Where Change Begins

What final result are you trying to achieve? In the mid-1950s, a flamboyant, but unknown, American pianist had dreams of performing in the Hollywood Bowl. He gathered some money, rented the Hollywood Bowl on an off night, showed up wearing a tuxedo and played a full concert on a grand piano to absolutely no audience at all. (I understand he even placed a beautiful vase of long stemmed roses on the piano for the performance.)

Except that the hall was empty, he lived his dream. Then he kept that dream alive until, four years later to the very night, Liberace performed at the Hollywood Bowl before a capacity, standing-room-only crowd.

Several years prior, it was Harry Emerson Fosdick who voiced a new thought about self-transformation. He said, “Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind’s eye and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself vividly as winning and that alone will contribute immeasurably to success. Great living starts with a picture, held in your imagination of what you would like to do or be.”

Liberace held a picture in his mind of himself performing before a sellout crowd at Hollywood Bowl. He made that picture more vivid by playing a full concert on stage. And that mental image, combined with hard work, skill and his trademark showmanship, contributed immensely to his eventual success.

Whether you want to simply change a habit, change an attitude or change your life...can you “see” the person you want to be? Because that is where change begins.

-- Steve Goodier


Image: flickr.com/Alan Light

Treasure at Your Fingertips

A century ago, Russell Conwell traveled the United States with a speech he called, “Acres of Diamonds.” Of the many stories he told, one was of a young man who studied at Yale to become a mining engineer. Upon graduation, “gold fever” struck him and he set off to California to seek his fortune. 
    
Yale had offered him a position as an instructor, which he turned down. He persuaded his mother to sell their Massachusetts farm and accompany him. But the trip was futile as he found no gold and eventually accepted a job in Minnesota working for a mining company – at a lower salary than he would have received at Yale.

More interesting is that the man who bought the family farm from the widowed mother was harvesting potatoes one day. As he slid a heavy bushel through an opening in the stone wall, he noticed a shiny stone. He had it assayed and learned it was native silver. The farm was sitting on a fortune in silver!

Why had the mining engineer, who had undoubtedly passed by that same rock and others like it hundreds of times, not discovered the ore? Could it be that he never dreamed a treasure could be found so easily? Was it because he believed that one must go elsewhere to fulfill a dream?

A profound life truth is this: what we are seeking may be found right where we are. Think about it. Do you need to go somewhere else to find happiness? Chances are, if you were truly aware of what you have in your life now you could be happy. Or do you think you’ll find love if you only search for somebody else? Look more carefully, through appreciative eyes, at who is in your life today. 

It’s easy to miss what you have when you are busy searching someplace else. Sometimes it’s just about changing our thinking. What you seek (happiness, security, fulfillment, challenge, love, meaning, purpose -- the list is practically endless) may be right in front of you. You likely just don’t see it. It may be hidden in plain sight. 

Before you search someplace else, look carefully! You just might be amazed at what you see.

-- Steve Goodier

Image: flickr.com/Timitrius

You Are a Work of Art

But you may have to be broken before you're finished...

Edward Fischer writes in Notre Dame Magazine (February, 1983), that a leper in Fiji (or, more correctly, a sufferer of Hansen’s Disease) followed the leading of his twisted hands. He became an internationally known artist. “My sickness I see as a gift of God leading me to my life’s work,” he said. “If it had not been for my sickness, none of these things would have happened.”

As a young girl, Jessamyn West had tuberculosis. She was so sick that she was sent away to die. During that time she developed her skill as a writer and authored numerous novels in her lifetime.

That great author Flannery O’Connor suffered various ailments – lupus struck her at 25 and she walked only with the aid of crutches for the final fourteen years of her life. She noted, however, that this illness narrowed her activities in such a way that she had time for the real work of her life, which was writing.

Some people succeed in spite of handicaps. Others succeed because of them. I am not telling you anything new when I say that our problems help to make us what we are. Those who suffer often learn the value of compassion. Those who struggle often learn perseverance. And those who fall down often teach others how to rise again. Our troubles can shape us in ways a carefree existence cannot.

