I have to share this with you all. Inspirational
By teenal
@teenal (1400)
Dublin, Ireland
January 29, 2007 6:11pm CST
Now that I have over 500 posts and am allowed copy I had to copy this article I found and share it with you all. Its so true and if applied could change your life. I hope you all enjoy it. Its long but so worth the read.
Please read this and then think how many times have i started something but just not seen it through ?? It just meant that little bit of effort but you could not be bothered
The Daffodil Principle
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 Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this 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, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."
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 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 is one of the greatest principles of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...
"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?"
Use 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 like I just did!
Wishing you a beautiful, daffodil day!
Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@onouui (80)
• Australia
30 Jan 07
Thank you for sharing this. Wow, I read the whole thing, but it was really nice. One of my really bad habits is doing things to the last minute. It happens with almost everything I need done and I have procastinated so, so, sooo much. I learnt from this moral a very valuable and inspiring principle, and will treasure time. I know that nowadays, time is flying away reeeal fast and I can feel it.
Thanks again!
1 person likes this
@megs85 (3142)
• Australia
30 Jan 07
Thats beautiful, and truly inspirational, thanks for sharing it.
How has it changed your life? Have you applied this principle yourself? How?
Its actually inspired me to get off this computer and go finish what I started this morning, sorting through the packed boxes that I have had sitting in my spare room for the past 10 months sice we first moved in here. I dont know why keep putting it off, but now I know I shouldnt put things ff, or they simply wont get done. My spare room thanks you ;) lol
@babykay (2131)
• Ireland
30 Jan 07
thanks Teenal. That is a really nice piece. It is giving me hope that I will finally finish (maybe) the masters degree that I have been doing part time for the past 3 years. Various things have gotten in the way such as laziness, having baby etc and I really hope I can finish this year. Even if I don't I know I will get their eventually....babysteps!
@teenal (1400)
• Dublin, Ireland
30 Jan 07
Yes I think we all look at life as a series of impossible tasks but if you break them down into little steps its not so daunting.
Reminds me of a poem
One step and then another and the longest walk is ended
One stitch and then another and the widest rent is mended
One one brick and then another and the tallest wall is made
One flake and then another and the deepest snow is laid
Good luck with your degree. You will get there in the end.