Wish Basket

Is there one (or more than one) public figure - or personal acquaintance - that you highly dislike, even hate? If there is, you might have wished for them to disappear from this world. If you have ever had such a thought, you are certainly not alone. Yet, a consideration on this matter may be useful. First you must ask yourself if you believe that every living creature has the right to be 'alive'. If you are used to discriminate, stop here. If, on other hand, you believe in such right, the immediate consequence is that "all" creatures, including human beings, cannot be denied such prerogative. Besides, who can tell if that hateful person doesn't have a hidden side that can give rise to a positive outcome? You cannot tell because you do not know. Therefore, it's better to put that thought in a special "wish basket" and ... leave it there.

Away or Towards?

In the first scene of an old TV series, you see the shape of a man with a bag. He walks on a straight road, moving away from you. You watch him for a short while. Then, suddenly, you realize that the man might be walking towards you instead. Once you realize the two possibilities, your eyes are able to make the switch instantaneously. Like the well-known silhouette of a ballerina who is perceived as dancing clockwise or counter clockwise. Optical illusion? Certainly. Like thousands of others. But - you may wonder - how can it be possible? The movement - away or towards, from right or from left - cannot include both possibilities at the same time. It must be either one or the other. Nevertheless, it does! It's you who decides what to see. It's your choice that gives reality to one image or the other. Can this happen in real life as well? Is it possible that a situation is "true" according to the way "you" choose to interpreter it - not with your eyes but with your intention?

Multiplicity

Everybody knows that actions can yield different outcomes. There are good actions and bad actions. There are behaviors that show empathy and caring, others that mercilessly hurt people. Such situation may be considered sad and somewhat unfair, but 'multiplicity' is the rule of the world we live in. You certainly heard that there is no good without bad or there is no beauty without ugliness. What does this really mean? It means that human beings need to see, to experience 'opposites' to understand what life is about. Such experience is needed for the survival of all. If one of the two 'sides of the coin' were missing, there would be no 'coin'. Your life has a meaning only because of the possibility given to you to experience different states of being. 

Being Yourself

Some people are unhappy not so much about who they are, but because of "how" they are. Deep inside they must know their goodness, their worth, their cleverness, their beauty, but they are unable to see it reflected in the outside. They don't appreciate their looks, character, behavior. In a word, they wish they were different. They may start to compare themselves to someone else, maybe a movie star, a famous artist, a great scientist. Or they simply see a colleague, a friend, a neighbor, a cousin, as more attractive, handsome, skilled, successful than they are. What a sad situation! If you start comparing yourself to anybody else you are heading towards great, and useless, disappointment. You cannot be like another because you are "you". If a girl deludes herself into believing she can look like that 'super model' or 'reality show personality' by undergoing plastic surgery or changing her hair style, she only succeeds in becoming a meaningless, pathetic copy of another, while neglecting to express her real, beautiful self.  *

Eagerness for Life

Some elderly people say they miss the eagerness (for life). They say they wish that youth would last forever. But...is this the best thing to be hoped for? At least, is it for everybody? Possibly it isn't. Older age is necessarily different from young age, but such difference should not be seen, and felt, as negative.  A diminished eagerness, and even a lack of it, does not mean that an elderly person isn't interested in living any more. It simply means that priorities have changed, it means that there is no more desire to run, to rush, the feel compelled to reach certain goals. On the contrary, it means that the goals have been achieved (entirely or in part) and now it's time to relax, to think, to make an inventory of one's life and be contented with what is still there to be enjoyed. It is also very likely that the desire to 'learn' never left, although now it is not felt as a means to advance one's career. It is just a renewed love for learning. The mind, in fact, is always active - independently from age - and it always longs for knowledge, even if the motivation to pursue it has necessarily changed.

New Situation

Imagine a long-gone world where curiosity did not exist. Set the surroundings as you prefer: caves, seaside, desert, hills, countryside... Human beings lived day after day, always repeating the same actions, always thinking the same things, always seeing the sky and the environment in a static way. No one ever wondered what the stars were, what caused the movement of the ocean, how could the grass and the flowers grow...This is what probably happened for a very long time, until one day someone felt like asking "Why?". And a new era began. Now human beings seem to have reached the opposite position. Questioning everything and everybody seems the new way of life. While in the old world life must have been kind of dull, the modern era has created a world of great achievements, but where relationships with things and people have become more complicated and difficult. The price of "progress".   *

Denial

 A story tells of a girl who lived in a world where she could see all the other people, but not herself. This is an invention all right, but there is also some truth that pops up, if you take the time to think about it. You, yourself, may sometimes acknowledge what is around you, even your own actions, but you refuse to "see" them, i.e. to accept them. It is a common characteristic of the human behavior to avoid what is unpleasant, to deny an annoying fact, to ignore a disagreeable situation. Yes, it is only human to reject what you don't like. But...is it logical? The action of refusing, avoiding, ignoring doesn't make the 'situation' disappear. The traditional ostrich, after burying its head under the sand, will eventually have to lift it up. And it will find the sand still there!

Recollections

Have you ever wondered if the past really exists? I mean, did things happen exactly the way you remember them? You believe they did, but maybe they didn't. The human mind collects memories all right, but it also tends to make a selection of what should go into its 'storeroom'. An experience that you enjoyed might be recalled as exceptionally pleasant, with some details enhanced and others minimized or forgotten. On the other hand, an event that caused you uneasiness will be brought back to memory as an awful experience, much worse than it actually was. Therefore...how much can you trust the way you see, even judge, your past? And finally, as this is the way it is, does "the Past" actually exist, or is it a creation that your mind puts together "now"?

Balancing Life and Past

 What 'principles' have been transmitted to you by those who had a big impact in your younger age? Two principles may have had great relevance, to the point of having contributed to create the human being that you are now.  They are the inheritance you may have got from your father, mother, a teacher, a coach, a spiritual guide etc. One is "the law" (all the 'should' and 'shouldn't'), the other is the "desire" (creativity, the willingness to understand the meaning of life). These two principles, that include beliefs, values, rules of behavior, if well balanced, can yield a really good life. In your case (as in everybody else's) you have to check not only what has actually been handed down to you, but also "how" it was handed down - with love or as an imposition. Too many 'should' and 'shouldn't' may have been imposed without an explanation, without an answer, without an attempt to make you understand. At this point a question arises: how do you come to terms with your past? As it seems that Life and Past are rarely balanced, a kind of compromise - or adjustment -  is required. What do you think?  *