February 22

  

Today's Quotation:

The secret to happiness is this: Let your interest be as wide as possible,
and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you
be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile.

Bertrand Russell

Today's Meditation:

I used to dislike The Simpsons.  I had never seen an entire episode of the show, but I had heard and seen enough to be sure that I didn't like it.  Then I watched a couple of episodes all the way through, and I was amazed at just how funny and clever the show actually was.  I was also amazed at just how closed-minded and limited I had been to reject a show that I had never seen.  I've done this with other things, too, including movies, music, people, authors, websites--you name it.  I've later been proven wrong in my judgment and willingness to reject something due to first impressions.

Have you ever suggested something that you know to be wonderful to someone else, only to have that person say, "I'm not interested in that"?  It can be one of the most frustrating things in the world because you know just what that person is missing, and you know that it's great.  But they won't have anything to do with it.

Do we do that ourselves, though?  Even if we aren't reacting to another person's suggestion, don't we reject things because it's not in our field of interest?  How many great learning experiences do we miss out on because we keep our interests artificially narrow, and we react to things that are different or somehow threatening by keeping them out, pushing them away from us, at least mentally if not physically.

We don't have to be interested in everything.  I truly don't care who wins the next NASCAR race or the NBA championship, but I do know enough about both sports to be able to understand a conversation that I might be a part of.  Many people in the world are interested in such things, and if I can at least understand where they're coming from without being judgmental, then we have a touchpoint, something in common that will allow us to make at least some sort of contact.

Keeping our interests wide and varied keeps us wide and varied, and opens up many doors that otherwise would be closed.

Questions to ponder:

1.  In what ways do you limit your own interests?

2.  How do you feel when someone judges your own interests
as "stupid" or a "waste of time"?

3.  How easy is it to be friendly rather than hostile?
For further thought:

The life that is sharing in the interests, the welfare, and the
happiness of others is the one that is continually expanding
in beauty and in power and, therefore, in happiness.

Ralph Waldo Trine
   
 
 

  




Now available from Living Life Fully Publications:
Over a year of "Just for Today" passages from our popular e-mail daily quotations.  Thoughts and ideas that you can use to help to make your day brighter and more fulfilling as you focus on different ways of giving and awareness of the blessings in your life!  Click on the image to the left for the print version.
Kindle Version       -       Nook Version
Also available:  Daily Meditations, Year One
One full year's worth of our daily meditations that until now have been available only on our site or through e-mail.  Now you can have the entire first year's worth of daily meditations for just $3.99 on your Kindle.  (There is no print version available yet.)
 

 

Now you can have almost 4,000 quotations from our extensive collection to take with you wherever you go, for just 99 cents.  For less than one dollar, you can have this collection on your Kindle or your laptop (when you download the Kindle for PC program)--and have the wisdom of the ages with you for your perusal at any time you  may want or need it.  This is priceless content that can add incredibly positive thoughts to whatever kind of day or week you may be going through. . . helpful advice always will be just a couple of clicks away!