P. WAYNE OSBORNE

Have you ever lost something important? A wallet. A credit card. A passport. There’s immediate disbelief. You start going through your pockets, everything near you. You check and check again. Then you feel panic. You try to calm yourself so you can think, “when did I last see it?”  You think things like, “How stupid can I be?”. Or, “Who could have taken it?  You retrace your steps.

Loss of something important is difficult to process, but especially when it’s the loss of someone. There’s no where to look, no pockets to explore.  The panic, the pain, the grief is almost unbearable.  You know that someone is not coming back.

Sometimes what’s lost cannot be found.  And one day it will be you or me who’s no longer around.

Life is short.  Every day not lived is lost.  Every moment not treasured is forgotten.  We are a wisp of smoke, a vapor - - here today and gone tomorrow.  We are sojourners as our father and mother before us.  So let’s embrace what we know and who we know.  Let’s live and love today.  Let’s “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow…” well as the prophet Isaiah says… “we die.”  

The idiot door is that ever infamous door

that says pull and, because of its design,

you push and everyone looks at you like

you’re an idiot.

The idiot door is that ever infamous door

you rush to open and after smashing your face

you find it’s locked.

One major step towards adulthood is learning

to handle the idiot door with grace and

sophistication.

“Inspiration is illusive.  When it comes, it feels as though it will never leave and when it is not here, it feels as thought it will never come.”  P. Wayne Osborne

One of my former college professors recently told me, “Long ago I went off to college.  I hurriedly walked the sidewalks to get to class.  I went to class to make the grade.  I made the grade to graduate.  I graduated to get the job.  I worked long and hard to retire.  I retired wishing I could walk those sidewalks again.”

He was not necessarily wanting to live over again, but he was expressing regret for a life he had not appreciated in the moment.  Sure, there are many things we will always miss.  We can never absorb it all.  But what wonderful things we pass by, we ignore, or we never experience because of our need for greater achievement, success, or our desire for humanity’s acceptance.  ”The grass is greener,” we say.

One day while walking in the woods a friend said to me, “Listen to that owl.”  ”Who, who, who…”  At that moment I realized the owl had been calling for quite some time.  Why had I not NOTICED?  And, why in that moment had I not appreciated the pounding of the waves on the nearby shore, the old woman walking her dog down the path, the way the clouds danced behind the limbs of the trees?  Why had I not taken the time to say, “Thank you.  I love you.  I need you.  May I help you?”

This world is complete with an infinite number of small wonderful details in and around me.  Today I will NOT rush by them.  I will NOTICE them.  I will NOT take them for granted for they are all special, each in their own way.

Today I will appreciate each moment and experience it alone.  I will practice and practice the act of noticing and appreciating until I do so involuntarily.

Then I will begin again.

I love magic, the ability to create something out of nothing, not just to pull an object out of an ear or a bunny out of a hat, something more spectacular on a Merlin level. There are three words I have learned over the years that produce magic.  Words that do create something from nothing.

If we learn to use these words correctly, we will have a power greater than any known to humankind.  Words that turn a frown into a smile.  Words that put a bounce in someone’s step.  Words that create a friend out of an enemy.  Every second counts, so why pause that extra beat?  Let’s use our magic.

Let’s speak into the world these words, “Hi.  Please.  Thanks.”  Others will believe we have supernatural power over the natural forces.  They will believe we are able to cast a spell.  They will marvel at what must be a sleight of hand.

They will believe we are enchanted.

And so we will be.

The Torah says, “God created the heavens and the earth,” Genesis 1:1.  One thing I often don’t realize is that my Higher Power created the earth and all the heavens days before the light came.  He or She was at work creating before I could see my way. My Higher Power was creating despite or in the midst of the darkness.

This behavior, on the part of God is not unusual, and is so cool. This happens in every given day.  Into every moment of every day a voice says, “let there be light.”  I see it happening in big and small ways.  When there’s no direction for me.  How can I see the next step to take?

I am here to argue that my Higher Power is already at work.  My God as I know Him or Her is creating while I see nothing.  I might think my life is not going right, and that everything is coming down on me, but when God says, “let there be light,” there is light.  Maybe darkness does not go away, but light breaks through.

Today, I will trust that the light will come.  This is the way of the Universe.  I will trust that God is at work in my life before I see it. Even though darkness remains, the truth of God’s acts is that in this creation process I can find clarity in the midst of darkness.  Genesis says then, that “God separated the light from the darkness.”  Light will come and I will have hope. I will see the light in the midst of darkness and I will see the beauty of what has already been created for me.

The power thoughts have, is that they continue.  They come, go, and come again like clouds passing in and through our minds.  That is their only power.

Only we can invite thought to take up residence.  We alone “give” thought more power.  

Our attention allows those passing clouds of thought to grow and to solidify in our minds.

Thoughts want and accept our attention.  They exists to turn our heads, to capture us and hold us.  BUT they cannot force themselves upon us.  The Universe has made this so.  Thoughts have no chains or bindings.  Thoughts have no ability, except to pass in and through us.

Also, one thought has no control over another thought.  For example, one thought - to focus on a red truck - has no power over another - to focus on a black truck.  Only our attention determines which thought has power.  Only our attention gives the red-truck thought power over the black-truck thought.

If we want to be free of certain thoughts we have allowed to make our life miserable, the first step is to withdraw our interest, to take back the power we have relinquished.  (This is not the suppression of thought, because that is impossible.  Remember, thoughts have only one power, to pass in and through our minds like clouds.  We give them fuel by our attention, and in so doing we allow them to build momentum.  With inattention they will slowly ebb away.)

So how do we take back the power we have relinquished?

We turn our attention away by focusing on another thought, a positive thought.  Find one.  All you need is one.  Dwell on it.  This takes practice.  Don’t be discouraged when your attention turns back.  Just keep turning your focus to that positive thought.

Writing solidifies thought and is a good form of attention.  Write positive words and they will gain momentum.

Speaking solidifies thought.  Speaking is a great form of attention.  Speak so that others will hear.  Speak about the positive thoughts and they will gain momentum.

Action solidifies thought.  Action is the greatest form of attention.  So, add action to that positive thought.  Do positive actions and you will build its momentum.

Turn to another positive thought and follow the steps again.

Today I have decided to give power to positive thoughts.  Today I will dwell on them.  I will write them.  I will speak them.  I will act on them.  I will watch positive thoughts gain momentum within my mind and I will be happier for it.