My mother used to ask me what is the most important part of the
body. Through the years I would take a guess at what I thought was the
correct answer.
When I was younger, I thought sound was very important to us as
humans, so I said, 'My ears, Mommy.'
She said, 'No. Many people are deaf. But you keep thinking about it
and I will ask you again soon.'
Several years passed before she asked me again. Since making my
first attempt, I had contemplated the correct answer. So this time I told
her, 'Mommy, sight is very important to everybody, so it must be our
eyes'.
She looked at me and told me, 'You are learning fast, but the answer
is not correct because there are many people who are blind.'
Stumped again, I continued my quest for knowledge and over the
years, Mother asked me a couple more times and always her answer was, 'No.
But you are getting smarter every year, my child.'
Then last year, my grandpa died. Everybody was hurt. Everybody was
crying. Even my father cried. I remember that especially because it was
only the second time I saw him cry. My Mom looked at me when it was our
turn to say our final good-bye to Grandpa.
She asked me, 'Do you know the most important body part yet, my
dear?'
I was shocked when she asked me this now. I always thought this was
a game between her and me.
She saw the confusion on my face and told me, 'This question is very
important. It shows that you have really lived in your life. For every
body part you gave me in the past, I have told you was wrong and I have
given you an example why. But today is the day you need to learn this
important lesson.'
She looked down at me as only a mother can. I saw her eyes well up
with tears. She said, 'My dear, the most important body part is your
shoulder.'
I asked, 'Is it because it holds up your head?'
She replied, 'No, it is because it can hold the head of a friend or
a loved one when they cry. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometime
in life, my dear. I only hope that you have enough love and friends that
you will always have a shoulder to cry on when you need it.'
Then and there I knew the most important body part is not a selfish
one. It is sympathetic to the pain of others.
People will forget what you said....... People will forget what you
did........ But people will NEVER forget how you made them feel.
It
was three days after I met with her that I realized Grandmother Twylah Hurd
Nitsch is a small woman. Her fathomless eyes, her great good humor and the
magnitude of the peace that effortlessly flows from her heart convey a
physical presence that reaches far beyond her diminutive frame. She is warm
beyond measure, mercurial and deeply connected to the Earth.
One
of the biggest challenges facing many of my clients is that they talk
themselves out of their hopes and dreams before they even begin. They do
this because they can't figure out how to get to where they want to go. I'd
like to propose a radical alternative. Don't try to figure out how to reach
your goal; let the Universe help you.
The
biggest trap in the world to fall into is that of making careless and cruel
comments about others. It is difficult not to jump in and fan the fire with
our own critical take on another. It is equally as difficult to remain
immune to the disparaging remarks and innuendoes uttered by others.
Paramhansa
Yogananda said: "We are all of us a little bit crazy, but most of us don't
know it because we mix only with people with the same type of craziness as
our own. It is only when differently crazy people come together that they
get a chance to find out the errors in their own types of craziness!"
We
are aware that we suffer from optical delusions, but we still suffer,
nonetheless. We have more or less just shifted our dissatisfaction onto a
new playing field, it might seem. We can see that there has been a breakdown
somewhere along the way, but by what practical means are we going to heal
ourselves?
