Inspiration

When you see a glass of water, filled halfway, what do you say? Is it half full or is it half empty?

Does your outlook on life lean more one way than the other? Do you perceive possibilities as half complete or half uncomplete? Now you may say that these are truly opposite sides of the same coin, but are they really?

When something is half complete, is that more positive than saying it’s uncomplete? But stop for a minute, step back, and take another look at that glass.

Here are some principles to live your life by.

Set high performance standards for yourself. Don't set your goals and standards according to what satisfies others. Set goals that seem a little out of reach. Persevere. When those goals are reached, set new ones at a higher level. Keep doing it.

Never be satisfied with what you've accomplished so far. Always demand more from yourself. When you fail to live up to your standards, don't make excuses for yourself. Accept that you failed and resolve to do better next time.

Introduction

John:

This is John at Heart Speak. I am here with Matt Del Rosario. Matt, from the short I met you, you started talking about the future and the unknown and your perspective on the unknown. Could you please over that and share what your thoughts were on that?

Matt speaks:

I always felt like an outsider. I always felt I have been on the edge of life. I can participate in it, but for some reason, I catch myself needing space, needing to pull back, needing to feel myself away from others.

This is the story of how I learned about Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who had a jungle hospital in Equatorial Africa. The reverence for life for all animals, he created this idea when he was in Africa in 1913, when he first went to the hospital in the jungle.

The reverence for life came to me when my mother passed away. I was stationed in Germany. I came home to New York, and my father said, “I want you to meet this woman”. She was a Jewish refugee from Vienna. She won the 1958 Oscar for a documentary on Albert Schweitzer, who I’d heard of.

Ever notice that sometimes it’s just hard to get it done? Sometimes it’s hard to get a job, or an event, or an activity you had planned to do, and just do it.

Sometimes, that thing called procrastination bites you in the ass, and you can’t move forward. And no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you think about it, it eludes you.

Now you’re a smart person, you’re capable, you get a lot of things done all day. But sometimes the one event, one activity, one task just can’t get done. So how do you get it done? Here’s a little trick that might work.

Introduction

John:

Could you explain what Flow Kakou means?

Matt speaks:

Absolutely. Flow Kakou is my non-profit, my 501c3. We’re based in Hawaii. The title Flow Kakou – I took the word “flow” from the Buddhist definition of balance. The presence of both yin and yang at the same moment.

“Kakou” in Hawaiian means “everything.” To the stars, to the sand, to the water, to the people, to the animals, to the grass, even to the little bugs that we hate – that’s all Kakou.

Why does fire seem so alive?

That flame on a candle seems so peaceful, so meditative -- like it, itself, is putting out a presence.

A candlelit dinner. How charming.

One of the houses I pass on my walk has a gaslight lamp, that always has a flame burning.

I really like that.

I remember sparklers that we would light on the fourth of July. They’d leave a trail of light in the night air.

Perhaps these things remind us of our own sparkling light.

My daughter came running in the house, saying that she found fairy wings. She really wanted us to see, too.

Yes, there were 2 identical wings, silver, white, delicate – about the size of a young child’s finger. These wings could easily belong to a fairy.

I want to believe in fairy wings, and dogs that talk with their eyes – that there is a layer of enchantment cast everywhere, waiting to be discovered.

Often in life we discover that failure leads to success.

Let’s think about it. Two parents are raising two children: Joey and Johnny.

When Joey’s learning to walk, his mom is holding his hands as walks across the room to his dad. Along the path, walking across the room, Joey is secure, he can’t fall because mom’s holding him, and he feels protected. And everything he does is perfect in the eyes of his parents, because he successfully walked across the room to daddy.

Did you ever go into some place that had an echo?

It’s so hard not be a kid again. Just to play with it: clap, or say “hello”, or whistle, or stomp your feet.

I am so pleasantly surprised to find places that call you back to being curious, in the moment, childlike, wonder. The New York Botanical Gardens has a fabulous tunnel connecting two buildings that’s just perfect for making echoes. Perhaps it just happened that way. I’m grateful.

You just want to play with the situation. All else stops.