A friend of mine sent me this recently and I thought it was too lovely not to share.
The lotus is a flower that grows in the mud. The thicker and deeper the mud, the more beautiful the lotus blooms. This thought is expressed in the Buddhist chant, “Nam myoho renge kyo.”
Each of us is the sum total of all our life experiences. Our paths are riddled with tests and hardships which can stunt or wound us and force us to grow through pain. Inner beauty is a direct reflection of this pain and how we rise above it without losing our ability to love and trust. If we can learn to heal ourselves through these emotional devastations without losing our childish innocence then we can still meet life with an open heart. Our reward is love; our ability to give it, our ability to receive it and our ability to relate with other’s in pain.
“One must really have suffered oneself to help others.” — Mother Teresa (1910-1997).
Me ke aloha, {with love}
It amazes that such a beautiful flower, like the lotus, could come from such a dirty place. It serves as a reminder that despite the challenges that we encounter, something wonderful is on the horizon.
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Natalie Reid said,
September 25, 2008 @ 4:48 amI love the story of the lotus flower and at the same time, to see life as riddled with pain is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Although things do go wrong sometimes, we can heal ourselves so that what we create for our lives will be better, more joyful and elegant. I do not believe what the Mother Teresa quotation says, because it sets up everyone for suffering. I prefer to focus on the positive ways to help others and the world. Quantum physics shows us we get what we focus on, so I prefer to focus on how things can be more positive.
Natalie Reid