Some time ago, I wrote a series of essays. I discovered that for me, writing helped distill moments of insight I experienced as I worked on learning to live life differently and better. Since my writing served me, I hoped it might serve others. I hoped that by sharing, we might all benefit and learn together. In that same spirit, I still maintain these thoughts and reflections. Life really is a marvelous and astonishing thing – even when it sucks. Together, we can all help create and live powerful, fulfilling lives.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Starfish on the Beach

Feb. 23rd, 2003


Aloha and Good Morning,

         In my meditation, I found myself reflecting upon an old adage, a wonderful story you may be familiar with. 

         It tells the tale of an old man strolling along the beach. He catches sight of a young girl who appears to be dancing at the water’s edge. The old man slowly ambles closer, watching the girl as she bends down, straightens to her full height and casts her arm out in an arc. Drawing closer, he sees that the sand is littered with starfish and she is throwing them, one by one, back into the sea.

         The old man grumbles, “There are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see. What difference can saving a few of them possibly make?”
         Smiling, she stoops down and tosses another starfish out over the water, saying, “It made a difference to that one.”

         It always makes a difference when we chose to act out of kindness and love. And yet, so much of how we act seems based upon how we feel and so much of how we feel is based upon our thought processes and the habitual action/reaction reflex that rules our relationships until we take conscious control. Again, this is an action that must spring from our thoughts.

         So I reflected upon the events casting a pall of darkness over the heart of the world; I thought about the eruptions of unhappiness and conflict. Mostly, though, I reflected upon how these outward events are mirrored in my inner thinking. Are my inner thoughts on the verge of war? Do my inner thoughts create conflict within me -- or worse, create it without? It comes down to our choice of thoughts, fleeting or familiar as they wash up upon the beaches of our minds.

         Of the thousands of starfish thoughts that wash upon the shores of our being, which will we save? Which will we pick up and throw back into the sea? We have the choice. We can pick up thoughts of love, thoughts of radiant inner light, thoughts of God and the divine within us, thoughts of peace. We can pick up the thoughts that propel us forward upon the path to health and well-being. Or we can focus on the acid rains of negativity that pelt the inner sands of our mind. The one or the other, which will it be? And what will our thoughts manifest in our lives?

         A simple ill chosen word can manifest immediate hurt and unhappiness in our relationships; a simple and heartfelt “I love you,” can turn a gloomy day into a
sunburst of brightness. Both results are the product of the starfish thoughts we save from extinction, the thoughts we nurture with habitual repetition.

         May your thoughts propel you forward to a bright and beautiful day, one in which you chose peace, one in which you chose to “accentuate the positive, and illuminate the negative,” one in which you make the choice, consciously and with full awareness of where your thoughts, and as a result, your feelings will go.

Love and Aloha,
Holman

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