Another weird article title from yours
truly. But if you’ve been with us very long you ought to be used
to that by now. ;)
John Cali
Almost everywhere I’ve lived in this lifetime, I’ve had wild
dandelions all around me every spring. Wyoming is no exception.
I love dandelions, even though most folks consider them pesky
weeds. The flowers are pretty to look at and, believe it or not,
they make great wine. The leaves are delicious as a salad with a
little olive oil and vinegar, or as steamed greens.
This year I realized something else about dandelions, something I
never noticed before. Their bright yellow flowers disappear every
evening when the sun goes down, and reappear the next morning at
sunrise. Sort of like sunflowers. What a beautiful natural rhythm of
life! They "go to sleep" at sunset and "awaken"
at dawn. Yet I’d never noticed that before.
I began to wonder what else in my life was hidden from me
"in plain sight" because I wasn’t paying attention.
Here’s Chief Joseph.
Chief Joseph
Many of you go through your lives not noticing all the good, all
the beauty "hidden in plain sight." People sometimes tell
us they see little or no hope for the planet or the human race. They
see only doom and gloom, only the dreadful fate they know is
awaiting all of you -- like a time bomb about to explode in your
face.
If you pay too much attention to what others are saying, you’ll
begin to believe that dark scenario. You’ll begin to believe it’s
real. When you keep thinking the same thought, again and again, it
becomes your belief. When you keep strengthening the belief by
thinking the same thought, it becomes your experience of the world
you live in.
There are many worlds, one for each of you, depending on your
focus.
Yet, from our perspective, your planet has never seemed more
beautiful, more abundant, expanding as it is into a higher vibration
with each passing moment of your awareness.
Friends, you live amidst some of the greatest physical splendor
we have ever seen anywhere in the Universe. Yet so many of you
simply don’t appreciate, or even see, all that splendor -- like
John with the dandelions.
One of you once said, "Take time to smell the roses."
In other words, don’t rush through your lives obsessed with all
your "responsibilities," with all the "bad
stuff" out there.
Take some time to separate yourselves from the intensity and
"busyness" of your world. Take some time to enjoy the
silence, to go within to the deep well of peace and power within all
of you.
When you do that, you will rediscover the fact that you
create the world out there. The world out there does not create your
experience -- you do.
As we’ve said before, a happy life is an inside job. You create
a happy life from within. The only guarantee of a happy life is
reclaiming the power within, and not allowing your happiness
to be determined by what or who are "out there."
Once you begin to do that, you will start noticing how beautiful
your world is, how beautiful other people are, how beautiful you
are.
You will no longer be living among the wild dandelions, oblivious
to their beauty and to all the other beauty and splendor surrounding
you.
Chief Joseph talks about related subjects here:
Be
Here Now
I’m
Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover
Lost
Among the Trees
Morning
in the Mountains
Pay
Attention To What You’re Paying Attention To
That’s
Not Aunt Mary