A story is told of an Eastern village that, through the centuries, was known for its exquisite pottery. Especially striking were its urns; high as tables, wide as chairs, they were admired throughout the country for their strong form and delicate beauty.

Legend has it that when each urn was apparently finished, there was one final step. The artist broke it – and then put it back together with gold filigree. An ordinary urn was thus transformed into a priceless work of art. What seemed finished wasn’t, until it was broken.

So it is with people. Broken by hardships, disappointments and tragedy, they can become discouraged and cynical. But lives can also be mended. Put back together well, they won't be just like they were before. Damaged pieces reassembled with a golden bonding of patience and love will help form a person into an exquisite masterpiece. It is as if people have to be broken before they can become whole and complete.

If you feel broken remember this – you are a work of art. As a work of art, you may never be finished, but that is the process of a lifetime. And your very brokenness serves a purpose.

Remember this, too: Every time you decide to mend, you become a little more complete. And a little more beautiful.

-- Steve Goodier

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When You're Root-Bound

Image by Anton Malan

Our family enjoys a beautiful indoor potted plant that has been with us for over three decades. It has accompanied us through tough years and good times. It has lived with us in six different communities. Some days I think it may live forever, but it once died.

The plant did well for about twenty years, but then began to sag and discolor. We watered it. We fed it. We coddled it. We even talked to it. But leaves and branches drooped lower each day as its life slowly ebbed away. We finally plucked a few half-dead leaves, re-rooted them in a jar of water and planted them in a small pot.

The new small plant grew strong and healthy. But the original finally died. When we dug it out of its ceramic pot we could see why – its roots were a tangle of knots. They had grown so massive they threatened to burst the sides of the pot that held them in. Our once-beautiful plant died because it outgrew its environment – it became root-bound.

People, too, can become root-bound. When they are committed to personal growth and development, when they make the kinds of changes in their lives that lead to greater fulfillment and happiness, they often discover they have outgrown their environment.

I know of a man who was offered a job at a salary higher than he had ever made in his life. But after careful consideration, he declined the position.

His would-be employer was amazed that he turned down the offer. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “Isn't the salary big enough?”

“The salary is fine,” the man said. “It’s the job that’s not big enough.”

At one time he could have happily done the work and enjoyed the money. But he knew now the job would not challenge him and he'd eventually become dissatisfied. He would feel root-bound.

The problem was that he had changed. He had out-grown the job that was offered.

People interested in change and personal development need larger and larger environments in which to live. Their views expand. Their perspectives broaden. Their interests change. They seek bigger challenges. And they need people in their lives who will make room for their growth.

As you grow in these ways, you may discover that you've become root-bound. As Bob Dylan sings, “He not busy being born is busy dying.” My plant was busy dying. If your new-found growth causes you to push against the old ways, you may need to realize you are bigger now and accommodate those changes.

It's not uncommon to become root-bound. It happens when you're busy being born. It just means it's time for a new pot.

– Steve Goodier

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What Is Emerging from the Rock?

Image by Richard Simpson

I heard something interesting about the great Michelangelo. In his lifetime, among his many other accomplishments, he worked on over forty statues, but completed less than half of them. The statues he finished are still some of the greatest works of art the world has ever known...the magnificent David, his incomparable Pietà and his exquisite rendering of Moses, to name a few.

But those he never finished are interesting, too. I understand they can be seen in a museum in Italy. On display is a huge chunk of marble from which only an elbow or a wrist awkwardly protrude. Others show a leg, a thigh, a knee, a calf, a foot … even some toes. The rest of the body is locked in the lump of rock.

Michelangelo is reputed to have said, “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” Did he fail to discover what was hidden within those stones? Or did he see something there in his mind's eye but was interrupted before he could reveal its beauty? In either case, what is locked inside the marble may stay there forever.

And how like so many of us that is. We have unseen potential that takes time, maybe a lifetime, to be revealed. And how terrible when we get stuck, when we live and die with so much potential unrealized. How sad when only a small part of who we truly are ever emerges.

