Friday, August 8, 2008

OFG XVI

Life's lessons

Never think you are in charge. It is an illusion sure to break your heart, your back, your marriage, and possibly your life. Instead, know that you are the creator of your life. What you believe in your heart, the Universe will provide, but the important detail to remember is that the Universe has its own ways, its own schedule, and its own agents. Be present for the miracles.

Too little, too soon

Have you ever decided that, because your prayer was not answered within fifteen minutes, that you have been abandoned by [insert name of favorite invisible entity here]? I'll bet that, at some point when you were not even thinking about it, you realized (perhaps years later) that your prayer was answered, in spades, in a fashion you never imagined.

Old guys know lots

Need I say more?

Old women know more than old guys, are better-looking, and generally more talented

All the old guys insisted I add this before it was time for dinner tonight. We have our priorities, and we have them perfectly aligned with our stomachs.

Get out

Being old is no excuse for abandoning life. Get up from that Dad Chair, and get outside. Admittedly, I don't follow this advice myself all that often, yet the back yard must be mowed on a certain schedule. We all have our mistresses...

Quit quitting

A wise old man, a volunteer speaker in a business class I was taking on the way to getting my bachelor's degree, said something during his talk which has stuck with me all these years (twenty since earning my degree): keep putting one foot in front of the other. Most jobs don't require heroes. They require people who never quit, never stop, never give up.

Zero tolerance

If you know anyone in education who advocates this policy, ask them why they are afraid to be in charge and use their brains to make sense of whatever comes about at their school.

Never say never

Don't lock doors which you slam shut. You can bet that if you do, you will lose the key and be unable to open that door back up when it is imperative that you pass through. This advice is true both literally and figuratively.

Okay

It's all okay. It was okay before we got here, and it will be okay once we have departed, so why would it not be okay during our time here?

Forever

When we silly human beings promise anything and say that promise is good forever, we miss a couple of vital points: we are not forever, and we are not capable of keeping a promise even for as long as we are here, at least not the great majority of us.

Candy


It will kill you if you eat enough of it. The good news is, it will take about eighty years to do so.

5 comments:

Jane said...

Hi Rick!

Awesome post for today. It reminds me a little of my post today. See how great minds are thinking alike???? I really do believe that we create our lives. Some days I get this and other days, not so much. I'm a student of the Universe though and love seeking the truth. Sometimes I think people look to God (or whatever) to answer their questions immediately. I read somewhere once that it's like thinking God is some bellhop in the sky ready to deliver at a moments notice. I'm learning that the blessings come when you think nothing was heard. It may take some time, but the Universe does manage to deliver.

Happy Friday!!

Olivia said...

More wonderful wisdom from OFG...one question I do have for you Rick, is how did you learn your wisdom about women? Was it from having daughters? Or from Julia? You seem remarkably non-misogynistic, which I find rare in people of our generation.

I enjoy these pithy installments of your hopefully upcoming book "Life is an OFG" or...you can think of far better ones, I'm sure!

Blessings and a fantastic weekend,

O

Rick Hamrick said...

Jane--I wholeheartedly agree with you: blessings come on their own timetable, and tapping one's foot impatiently doesn't seem to speed things up at all.

Create yourself a marvelous weekend!

Olivia--It would be foolish of me to pretend I have some magic insight into the world of women. After all, my wife regularly reads this blog, and she would howl uproariously (and probably bust my chops on my own blog) if I was silly enough to claim such.

What I do have, though, is an affinity for women as friends. I'm talking about buddy-friends, not girlfriends. Julia and I wrote to each other thousands of times and spent something like 100 hours or more on the phone before we ever saw each other in person. You really can't do that unless there is a wonderful rapport between two people. Of course, that was also a very-much more delightful and miraculous relationship which we were birthing than I have ever had!

Even today, I have half a dozen women who I consider to be good friends, and none of them are even the slightest bit interested in me, or me in them, except as buddies who enjoy sharing tales of their lives with each other. In many cases, I am old enough to be their, uh, really old uncle.

When Julia and I went to a friend's party a few weeks ago, we spent most of our time sitting in the shade in the back yard of our friend's house, Julia and I side by side, and three other women seated with us in a little chat circle. It never even dawned on me to note this event at all--I certainly did not mention it in the spoof post I did about the party--but it is often the case in social situations that I hang with the girls instead of with the boys.

And, as you point out, I do have only daughters. Heck, even our three mice are all girls.

As far as books go, Life is a Verb! Thanks for giving me the clear lead to tout Patti Digh's book, which is now shipping from Amazon.com. I don't think I will see it, though, unless I happen to be in a bookstore in the next few weeks before I go to her retreat next month. I'm pretty sure that she is giving the retreat participants a copy.

Julie said...

Quit quitting. I am writing that one on my hand today - I find it very inspiring.
Having and appreciating women as friends is something not all guys can do, surprisingly. It is heartening to know guys like you are out there-:)

Rick Hamrick said...

Julie--it is a shame that guys, many of them, are not able to embrace their own inner feminine. I'm guessing that's where the difference lies: I don't have any trouble at all in that regard.

There is a significant difference in a guy on the prowl and a guy projecting a mix of male and female energy. I find it enriches my life to acknowledge that I have both sides. And, it allows women to be more open and set aside the concern "what does he really want?"