The discipline of restfulness is one that pays great dividends, not the least of which is that we do better work. It’s only a fool who thinks he can be more productive by never turning the machinery off for maintenance. Wise people know better.
Ingenuity makes us less dependent. When we show resourcefulness in finding solutions to our difficulties, we’re able to survive in situations where no outside help is available. Ingenuity also helps us to take personal responsibility for our lives.
Wounded by the hurts of this world, we yearn to be made whole again. When our injuries and ailments do not produce outright pain, we still sense a vague longing for a wholeness that is not ours right now. We are acutely aware of our need for healing.
Able to influence others, we should always seek to resonate with those around us. We do this by first listening to others sympathetically and learning their needs. Then we are able to send “sounds” that resonate with them, impacting them richly.
Each of us is a unique “package” with a particular set of opportunities. Are we fulfilling the potential we’ve been given? “The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become” (Charles du Bos).
When a man carefully considers his ancestors, he learns some important things about himself. But when he contemplates his descendants — the family he will have fathered — he has an even better opportunity to become educated.
A human being is an extremely powerful force, but in the absence of any government, a human being can do more harm than fire ever could. “Government and cooperation are in all things the laws of life; anarchy and competition the laws of death.”
Many of our problems result from imbalances: the elements of a thing are competing rather than working together. The more complicated our problems, the more we need to break them down into their parts and see how they can be balanced in a better way.
At the deepest level, we show appreciation for fellowship when we serve our fellows. And ultimately, we must be ready to serve any of our fellow human beings, not just the nice ones who are in our same social niche and are easy to serve.
We’re not as attentive as we should be. We overlook much and ignore even more, the most remarkable things going unnoticed. But when we work on our observation habits, great things happen. You really can, as Yogi said, “observe a lot by watching.”
