Life Legacy from Dad

Life Legacy from Dad by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.  ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Time is subjective. Sometimes it moves slowly and other times it appears to fly by. Today marks 12 years since my father’s passing. Sometimes it feels as though he’s been gone forever and sometimes it feels as though just yesterday we were having a conversation. Everyone who had the good fortune to know Herbert Cyrus Goldman was enriched by his love, kindness and playful sense of humor, which was sprinkled with his customary puns. They also had the pleasure of reading his beloved poetry, filled with passion, joy and wisdom.  Dad loved and was proud of his family; he was dedicated to doing whatever was needed to support them, financially and psychologically. He had a passion for learning and could always be found reading a newspaper or book or listening to the news on the TV or radio.

As a child, we tend to have a limited understanding of our parents. We enter their lives at a point where they are mostly formed into their adulthood, unaware of the life events and experiences that contributed to the making of the adults they had become. When I was in graduate school many years ago developing my love for life-narrative, I had the good fortune to facilitate life-story interviews with both of my parents. At first dad was reluctant to being interview, but he quickly embraced the experience which took place over an eight week period. As his life-narrative unfolded, I was able to experience him as a young boy, teenager and man. I learned about his past experiences and context of world events that shaped him.

Dad was an ambitious and athletic youth, earning a city-wide tennis championship in high school. He adored his sisters Millie and Sadie and always felt protective of Sadie. Dad grew up in tough times financially. He worked hard academically and graduated high school in three years so that he could help support his family. Dad served in WWII and helped liberate a Nazi Concentration Camp; the images of this assignment remained with him throughout his life. He had dreams of becoming an attorney, which his daughter Natalie lived out for him. When he was supporting his young family, he often moonlighted selling beer at White Sox games. I remember him coming home from the games and telling stories about his customers, making his work into a grand adventure. I know that I inherited my work ethic and love of learning from Dad. My favorite stories that he told during his life-narrative interviews were about his courting mom; they were young, on a double date with other people, were strongly drawn to each other and wound up dancing together all night. This was the beginning of a long and fruitful marriage.

Although he’s been gone for 12 years, dad’s love, legacy and wisdom will live on through his three children and extended family for many years.

Janet

Present Moment Advantage

Present Moment Advantage by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”

~ Lao Tzu

Living in the present moment is a learned skill providing many advantages; it’s also an ongoing process that serves to keep you connected with your most treasured values and life goals. Living in the past keeps your emotions, thoughts and mindsets from past occurrences alive in the present. This would be amazing if most significant past experiences were positive ones. Unfortunately, when remembered past occurrences are particularly traumatic or distressing, you’re essentially reinforcing a life narrative that fails to serve you well in your present life. Similarly, when you tend to focus on an imagined negative future, you generate fear-based emotions and depressing life narratives that increase your anxiety and feelings of hopelessness and decrease your sense of influence over your future.  Since the future is unknowable, you are sacrificing your present sense of well-being and resourcefulness for a feared unknowable outcome. My dear friend Sue calls this phenomenon, “paying interest on the future.”

Present-based living is an ongoing process, requiring intention, commitment and perseverance. As it’s in your human nature to be periodically pulled into the past and anxious about the future, how can you avoid this type of influence? The most critical skill to strengthen as a means to diminish this natural force is self-awareness; begin to observe, without self-judgement, when you are focused on a negative past narrative or generating a depressing or anxiety producing future narrative. The mere act of consistently noticing this pull will shift your energy around the past and future, while gradually increasing the requisite internal resources to combat negative past- and future-based narratives. Asking yourself what you can learn from the past and what you want to create for the future will continue to shift your focus and motivation. Although you can’t change the past – the facts are the facts – you can intentionally learn from the past about what you do and don’t want to bring forward, what you want to generate for your future and what you want to avoid or eliminate in your life. You can utilize your answers from these types of questions to envision a desirable future and generate action steps and strategies in the present that organically lead to your future vision.

