watch our th
3、oughts and see exactly what it was that we were planting in our own “Mind Gardens”. It was difficult at first, but gradually, we began to pay more and more attention to what thoughts were repeatedly flashing across our minds. How disturbing it was to discover that many of these “seeds” were extremel
4、y negative thoughts destined to grow patches of thorny thistles and stinging nettles in our daily lives! We gradually came to see how so many of the problems and difficulties we were encountering in our lives had their beginnings in the seeds of doubt, fear and anxiety that we were continually plant
5、ing in our minds. It does take effort, but like anything else it gets easier with practice, and the amazing thing is, as we became more and more aware of these negative thoughts we are able to say: “No! I will NOT plant this weed in the Garden of my Mind.” I will consciously choose to plant somethin
6、g better. The results are truly spectacular. When you start to consciously cultivate your own mind garden, you will truly be amazed at the changes which begin to happen in your life. Obstacles disappear, barriers fall away, and things that you once thought were either impossible or very far away wil
7、l suddenly come into view. Any garden is an ongoing process. It?s not enough to just plant a single seed of happiness and then forget about it. Your frail little seedling would soon be choked by weeds. It is necessary to continuously pull out and throw away those weeds of fear, doubt and anxiety as
8、soon as they appear. Love, happiness and tranquility are all contagious. People who are continuously planting these seeds in their own minds are also planting them in other people?s. So ask yourself, what are you going to grow in the glorious garden of your mind? May your life be filled with love, h
9、appiness and inspiration. 52 The word mother and mothers day are simple, yet powerful little words that you hear all the time especially so around the time of mothers day when everyone seem to be scrambling for ideas to say thank you, you are surely loved and you are appreciated all over again. But
10、if you would just take time out, you would realize that useful hints were probably being dropped all alone and throughout the year. In fact, with that special day being only a few weeks away, some of your thoughts at this time can range anywhere from what are you going to do for your mother, spouse
11、or other loved one to should it be a product gift or something more personal. If it is the product route, how can it be made more personalized? If it is the gift of time, how can it be made more personal? Mothers Day for some will be welcomed with feelings of excitement while for others it may be a
12、day of mixed feelings especially so if the mother you will honor has lost a child to tragedy. So that is why whenever you wish to honor someone in your own little way, you should consider where that person may be in their life and then the event. Many people say that its the thought that counts and
13、yes thats a very good point but so is too know a person and mothers day is no exception. To give you some examples, consider a single mother whos been struggling to raise her children and doing it all alone in every sense of the word, what would make her day on mothers day? What about a seventy-two
14、year old mother who has raised her children but suddenly took on the new responsibilities of raising her grand children, what would she possibly want or deserve? Sure a bouquet of flowers or some other last minute gift would be nice and probably get you off the hook but what would that mother really
15、 want to do for that special day? 53 Everything happens for the best,“ my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. And youll realize that it wouldnt have happened if not for that previous disappointment. “ Mother was right, as I discovered af
16、ter graduating from college in 1932, I had decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer. I hitchhiked to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station-and got turned down every time. In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldnt risk hiring an inexperi
17、enced person. “Go out in the sticks and find a small station thatll give you a chance, “ she said. I thumbed home to Dixon, Illinois. While there were no radio announcing jobs in Dixon, my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports department. Sinc
18、e Dixon was where I had played high school football, I applied. The job sounded just right for me. But I wasnt hired. My disappointment must have shown. “Everything happens for the best. “ Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to hunt job. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director
19、, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter MacArthur told me they had already hired an announcer. As I left his office, my frustration boiled over. I asked aloud, “How can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he cant get a job in a radio station.“ I was waiting for the elevator when I heard MacArthur ca
20、lling, “What was you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?“ Then he stood me before a microphone and asked me broadcast an imaginary game. The preceding autumn, my team had won a game in the last 20 seconds with a 65 yard run. I did a 15 minute build up to that play, and Peter told
21、 me I would be broadcasting Saturdays game! On my way home, as I have many times since, I thought of my mothers words: “If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldnt have happened if not for that previous disappointment. “ 54 I?d really like for them to know about hand-me-do
22、wn clothes and home-made ice cream and leftover meatloaf. I really would. My cherished grandson, I hope you learn humility by surviving failure and that you learn to be honest even when no one is looking. I hope you learn to make your bed and mow the lawn and wash the car-and I hope nobody gives you
23、 a brand-new car when you are sixteen. It will be good if at least one time you can see a baby calf born, and you have a good friend to be with you if you ever have to put your old dog to sleep. I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in. I hope you have to share a bedroom with
24、 your younger brother. And it is all right to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he s scared, I hope you?ll let him. And when you want to see a Disney movie and your kid brother wants to tag along, I hope you take him. I hope you hav
25、e to walk uphill with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely. If you want a slingshot, I hope your father teaches you how to make one instead of buying one. I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books, and when you learn to use computers, you also learn how to add
26、 and subtract in your head. I hope you get razzed by friends when you have your first crush on a girl, and that when you talk back to your mother you learn what Ivory soap tastes like. May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on the stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole. I hope you get sick when someone blows smoke in your face. I don t car
