Each week I have the opportunity to share ideas and inspiration with over one hundred Realtors at the Brokers’ Open Caravan. Last week I shared the poem IF by Rudyard Kipling. It is a poem on life, happiness and what it means to be a truly successful person. I learned it in high school and amazingly, I have yet to encounter a situation that is not covered by this heartfelt letter from a father to his son. It is, in my humble opinion, the greatest piece ever written in the English language. If you have not read it, please do so here. You may find yourself, as I have, burning it into your memory and served by its wisdom on a daily basis.
Every night when I put my boys to bed we read a couple of stories. Occasionally, instead of reading a story, I recite the poem IF for them. As passionately as I feel about this poem you can imagine my desire to impart it to my sons. They are just coming into the age where they can begin to appreciate what it says and remember my telling of it. Two nights ago was just such a night. I turned down the lights and recited the poem with all my heart. When I had finished I had a tear in my eye, which I normally do by the time I have finished. My seven year old looked at me and asked: “Daddy, what do all those words mean?” This is a fair question given the old English nature and style of the poem. I told him not to worry so much about all the words, that we would discuss them individually over time (it was, after all, bedtime). I told them both that the poem was about life and a philosophy of living that led to being an upstanding citizen of the world. I told them that it was about the trials and tribulations that one may face and more importantly: how to face them. My five year old then asked: “Does that mean that all those things are going to happen?” I told them that they may all happen and they may not. This poem is about being prepared. This poem is about having a blueprint for how to handle anything that gets thrown at you. This poem is about life. There was silence for a moment and then my five year old said: “Life sounds hard.”…
How do you explain to a five year old that life is a celebration of daily wonder and effortless joy? How do you explain to a five year old that we experience magic and miracles every day if we live in the present moment? How do you explain to a five year old that life is only as hard as we decide it is going to be and tell ourselves that it is? How do I explain all this to a five year old when, nearing the age of forty-five, I still find myself saying at times “life is hard”?
We talk to ourselves constantly; not only in what we say out loud and what we think inside, but in the very words that we choose. Let’s decide that life is a beautiful, awe inspiring celebration. My thought for each and every one of us today is this: before we go outside we tell ourselves that today is going to be a terrific day overflowing with wonder and happiness. Let’s see if we can’t make it so just by the act of telling ourselves it is so.
Filed under: LIFE THAT POPs, REALTORS , Success