Janet

For additional insights and strategies, check out the following links:

Thinking Small for Big Results 

Are Your SMART Goals Smart Enough? 

Reality TV Wisdom

Choose to Forgive

Choose to Forgive

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

~ Gandhi

Forgiveness is a highly challenging and emotional undertaking. It’s so easy to forget that the act of forgiveness is both a choice and a gift that you give to yourself. Each time you choose to forgive, this choice releases you from a past hurt, injustice or trauma. The act of forgiveness requires letting go of something – fairness, disappointment, rage, sadness, perspective, desire, expectation, vision and/or hope. Forgiveness requires moving beyond what should have been to a place of accepting what is. This does not in any way propose that you should agree with, condone, take responsibility for or like the situation that calls for your forgiveness; objectively, contemptable things happen in this world that are out of your causality, control and understanding.

What you may not be aware of is that forgiveness is ultimately about choosing to be happy; it’s also about choosing to take back your personal power. The biggest misconception regarding forgiveness is that it’s a one-time endeavor, that you simply forgive and the offending injustice is over. Quite the contrary. Forgiveness is an ongoing process. You consciously choose to engage in forgiveness whenever the emotional charge of a past hurt, trauma or injustice invades your present world. As you intentionally choose to forgive the past, you can utilize your precious life force to move forward and build a gratifying future.  Forgiveness is ultimately about freedom, focusing on what truly matters and stepping into the power of courage and strength.

Forgiveness is about choosing to be happy over being right. Which one will you choose?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Optimal Performance Fundamentals

Courage Revisited

Defining Moments

Perspective

Perspective

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

~ Marcel Proust

Most data is neutral and yet your rarely experience the facts of your life impersonally. Your perspective directly impacts the meaning you attribute to life events and interactions and your feelings elicited by them. A change in perspective won’t change the facts, however, it can change your relationship over time to the facts. Some attribute this shift in meaning to maturity, wisdom or even divine intervention. I attribute the shift to an expansion in your field of meaning. A powerful exercise that I often utilize with clients is derived from the fields of Positive Psychology and Narrative Therapy; it incorporates taking on several perspectives around a challenging interpersonal life event. Think about a challenging experience or interaction; it might be a lifecycle event, a random encounter or a disagreement with someone you are close to. Narrate the experience from multiple perspectives – from each participant’s point of view and from the point of view of a neutral observer.  What people usually find is that through the telling of the narrative from multiple perspectives, their meaning and emotional attachment to the experience shifts over time. The facts are still the facts, but a shift in perspective results in a gradual shift in meaning and emotional impact.

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

If You're Asking the Question

Making a Difference

Courage Revisited

Strengths-Based Focus

Strengths-Based Focus

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”

~ Malcolm S. Forbes

Ask someone about their weaknesses and they will easily provide you with an extensive list of their perceived deficiencies. Ask them about their strengths and they will often pause for a moment or two before they finally come up with a strength. This phenomenon is a pretty familiar one to me in my client work in the career and leadership development realms. Why does this type of response consistently happen? Let me explain…….

You often fail to recognize and feel connected to your strengths because they exist as your normal way of being in the world. Perhaps your strength is creativity or problem solving; perhaps it’s kindness, connecting with others or intuition. You naturally utilize your strengths or natural gifts from a place that is outside of your conscious awareness. Similar to unencumbered breathing, you just do it without much thought or effort. It’s just who you are. To others, however, your natural way of being in the world appears as a strength.  Learning to recognize, honor and intentionally focus on utilizing your strengths often results in your perceived weaknesses significantly diminishing.  

I invite you to experiment with a strengths-based focus for a week. If you find it challenging to come up with a strength to focus on, ask someone who is close to you or a work colleague to identify one of your strengths. Focus on intentionally utilizing this strength for a week and notice the shifts in your perception of and relationship to your “strengths” and “weaknesses.”

