…Where We Linger

10/10/2010. 9:48 pm

Today I realized we linger far too long in the wrong corners of our minds.

“So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities. We linger in winter while it is already spring.“

- Henry David Thoreau

What a telling observation about our nature. We wander in senseless misery while joy is merely footsteps away.

Why do we so often choose to stay in that place? This is yet another matter of the power of fear. It is one thing to passively dwell in a pit of sorrow, loneliness, and despair. It is another, harder, thing to take courage.

Its easy to stay in bad attitudes. Its harder to decide you are going to have a good day.

Its easy to be cold & selfish. Its harder to love even though few are loving you back.

Its easy to recoil in the face of opposition. Its harder to keep on running forward, though the wind is pushing you back.

Life is hard- but its worth the effort.