Writer Brian Tracy says, “The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good.” But I wonder ... do they know it? Do average people know what great potential and exquisite beauty is hidden within? Do they see all they can become? All that is possible for them? Or do they only see the rough and uncut marble? How great a tragedy it is to live a life and never emerge from the rock; never even realize how magnificent is the person unrevealed inside.

What will it take for you to break free of the stone and take the shape of your destiny?

– Steve Goodier

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Something WILL Grow There

Image courtesy of Samuel Rosa

A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family.
 
She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?"
 
"No ma'am,” he replied, “they're dead."
 
No, the turkeys won’t get any bigger. But you and I can bigger – at least on the inside. There is no reason to stop growing as long as we’re alive. In fact, I intend to spend the rest of my life growing and changing.
 
My Internet friend Friar Brian Cavanaugh tells a funny story about growth. He relates an experience at occurred during seminary days in his book More Sower's Seeds: Second Planting. He and two friends thought to plant a small vegetable garden outside their house of studies. It would consist of tomatoes, squash and cucumbers and the only financial investment required was for them to rent a rake, a pickax and a hoe. The urban environment didn’t allow much space for a garden, but they determined that a small, sunny area of the stone-covered dirt parking lot could work well. However, permission would be needed and they feared that getting the superior’s okay might be no easy task.
 
The three seminarians explained their idea to him. His response was a tilt of the head a pronouncement. “You’re wasting your time. Nothing will grow there.” But he allowed them to go ahead if that was what they wanted to do.
 
Reluctant permission is still permission and the three young men began work. First they raked stones and outlined the garden. Then they slammed their pickax into hard dirt, turning clumps of earth upside down. What they discovered just a few inches beneath the surface brought smiles to their faces. It was a gardener’s dream: dark, composted, fertile soil, likely the result of a former refuse area. Still grinning broadly, all three looked at one another and said in unison, “Ah, nothing will grow there!”
 
The garden, though small, turned out to be spectacular. In fact, tomatoes grew so vigorously they were re-staked twice and finally topped off at seven feet tall. Nothing will grow there indeed!
 
Don’t believe the words “nothing will grow there.” Especially when assessing your own life. As long as you are alive you can grow and change. You don’t have to stay the way you are. Almost anything you desire can grow within you.
 
What do you need? Courage for difficult task? Hope and optimism in your despair? Strength or persistence? Faith in something greater than yourself? Rekindled trust in other people?
 
What is it you need? Deeper understanding? A greater capacity for love? Inner peace or joy? Don’t believe that nothing will grow there. When you assess your own life, consider it with the eye of a gardener. Underneath the surface lies rich, fertile soil waiting to nurture the seeds you sow. Even more than you can imagine will grow there if given a chance.
 
I like the observation of writer George Eliot, "It's never too late to be who you might have been." You may not always see the potential for growth, but it is there. All the rich compost you need is hidden just beneath the surface.
 
Plant it. Cultivate it. Tend it. Something WILL grow there – believe it. And it will be magnificent.

-- Steve Goodier

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Dream Something Beautiful

A mother of a vivacious five-year-old just returned from a meeting of the National Organization for Women. Stirred by exciting dreams for the possibilities of womanhood, she asked her daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up. Little Lisa quickly answered, "A nurse."

There was a time when nursing was thought of as a woman’s profession and the answer somehow seemed not to satisfy. She had, after all, just returned from a NOW conference.

"You can be anything you want to be," she reminded her daughter. "You can be a lawyer, a surgeon, a banker, president of the country – you can be anything."

"Anything?" Lisa asked.

"Anything!" her mother smiled.

"I know," Lisa said. "I want to be a horse!"

Lisa’s dream may need some refinement, but there is plenty of time for that. When do we quit dreaming about the future? When do we resign ourselves to simply replaying dreams from the past?

Maybe her dream needs to mature a bit, but would you rather have the optimism of a five-year-old girl who wants to be a horse, or the pessimism of an adult who says in despair, "I can’t be anything at all"?

Teddy Roosevelt said, "Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground." I believe that is the way to make those dreams come true. It begins with looking up and dreaming something beautiful.

-- Steve Goodier

flickr.com/Jan De Bondt