Janet

For additional insights and observations, check out the following links:

Slow Time

Emerging

Kindness

The Space Between

The Space Between

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

~ Victor Frankl

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you are always choosing your response to a situation or interaction. The choice may be well thought out over time or take place within a fraction of a second; it may be within your conscious awareness or may feel as though it’s out of your control. Sometimes your choice moves you closer to what you want and hold dear and sometimes it can have the exact opposite impact.  The key to consistently making good choices is to intentionally increase the time between the stimulus and your response. This between stimulus and response time can take many forms. Some people increase their between time via taking a few deep breaths or counting to ten; some stop for a moment, go internal and ask: “What do I want to accomplish here?” The answer to this question serves to guide their response. Sometimes, just to amuse myself, I go internal and visualize two thought bubbles, similar to the ones you find in cartoons. The first thought bubble is filled with what I would like to say and the second one is filled with how I actually respond. Once you get into the habit of noticing the space between stimulus and response, you have the capacity to choose your responses from a wise and strategic place. Where might developing this skill enhance the quality of your responses?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Optimal Performance Fundamentals   

Small Adjustments, Big Results

Effective Communication

Effective Communication

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“I didn’t’ have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”

~ Mark Twain

I invite you to remember a time when you experienced effective communication. What was present for you? Effective communication is both a skill and a gift. Fortunately, skills can be learned over time. Becoming an accomplished communicator requires intention, commitment, motivation and perseverance. As most every area of your life requires some sort of communication, developing this skill is well worth the effort. Compelling communicators possess the ability to convey the essence of their message in a manner that bypasses your defenses. The received communication engages you, feels respectful, is easily absorbed, stays with you and continues to deepen over time. This level of communication expertise requires much practice and self-awareness, as well as the ability to take in visual and verbal feedback and immediately rectify inevitable communication gaps. Talented communicators carefully craft their message, investing the requisite time to convey the heart and soul of their message.  They fully understand that “less is more,” that getting to “less” requires time and that their commitment to simplicity will yield higher level results. Effective communicators customize their message to their intended audience and context. What one action step will you take today to strengthen your communication skills?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Optimal Performance Fundamentals   

Small Adjustments, Big Results

Redirection

Redirection

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better.”

~ Steve Maraboli

Have you ever had the experience of not getting what you wanted, only to discover years later that this experience ultimately led you to something wonderful? Perhaps it was a job that you interviewed for, a school that you applied for and failed to get accepted, or even a relationship you desired that didn’t work out. Steven Jobs, in his 2005 Stanford University commencement address talked about “connecting the dots” in your life narrative, specifically regarding understanding the unfolding of life events. He elaborates that you can only understand your particular unfolding through looking backwards. According to Steve, it’s almost impossible to fully understand your life experiences in the present moment. Utilizing Steve’s wisdom, when I think about the various circumstances and relationships that didn’t work out as desired, I feel extraordinarily grateful for how these “disappointments” ultimately led me to people, places and life adventures that were immensely gratifying. I invite you to take a backwards view of your life, noticing the occasions where what didn’t work out ultimately turned into something better suited for the unique and glorious person you were becoming.

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Learn Something New

Embracing "Good Enough"

Breakdown to Breakthrough

Doing and Being

Pay Attention

Pay Attention

by Janet Shlaes, Ph.D.

“When you really pay attention, everything is your teacher.”

~ Ezra Bayda

As someone who is passionate about learning, I am increasingly aware that, when I am fully present, learning opportunities abound. They exist in my ever changing mood and energy level, in every book or article that I read and in every interpersonal encounter. Some learning opportunities are pleasant, especially when they involve getting to the heart and soul of someone; others are particularly challenging and sometimes painful, primarily encounters that trigger old wounds. With the wisdom gained from journeying through many life experiences, I have learned that in every encounter, there is a choice – to stay stuck in the past or to embrace the learning opportunity unfolding in the present.  I have found that this approach, although not always such an easy one, is definitely worth the effort. I invite you to join me in paying attention, to being fully present in each encounter and to embracing a lifestyle of lifelong learning. Where in your life could this approach make a significant difference?

