Transcending Limitations Blog

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.

“Never let the odds keep you from pursuing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.”

- Satchel Paige

is there something standing in your way from doing what you were meant to do?

what if you never did the thing you were meant to do?

i saw this quote just now and really liked it
“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.”

- Richard Halloway

i’ll just let you sit with that one for a while

i have received this email several times over the last few years
as a matter of fact even tho i can’t read it in printed form (i’m blind) I have it taped to my computer as a reminder of what is important
i like it so much that I wanted to share it here and hopefully you will find it inspiring

it is funny last night I was rereading Getting Unstuck by Pema Chodrun and she says ” death is certain, the time of death is uncertain so what is important?:
rereading that last night and this this morning i know there are no conincidences so I’m grateful for the reminder
read this and i hope yu find it inspiring

IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER – by Erma Bombeck
(written after she found out she was dying from cancer).

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth
would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted
in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was
stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried muchless
would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his
youth.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day
because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more
while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t
show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every
moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only
chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
to get washed up for dinner.” There would have been more “I love you’s”
More “I’m sorry’s.”
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute…look
at it and really see it.. . live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING
THE SMALL STUFF!!!
Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. 
us. Let’s think about what God HAS blessed us with, and what we are doing
each day to promote ourselves mentally, physically, and emotionally.
I hope you have a blessed day.

Frederick Buechner:

“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch
will be felt.”
just think about that one
think about it in terms of the good as well as the not so good things you do or say.
here is a tiny example that I think in a small way illustrates this quote and just imagine it in bigger ways

I’ve been known once in a while to have a fight with my husband
sometimes over the last 23 years we have had some doozies
after a fight like that I can be irritable, mad, hurt …. that same morning after one such fihgt my 6 year old is dawldling and running late for school – i’m already annoyed and irritated and I’m less than patient with my son I may even in the heat of the moment say something hurtful or not nice
I finally get him out the door but now he is irritated feeling bad… he gets on the bus is not too friendly to the friver and is short and grmpy with his friends who later are mad at him and don’t ask him to play ball at recess so he sits alone feeling even more miserable- okay you get the idea on a small scale imagine it on a big scale
and the same is true for an act of kindness – one small act of kindness have long reaching long term effects on one person. many people even the world.
think about it
pretty powerful huh?this is one of those quotes i want to read every morning to remind me how to be during the day
have a great day

if you have a fvorite quote that will inspire please share it with me

It should be our purpose in life to see that each of us makes such a contribution as will enable us to say that we, individually and collectively, are a
part of the answer to the world problem and not part of the problem itself. -
Andrew Cordier

are you doing something to in even the smallest way part of answering the world’s problem?
what the heck does that mean anyway?
for me it means that if you are going about your life doing only things for yourself alone which means things that just help you get by, your family get by, your company or job get by you probably are doing just that – getting by.

I believe that what we really need, what our souls need to soar to be happy, to be successful is to do something bigger than just for ourselves – to share something to help others , but to help others to truley make a difference not because it makes us feel good or look good.

This can come in the form of giving charity , getting involved in a cause or organizations that will make the world a better place, not closing your eyes to someone else’s pain but helping them even if it means the only thing you can do is cry with them.

it is sometimes uncomfortavle to do these things
we don’t have the time the money, we don’t want to get involved
but i believe that doing that extra thing, getting our of your comfort zone, stretching, is exactly what the world needs to be a better place and our soul needs to find ture fullfillment
and here is the thing
don’t say okay i will tommorrow
don’t say i will when i find some extra time
don’t say i will when i get my next bonus
do it now!
I have every confidence that you will find miracles in your life when you share and when you share selflessly and not for what it does for you
be part of making the world a better place
your soul will thank you for it

“Worrying is like being in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but does not get you anywhere.” – author unknown I don’t know what the weather is like in other parts of the country or the world but here in chicago we are having january in october-it is freezing! Record low temps for OctoberIt is definitely a good weekend to just put on warm sweats thick socks, curl up with a good book, spend time home just relaxing with family or friends and just chill -well actually that seems like a strange word to say when it is below freezing outside but just warm doesn’t cut it!
Have a great weekend and don’t worry be happy!!

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved. -
William Jennings Bryan
i like quotes. In particular I like quotes that when you read them evoke thought and reflection. And if a quote moves one to action – well all the better! That is why when i do a quote and reflection post I have categorized it as food for thought.
When i saw this quote this morning it made me pause and think. we do have control of our destinies, there are of course certain things that happen in our lives that we don’t have control over but it is what we do with, inspite of, because of that determines in many ways our destiny. there are mayny of those situations in our lives that we don’t have control over , we didn’t ask for and probably wouldn’t choose to have . they may cause difficulty they may create obstacles they may limit us but we have choices and what we choose to do is what will create and enable us to control our destinies.

13 years ago I went totally blind after a life long struggle with eye disease. i was a 35 year old young mother with 2 young children blindness was not something i would have chosen – tho i would much rather have gone blind than any number of other things that could have happend, it is inconvenient at times , there are obstacles tht need to be overcome at times, and sometimes it has ben more difficult than others but i had choices
there were things i wanted to do in my life goals and dreams and things i wanted to accomplish i could have said there goes all that and abandoned my goals stopped doing the things that i did because they were harder, getting there was dificult blah blah blah or i could have chosen to figure out ways to over come the obstacles, learn new skills, in order to accomplish the things i wanted and live the life i wanted
the choice was mine and within that choice were choices
i could give up and make my destiny one of being unfulfilled, sad, unhapy unaccomplished…. or i could make the choice to create the destiny i really wanted which was to live a full rich life having fun enjoying my famiy and friends volunteering working helping others

i control my destiny
are you sitting back and letting life just happen or are you or are you grabbing your destiny by the shirt collar and saying i’m in control i have choices?

no matter the circumstance you have control over our destiny – you make the choice!
and if yu want to find out more about me visit the meet michelle page of my web site www.transcendinglimitations.com
would love to hear your comments