For more information about Amla Mehta and her work please visit https://www.amlaspeaks.com
As we age, and most people retire, many people tell me that they have nothing to do, they’re bored, and they have no clue how to spend the day. And then I meet others who are so busy, they’re busier retired than they ever were when they were working.
I read in a book how in Japan, at cherry blossom time, people write little poems, roll them up, and hang them with long ribbons from cherry blossom branches, to honor the trees.
I can imagine all these pink and white blossomed trees everywhere, with sensitive people writing thoughtfully and emotionally, rolling up a little scroll, and tying it with a ribbon, probably red, to a tree branch.
What a kind gesture to the earth.
And then the poem energy fills the air, like prayer flags do in Tibet, and is taken far and wide, as it sways in the wind on the blossom branch.
On my walk, I met a neighbor who told me this story. He had an ulcer, and so his stomach had been hurting him. Some of his friends convinced him to go on a men’s retreat with his church.
He reluctantly went, even more reluctantly because they were serving pizza, which would not agree with his stomach. Near the end of the retreat, he was surprised because the leader said, “Let’s pray for Donald.” So everyone laid their hands on Donald and prayed for him.
Afterwards, there was no longer a burning in his stomach. He was completely cured during those few minutes that day.
I’d like to talk about my faith today. I give full credit to my mother for my faith.
My mother was a divorced Catholic who remarried. Who could no longer receive the sacraments in the Catholic church, but she made sure that we were brought up Catholic. Every week we went to religious education. And every Sunday, she took us to Mass.
And if my older brother, who had been out having a good time, came in late and knocked the phone off of the wall, we went to 7 o’clock Mass, otherwise it was usually 10 o’clock Mass.
A few years ago, while hiking through the Mount Ascutney Mountains in Vermont, I found myself absolutely mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the deciduous pine forest. In particular, my eyes were being pulled towards the pinecones. Kind of like a magnet, I was attracted to the pinecones.
They densely garnished the tall pines. They came from all sizes, from two inches, up to seven, and perhaps more. They were everywhere, on the floor, on the branches. And the hues changed from light, pale green, to a royal forest green, to a hazel, to dark brown.
Grandpa always wore a three piece suit with a white Oxford shirt. In the heat of summer, he removed the vest. In the winter, when he went on his daily walks, he added a topcoat and a fedora to his outfit.
Two blocks from his house was a small grocery store where my brother Mike worked as a manager.
Every day, grandpa, in his late eighties, walked to the store to visit Mike and to pick up an item or two.
The seconds tick away as the hours turn into days, months then years.
Has all the time passed you by without the appreciation of the many moments you have be given?
Can more take place in a 5 minute encounter than living a 100 years?
You determine the affect things have on you.
You have been given the gift of your life and time.
You are never guaranteed another day.
There is something to always fill your time with:
Sleep, fun, work, exercise, hobbies, healing - the list goes on.
Did you ever want to go beyond what technology offers?
Way beyond what governments offer?
Way beyond what art or entertainment offer?
To live beyond the horizon of now.
I really like the idea of the outer limits.
A place in the unknown that has discovery everywhere.
Yes, it’s like being a child again – seeing what is in the world – this place and time I find myself in.
Plato believed that everything already exists – every idea, every work of art, every everything – and that we only need to discover it, find it, uncover it.
Artwork by Bruce Zboray www.bruce-zboray.artistwebsites.com
Imagine being so sure of an outcome, that it has to happen. In fact, to you it has already happened, as you look back from the future and see it so.
This is really fun, once you get into the mood and mindset.