Janet

Starting Points

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.  ~ Nido Qubein

It’s a funny thing about starting points. Depending on your point of view and sense of efficacy in the moment, a common tendency is to view starting points from a place of possibility and adventure or confrontation, challenge and setback. In reality, starting points are merely data points in time; they make up a small piece of our personal life-narrative, rather than the whole story. Shifting your perspective around starting points to data points in time becomes possible once you’re connected and committed to a vision of where you want to wind up post-starting point. Committing to writing my Transformational Communication Blog in 2013 was a starting point for me. I chose and committed to writing it as a means to improve my communication skills, as well as play with the constructs and insights that grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. I love to learn and play with ideas, share experiences with others, enhance learning, self-awareness, self-efficacy and professional/personal/organizational growth. Initiating the blog was challenging on a variety of levels as starting points often are. Depending on where I was in various life arenas, following through on writing and posting felt engaging, energizing, exciting or exceptionally difficult. What stayed consistent, throughout the years is my vision and commitment to carrying out my vision for communication. What I discovered over time is that the journey is also the outcome of my vision. I began my blog with a 30 day challenge of posting for 30 consecutive days and chose to reenergize myself over the past 30 days with another 30 day posting challenge. Today marks day 30 of this current challenge. It is both an ending point and the beginning of a starting point for other 30 day challenges.

How do you view the various starting points that you’ve experienced? How might shifting your approach to starting points facilitate your generating and engaging in a vision that calls to you? What 30 day challenge might you commit to?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, I invite you to check out the following posts:

Learn Something New

Embracing "Good Enough"

Past, Present, Future

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control – now.”  ~ Denis Whaitley

Your life narrative contains past, present and future perspectives that serve to generate and maintain your sense of identity and place in the world.  The meaning of significant life challenges and transitions can change over time, depending on whether you view these challenges and transitions from a past, present or future perspective. When you emotionally put yourself back in a past event, the emotions generated through your past experience become fully present again. In contrast, looking back at a previous occurrence from an emotionally detached perspective generates the opportunity to observe and learn from the past. Shifting into a future perspective facilitates applying your learning from the past into similar situations you might encounter in the future. Although it may seem a bit complicated, it’s essentially quite simple. How you connect with and create meaning from your past will impact your present experience, current thoughts, emotions, motivation, subsequent actions and future experience. Fully living in the now, optimally blends the learnings from the past with taking action in the present that organically lead to your desired future. What could be better than that?

Janet

For additional observations, check out the following blog posts:

Joy of Single Tasking

Expiration Dates

Reality TV Wisdom

Abundance Mindset

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Approach life knowing there will be plenty to go around.”  ~ Frank McKinney

Are you a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of person? Do you tend to move through your life noticing and focusing on what is or isn’t working? How you view and interpret your world determines your perceptual filters, emotional state, self-esteem, life-story and primary way of moving through the world. Those with a half-full or abundance mindset embody perceptual filters that scan the environment for what is currently working well, as well as for people, events and details to appreciate. The main advantage of this type of mindset originates from the reality of “what you focus on tends to expand.” Focus on what is working and you notice and acquire more of what works. Focus on events, details and people to appreciate and they rapidly accelerate in volume and quality.  I invite you to try on a glass half-full abundant mindset for a few days and notice the delightful difference in your experience in the world. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Janet

For additional insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Kindness

Gratitude

Control

By Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”

