How you Approach Life.

I knew a valley person who saw the world as surrounded by obstacles.  Wherever she looked, she saw the sides of rock walls, the unclimbable sides of mountains.  She is a valley person. 

Her conversations were all about how this person or that person brought trouble to her life.  How she would be so much better off if Mr. X never talked to her again.  How Bank Y just didn't understand that she had the money in by the end of the day, but still got charged an overdraft.  Her children treated her like a slave, a maid.  Everything in the world was out to get her, to make her life hard.

She would get a cold and immediately think that if it turned into the flu, she just couldn't miss that time at work.  They would fire her.  Perhaps it was H1N1.  And so on.........

When moments of opportunity, or even rest and recreation came up, she did not notice them; or noticing, only saw them as things which should be avoided.  A nap couldn't be taken, because it would be interrupted.  A vacation could not begin because there was just too much to do.  A massage or a day at the spa was unaffordable.  A morning brunch with friends would take up too much time.

I knew another valley person.  No matter where she turned, she saw the beauty of mountains, the lushness of the grass on the hills, the splendor of snow on the peaks.

In her approach to others, she was graceful, patient, understanding.  Talking with her made you feel better, made you feel listened to and respected.  She could be found always talking.  Many times, she would talk at length with strangers as though they were the best of friends. 

Opportunities would arise for her and she would be off teaching night classes, delivering Meals on Wheels, playing with children in the park, feeding the geese.   When she got a cold, it would turn into bronchitis.  She had had breathing problems her whole life.  Yet, even amidst the short breaths, and at times, exhausting coughing, she kept seeing the beautiful mountains.

Did the first women never have moments of bliss?  I am sure she did.  Did she laugh uproariously.  Yes.  Had she ever experienced love and belonging.  Again, I have no doubt. 

Did the second women ever huddle in fear?  Or cry out in pain of loss?  Did she ever have to face humiliation or shame?  Again, assuredly. 

The approach to life in each was what made the difference.  Not the bad things that happened, nor the losses nor gains in each created their lives.  One life seemed based on an assumption that she lived in a hostile or cruel world.  The other that she lived in a benevolent one. 

Einstein said, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." 


While that is denying the whole range of approached to life, it does highlight the fact that we all have a base motivation, a base assumption about life.  For some, everything is a miracle.  For others, a burden.  For most of us, at some time, both.


Yet, if we make a decision to consciously choose the kind world, the loving stranger, the miraculous everyday, we are likely to experience more of it.