Transcending Limitations Blog

the daffodil principal

The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour
drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by
the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want
to see badly enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”
“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.” 

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “Please turn around.”
“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with
an arrow that read, ” Daffodil Garden.”  We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path Then, as we turned a corner,
I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. 
 

 
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in
majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and  butter yellow. Each different
colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

 ”Who did this?” I asked Carolyn.  “Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame
house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

 On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”, was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,”
it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

 For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb
at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy y to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever
changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle
her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

 That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time–often just one baby-step at time–and learning to love the doing, learning
to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent
things. We can change the world .

 ”It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had though t of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago
and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

 My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.

 She was right. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret
is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”

 Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting….
 Until your car or home is paid off
 Until you get a new car or home
 Until your kids leave the house
 Until you go back to school
 Until you finish school
 Until you clean the house
 Until you organize the garage
 Until you clean off your desk
 Until you lose 10 lbs.
 Until you gain 10 lbs.
 Until you get married
 Until you get a divorce
 Until you have kids
 Until the kids go to school
 Until you retire
 Until summer
 Until spring
 Until winter
 Until fall
 Until you die…

There is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

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