Locus of Control is a construct derived from social psychology; it concerns our perceptions of what we can and can’t control and how these perceptions impact our experience in the world, our intentions and our actions. People with a strong internal locus of control believe that much of their life, desires and results, are within their authority to achieve. Their life-narrative is one of potential and personal power. Those with a strong external locus of control tend to experience their world as primarily outside of their power; they often move through the world through a more constrained life-narrative. Perceptions of locus of control can be situation specific and accurate or inaccurate. The crucial factor regarding locus of control is that your perception can and will impact your reality. Awareness regarding what actually is and isn’t within your control conserves the requisite psychic and physical energy for strategically acting on what you want to bring into your life. This approach requires self-awareness and provides freedom from wasting precious time and energy on no-win situations and relationships.  What aspects of your life do you have control over?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Should, Could, Accomplish

Thinking Small for Big Results

Beautiful People

 

 

By Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depth. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”

~ Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Beautiful people develop over time and the effect of this evolution is spectacular. When I was an adolescent, someone told me that, for the first half of your life, you have the face that you were born with and then you ultimately wind up with the face that you’ve earned. Many years later, in a movie theater, the wisdom of this statement hit me in a powerful way. My Sunday afternoon plans had fallen through and I spontaneously decided to see a matinee movie at a local second run movie theater. I arrived with plenty of time to spare and walked into a brightly lit theater. Looking around, I first noticed that I was the youngest person there by about forty years and I was not so young at the time. I quickly surveyed the faces of my fellow movie viewers and was startled at my discovery. All of the faces were wrinkled with the ravages of time and life-experience, but a few faces stood out in a powerful way. These outlier faces commanded my attention; they appeared to be internally lit and emitted a soft glow which could only be described as luminescent. The discrepancy between these faces and the majority was noteworthy and I found myself wondering what was responsible for this difference. No one reaches a ripe old age beyond the eighties without having experienced life’s many ups and downs. Yet, these few individuals appeared to have been polished by their experiences instead of being tarnished. So many years later, I can still feel the impact of the light and grace in their faces. Beautiful people evolve over time and the result is spectacular.

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Making a Difference

Courage Revisited   

Defining Moments

Forgiveness and Freedom

 

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“Issue a blanket pardon. Forgive everyone who has ever hurt you in any way. Forgiveness is a perfectly selfish act. It sets you free from the past.”  ~ Brian Tracy

A major misconception regarding forgiveness is that it’s a decision that miraculously lets someone off the hook for their words and/or actions. This misconception is responsible for much resistance and self-criticism. Although forgiveness is an intentional choice, it often is a highly challenging one that needs to be revisited on an ongoing basis; it's not about forgetting. Choosing forgiveness releases physical and psychic energy for purposes that serve our higher self, desires and way of being in the world. Let me explain…….

Most of us have had the experience of being treated in a manner that failed to respect our body, mind or spirit. Perhaps it was through words or actions that shocked, hurt and/or traumatized us, producing an emotional charge that persists over time.  Each time we presence the past-hurt, the emotional energy attached to it resurfaces; over time, this negative emotional charge strengthens and utilizes precious psychic energy. When we choose to forgive and let go of the hurt, our energy is available for thoughts and actions that move us forward in our lives. Each time an old wound resurfaces, we are faced with the opportunity to decide to forgive and let go. We don’t forget the wound; we consciously choose to release the past and move forward. We intentionally choose to honor our present and our future and utilize our psychic energy to move beyond the past.

Where in your life could you choose to forgive and allow yourself the greatest gift of all – the freedom to create a life that honors your highest values and desires?

Janet

For additional insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Letting Go of What is No Longer Needed

Playing the Hand You're Dealt

Forgiveness

Perception, Failure and Growth

 

 

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

“What we perceive as a failure may simply be our inner being’s way of telling us that we are ready to move to a new level of growth.   ~ Anne Wilson Schaef

