Personal Growth Planet Blog

It’s like a feel-good chain letter in real life…that doesn’t involve some threat of bad luck if you don’t pass it on.

I’m talking about “Pay It Forward Day” which has been declared to be on Thursday, April 29th. Even if you’re reading this blog post after the 29th, you can still join in on the magic of it.

About 10 years ago, a powerful film called “Pay It Forward” was released in the U.S. The story centers on a 12 year old boy who, acting from a belief in the inherent goodness in all people, is motivated to do something kind for someone else.

How often do you pause and just marvel at the wonders that are this planet?

I know that I don’t very often.

It’s pretty mind blowing to think about what goes on when you put a small seed in fertile soil, add water and sunshine and it magically transforms into something so beautiful and often delicious too.

It is almost beyond my comprehension to contemplate the way that the tides move in and out and that a forest will burn from time to time in order to clear brush and end up healthier in the long run.

As Lou Reed sang, does it ever seem that in order to just get through the days of your life, you need an immense– busload– amount of faith?

Life sometimes knocks us around. We can become worried, afraid and despairing about the conditions of our bodies, our lives and those close to us.

In times like these, just about everyone wants assurance that it’s all going to work out for the best.

Who doesn’t want to believe that everything will be fine?

This sense of hopefulness and wishing it will all work out is where faith comes in.

“That’s unladylike…”
“She’s too old to wear a mini-skirt…”
“Who does she think she is?…”
“Why would he be with HER?…”
“She just needs to act her age…”

Many of us have heard– or even uttered– words like these. We see a woman acting in some way that appears, to us, to be out of the norm and possibly even ridiculous.

We might do a double-take as we see the obviously older woman romantically involved with a much younger man. We can’t help but stare a bit at the woman in her 50s dressed in attire that we associate with 20 year olds.

It can feel like a never-ending, dulling cycle.

Get up in the morning, eat, go to work, do your job, eat lunch, come home, care for pets/kids/house, eat dinner, go to bed. Of course, there is usually talking with other people, some degree of exercising and most likely an array of entertainment activities thrown in to that mix.

Life can become a drudgery at times– or even most of the time.

You might as if you are stuck in a holding pattern with the same people, doing the same things in the same way, basically forever.