In light of the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, I wanted to celebrate with some of my favorite inspirational life figures: Mr. Rogers, Winnie the Pooh, and Henry David Thoreau. I am a strong believer that in such a fast-paced world, our inner child is being crippled by the constant haste, demand, and concept of "more." Now more than ever, our spirits are crying for us to slow down, contemplate, and find our simplicity and wonder again. These individuals rank as some of my favorites because they remind me of Jesus Himself -- as well as the importance of silence. I hope you enjoy this scramble of quotes both from these figures and about them. It seems that those who have lived the most peaceful lives amongst hardship, are the very ones who became friends with the God that is sometimes looking for us in the solitude. May we finally find our inner innocence, purity, and peace in this place.
"He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." -Matthew 18:2-5
MR. ROGERS:
"In order for someone to grow, they have to be loved JUST as they are."
It's you I like, It's not the things you wear; It's not the way you do your hair; But it's you I like; They way you are right now; The way deep down inside you."
"Every person I talked to said, oh when you spoke to Fred (Mr. Rogers) you felt like you were the only person in the world that mattered to him."
"There are three secrets to happiness: being kind, being kind, and being kind."
"I feel so strongly that deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex."
"When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or feel or touch."
"If we take time, we can often go much deeper as far as spiritual life is concerned."
"We're raising children who can't bear silence, and all creativity comes out of silence."
"I keep thinking that evil would like nothing better than to make us feel awful about who we are."
"And then I realized with a shudder, is it possible that tens of millions of Americans don't feel they have any time for beautiful, noble, or sacred in the vicious, crushing pace of this life. It's so vicious, it's anti-life." -Bo Lozoff, in Mr. Rogers doc.
"The cause of all our personal problems... And nearly all the problems of the planet can be summed up in a single sentence: Human life is very deep, ad our dominant modern lifestyle is not." -Bo Lozoff
"He (Mr. Rogers) decided that he would always look for what's essential in another person. He would always look for what's not apparent to the eye."
"Fred wanted everyone to know that there is, has been, and never will be another YOU."
Mr. Rogers "was a veracious reader of spiritual literature, a great student of religion and spirituality, and a great student of just humankind."
Mr. Rogers "prayed for every person by name."
A man who was always looking for his father to be proud of him, once wrote Mr. Rogers a letter asking him to be proud of him, instead. This is Mr. Rogers' response to him: "YES. A resounding YES. I will be proud of you. I have been proud of you since we first met. Nothing you tell me could ever change my YES for you. I wonder if you realize how special you are. Your place in this life is unique -- absolutely unique. I feel blessed to be one of your friends. Only God can arrange such mutual trusting relationships -- for sure! for sure!!! YES, Tim. YES. Love, Fred."
When his close friends' brother was dying and the friend plunged into a deep depression, Mr. Rogers told him that he understood why he'd feel that way. He didn't say no no no to how he felt, but rather met his friend where his feelings were. Ultimately, it was Mr. Rogers' approach to say: "I will never forsake you. I love you. I'm proud of you." And his friend said that that's all we (humans) need.. (Isn't that a reminder of Jesus?)
POOH"
"Pooh may have very little brains, but he has the biggest of hearts."
"I always get to where I'm going by walking away from where I've been."
"Doing nothing often leads to the very best kind of something."
"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."
THOREAU
"..the hollow, lichen-covered apple trees, gnawed by rabbits."
Frederic Gros, on Thoreau: "What do I lose in pure living when I strive to earn more money? What it costs rich people to be rich, working, worrying, watching, never letting go."
Thoreau refers to civilized life as a "chopping sea" and dares the reader to focus on "Simplicity! Simplicity! Simplicity!"
"Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself."
"Rather it is that for thinking one needs a detached outlook, to be at a distance, to have clean air. One needs to be unconstrained to think far."
"Only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life."
"There are thoughts that can only occur at 6,000 feet above the plains and mournful shores."
"As for work, we haven't any of consequence."
"In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime."
"Children, who play life, discern its law and regulations more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think they are wiser by experience."
Considering that our "vision does not penetrate the surface of things, humans tend to settle beneath the surface rather than looking beyond to a more fulfilling, true, and deeper life."
"I found thus that I had been a rich man without any damage to my poverty."
"Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry."
Humans "take a thousand stitches to-day to save nine to-morrow," without even realizing that we are wasting the present moment in order to achieve for a tomorrow that is not even here yet.
Thoreau "lived alone for more than two years, in perfect autarchy, among trees, beside a lake, tilling the soil, walking, reading and writing."
"Nevertheless, the benefit to me, to my life -- I won't even say interior, I mean to the totality, in absolute terms -- is immense: a long moment in which I look into myself, without being invaded by volatile, deafening hassles or alienated by the incessant cackle of chatterers."
Highly recommend this podcast = Fight Hustle, End Hurry
:)
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