There is a reciprocal relationship between our perceptual filters and our experience in the world. This relationship evolves over time as we collect experiences in various life arenas. The word “failure” is highly emotionally charged, overflowing with meaning that primarily serves to facilitate our feeling bad about a situation and ultimately ourselves. And yet, for most of us, our experience of “failure” is exactly what is needed to facilitate a quantum leap in our self-awareness, understanding of the world, skill development and psychological growth. With time, distance and a shift in perspective, an experience that we previously labeled as a "failure" often turns out to be the exact situation leading to where we needed to be. How different would your experience of failure be if you were able to shift your perspective around it? What if you were able to speculate about what you could potentially gain from a “failure” in terms of clarity, self-awareness, wisdom and growth? With the wisdom provided by hindsight reflection, many events that I considered to be failures at the time they occurred turned out to directly lead to success. The situation I perceived as falling apart, served to shift me in ways that facilitated my professional and personal growth. With time and a shift in perception, the “failure” turned out to be a wonderful gift.

What is your relationship with “failure” and how might a shift in perception potentially lead to your growth and evolution?

Janet

For addition insights and observations, check out the following posts:

Are Your SMART Goals Smart Enough?
Quitting
Breakdown to Breakthrough

 

Does Less Equal More?

by Janet M. Shlaes, Ph.D.

Does Less Equal More? Does having less stuff always equal more in terms of living a happier and richer life? I propose that the answer to this question depends on several variables. Let me explain……

Proponents of minimalism advocate for a better life via less stuff, less consumption and essentially leaving a smaller carbon foot print. Graham Hill presents the case for this type of minimalism in his popular 2011 Ted Talk, Less Stuff, More Happiness. I regularly show this video to my graduate students in counseling and organizational development and find two main reactions: some students find the video to be inspiring and soothing and others, after viewing the video, become increasingly agitated. Both types of responses serve to generate deep and powerful conversations regarding values and individual differences in terms of life narratives.

Individuals who tend to be drawn to radical simplicity in terms of aesthetic and function usually find this Ted Talk to be highly engaging and comforting. They report valuing the ease and simplicity of minimalism, as well as the intentionality behind living a life where everything in their home serves an essential function. Although they may choose to have expensive technology and other “stuff” in their home, they fully utilize everything that they own, including their furniture, appliances and clothes. If they don’t use something on a regular basis, they get rid of the item. Their chosen way of being in the world from a more minimalist perspective fully aligns with their current life situation, values, developmental stage and desire to simplify their world and responsibilities.

Individuals who tend to get agitated by Graham’s Ted Talk, detail their need to be surrounded by objects that are personally meaningful, even if these items don’t necessarily provide a concrete function. They like to be surrounded by “stuff” that evokes positive memories of the past and a sense of tactile richness that provides a physical and psychological soothing function. These individuals often comment on how they may not use most of what they carry with them or have in their home, but can’t imagine parting with most of their possessions.

Does having less always equal more happiness and life satisfaction? The answer for each of us provides critical information regarding core values, needs, life narrative, personal meaning and aesthetic. I invite you to explore this question in your own life.

Janet

For related topics to explore, check out the following posts:

Learn Something New

Embracing "Good Enough"

Breakdown to Breakthrough

Interrelationship: Day 26 - 30 Day Challenge

Many years ago, I received the gift of participating in a mindfulness meditation retreat in California led by Thich Nhat Hanh. He is lovingly known to his students as Thay, the Vietnamese word for “master” or “teacher.” The retreat was transformative in ways that are still unfolding in various areas of my life. I can still feel the warmth of the sun as we participated in walking meditation on the beach and hear Thay’s gentle voice giving his twice daily dharma talks. What an amazing experience in every way possible. Today and tomorrow’s posts will speak to several of his teachings that profoundly resonated with me on the retreat. Thay’s dharma talk on the impact of “Flowers and Garbage” in our lives is illustrated in his poem below:

INTERRELATIONSHIP

 You are me, and I am you.
Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.

I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy.

 ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

 

In his dharma talk, Thay addressed the reality that we all have aspects of flowers and garbage in our lives. Sometimes, what may seem like garbage may actually be an exquisite flower on the verge of blossoming.

 

Janet