Scattered
Rays
“One of
the secrets of a successful life is to be able hold all of our
energies upon one point, to focus all of the scattered rays of the
mind upon one point or thing.”
Orison
Swett Marden
I've told the story
before of the young man who sat behind me in World Geography class in
college. The professor, and old Navy captain, stood before a map with
his back to the class and droned on for an hour every single day. Mr.
Ivey, who was a sophomore when I was a freshman, never took a note,
never even brought his book to class and still made A's. It drove me
crazy. When I finally asked him about it, he told me, “If you
listened, you wouldn't need to take notes either!” The problem was,
it was hard for me to simply sit and listen to all that droning. Some of us don't
function well sitting and listening. What I did, instead, was doodle
in my notebook. I drew faces, plants, animals, and sometimes, just
boxes and lines with dots. Occasionally, I wrote down what the
professor said. Mr. Ivey made A's, and I made B's, and was grateful
for them.
There are many different
ways to focus energies. Some of us can simply sit and listen. Some of
us need to read, or write, or draw; some of us need to engage our
whole bodies. Many people think best when they give the body
something to do while the mind focuses on an idea or a problem. The
greatest determinant toward having a successful life, in my opinion,
is having the deep desire, the heart and the will, to stay with
something until it is done. Not giving up when the going gets
tough—that's important.
Then there's the question
of exactly what it means to have “a successful life.” I wonder
how you would define that. In my world view, a successful life is one
in which the whole of you—mind, body, soul, and spirit—is engaged
and satisfied. If that takes a little doodling, a little walking, or
carpentry, or painting, or yoga, to focus the energies, then so be it.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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