Ripples #851: Connecting The Dots.
Sep 14, 2015
PEBBLE
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.
Let us move forward with strong and active faith.
-Franklin D. Roosevelt, shared by Gary in Glassboro, NJ
Life must be lived forward but understood backward.
-Soren Kierkegaard, shared by Kalea in Bend, OR.
BOULDER
You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path.
-Steve Jobs, shared by Allie in Bowling Green, KY
PONDER
Making (or finding) meaning is not always easy in this kooky, mixed up, challenging and at times heartbreaking world we live in. Acquiring and maintaining a reliable sense of how things work and why things happen and what life is all about isn’t easy. At all. Some of us seek answers in religious faith while others develop their understanding of life by spending time in nature or at a library or just by hanging around people they consider to be wise.
On a good day we usually have a general sense of how and why things are the way they are; on the tough days we feel bewildered and lost. The other days are about trudging through and trusting that a bit of light will peek through the clouds.
Most of us have had moments of awe where we just get it: everything makes sense and even the toughest questions have answers. These moments are fleeting, and I think the most realistic expectation of the human experience is one with lots of questions and confusion and wonderings and hopefully a few opportunities to connect the dots.
I hope you can rest near the pond of patient optimism this week while maintaining a realistic expectation that some “Answers & Understandings” are on their way and will arrive when the time is right. Other things will remain mysterious, bewildering and/or frustrating and won’t be resolved until The Sequel. Until your dots are connected in a way that works for you, let them be confetti swirling about a surprise party to Celebrate Today.
Peace,
Paul
The Ripples Guy
P.S. Ryan, a good buddy and longtime Ripples contributor, stumbled across a video this week that has me pondering quite a bit. Take a minute to take it in: https://www.facebook.com/KyleCeasePage/videos/vb.8116888061/10153055923883062/?
“You are what you love, not what loves you.” -Charlie Kaufman, Adaptation
