Just A Thought (#3): Gratitude
THERE ONCE WAS A MAN THAT WAS BLIND. ALL OF HIS LIFE HE LIVED HIS LIFE, LIVING AND LOVING BY FEELING. THEN, ONE DAY, WHEN THE MAN WAS FORTY YEARS OLD, HE MET A PHYSICIAN WHO WAS ABLE TO CURE HIM. THE FIRST SEVERAL WEEKS WERE EXTRAORDINARY FOR HIM. HE EXCLAIMED, “LOOK AT ALL THE VIVID COLORS,… THE WAY THE WIND PUSHES THE TREE LIMBS AND HOW THEY SPRING BACK… THE WAY A PERSON EXPRESSES EMOTION AND THE LOOK OF THE IVORY TEETH THAT SHOW DURING LAUGHTER.”
BUT AS THE WEEKS PASS, THE MAN SLOWLY BEGAN TO SEE ALL THE OTHER THINGS… THE “DIRT”… THE GREED, THE WAY OTHERS HURT ANOTHER (SOMETIMES FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN SELFISHNESS). AS THE EVILS OF THE WORLD BECOME KNOWN, HE BECAME VERY DEPRESSED. HE REALIZED THAT HIS BLINDNESS WAS ACTUALLY A GIFT. THE WORLD THAT HE HAD CREATED IN HIS MIND HAD BEEN TOO FAMILIAR TO HIM, BUT HE LONGED TO HAVE IT BACK. BUT HE COULD NOT, BECAUSE EVEN IF HE WALKED THE EARTH BLINDFOLDED HIS MIND WOULD NEVER FORGET ALL THE EVILS IT SAW, AND THUS THE WORLD HE HAD CREATED COULD NEVER BE RE-LIVED. (THE END)
HERE AT THE CHENCENTER, WE PRACTICE OUR ART (WHETHER IT’S TAIJIQUAN, WU SHU, OR SELF DEFENSE) IN A WAY THAT CONTINUOUSLY SEEKS THE ESSENCE OF WHAT TRUE MARTIAL ART IS… PEACE. TAIJIQUAN (LIKE AIKIDO) IS THE ART OF PEACE. ALWAYS SHOW GRATITUDE TO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE, HARBOR NO ILL FEELINGS FOR OTHERS, AND (VERY IMPORTANTLY)… SHOW YOUR GOOD NATURE THROUGH YOUR GOOD WORKS, YOUR ART,…YOUR SMILE.
THIS BRINGS ME TO THE WORDS OF MORIHEI UESHIBA,
WHEN YOUR EYES ENGAGE THOSE OF ANOTHER PERSON, GREET HIM OR HER WITH A SMILE AND THEY WILL SMILE BACK. THIS IS ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL TECHNIQUES OF THE ART OF PEACE.
. . : : CHENCENTER BLOG : : . . 
It is always important to have gratitude and be a warm-hearted person all the time, because you never how what being kind to a person can come full circle.
And this story…shouldn’t the man should look around and see that the beauty that is on this earth is good, and that although there are evils in the world, that without the bad, how could we appreciate the good? And that the little things-like the way the wind pushes the tree limbs, or how a warm smile can light up someone’s world?
I don’t know if you have ever read Dean Koontz? He is not the best writer in the world but I have always loved the following passage from “From the Corner of His Eye”:
Not one day in anyone’s life…is an uneventful day, no day without profound meaning, no matter how dull and boring it might seem, no matter whether you are a seamstress or a queen, a shoeshine boy or a movie star, a renowned philosopher or a Downs-syndrome child. Because in every day of your life, there are opportunities to perform little kindnesses for others, both by conscious acts of will and unconscious example. Each smallest act of kindness–even just words of hope when they are needed, the remembrance of a birthday, a compliment that engenders a smile–reverberates across great distances and spans of time, affecting lives unknown to the one whose generous spirit was the source of this good echo, because kindness is passed on and grows each time it’s passed, until a simple courtesy becomes an act of selfless courage years later and far away. Likewise, each small meanness, each thoughtless expression of hatred, each envious and bitter act, regardless of how petty, can inspire others, and is therefore the seed that ultimately produces evil fruit, poisoning people whom you have never met and never will. All human lives are so profoundly and intricately entwined–those dead, those living, those generations yet to come–that the fate of all is the fate of each, and the hope of humanity rests in every heart and in every pair of hands. Therefore, after every failure, we are obliged to strive again for success, and when faced with the end of one thing, we must build something new and better in the ashes, just as from pain and grief, we must weave hope, for each of us is a thread critical to the strength–to the very survival–of the human tapestry. Every hour in every life contains such often-unrecognized potential to affect the world that the great days for which we, in our dissatisfaction, so often yearn are already with us; all great days and thrilling possibilities are combined always in this momentous day.
Brighten the corner where you are, and you will light the world
Someone once told me that it is impossible to be depressed and grateful in the same moment. That is so totally true. It is always my goal to live with a grateful heart. Sometimes it is hard to be grateful – sometimes it feels like everything is a train wreck, but you realize then that every day like that offers you the gift of perspective.
🙂 WERE DID I GET SUCH WISE FRIENDS?
on the intertetz of course!!! LOL! 😉