Tag: fountains

Bubbling Water

“It is the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The question is not what you look at but what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Be a fountain, not a drain.” – from the movie The Forge

I see that the original Dr. Scholl’s sandals are making a comeback. I will not be participating. The worst sprained ankle that I ever got as a kid came from tripping while wearing my Dr. Scholl’s. Dr. Scholl’s sandals were a drain on me, not a fountain.

There are a lot of draining people, news, experiences, etc. happening around us these days. It is so easy to feel depleted and overwhelmed. So that is why it is vitally important to stay self-aware. What are you looking at? What are you “seeing”? Are you surrounding yourself with fountains or with drains? What about you? Are you a fountain, or are you a drain to others? Are you a fountain or a drain to yourself? Are your thoughts and actions replenishing, uplifting, refreshing, and coming from deep within yourself, like a fountain? Or are you choosing to do things and to think things that deplete you, leaving you feeling empty and exhausted?

I don’t spend much time on social media. I find it to be more of a drain than a fountain. However, when I want to be uplifted and inspired I like to look at Gregorio Catarino’s feed on X. He mostly posts beautiful, inspiring artwork. Every once in a while he posts captioned art. Gregorio recently posted this picture from Disney:

Be a fountain for yourself right now, and conjure up some of your favorite memories. I had a interesting conversation lately with a group of friends and we all came to the conclusion that our best memories rarely came from the big, well-planned, carefully orchestrated events or holidays in our lives, but more from the spontaneous, out-of-nowhere, surprise gifts of unexpected wonderful moments. When we were reflecting on each of our favorite memories, they tended to be the moments that unexpectedly came together, almost like magic, like gifts showered from above, when least expected. Likewise, when I reflect back on my many travels and vacations, my favorite memories are usually experiences with individuals, or the ambiance of a certain place, or happening upon things that I have never come close to experiencing anywhere else. The tours and the famous sites are interesting, but what sticks out to me, in my fondest memories, are the “fountains” of friendly restaurant owners, and artists whom I only shared the language of awe and appreciation with, or the times laughing with my loved ones, like the time our family was famished and we were all staring at a food elevator in a Chinese restaurant in New York City, salivating like dogs every time that the elevator’s bell rang, praying that the food being delivered was finally ours.

If you choose to be a fountain, and if you choose to look at things more deeply than with just your eyes, you have a better chance at having fun, which alchemizes into your treasure box of your most cherished, beautiful memories. Be a fountain. Be a fountain for others. Be a fountain for yourself. The world can never have enough fountains.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Enough Already

+ Kelly Corrigan is an author and a podcaster for PBS. She sends emails of her overall takeaways from her latest podcasts. This week she had a conversation with a best selling author, ultramarathoner, podcaster, former addict, Stanford educated swimmer Rich Roll. (My eldest son is a big fan of Rich Roll. They are both vegans.) I haven’t heard this interview yet, but I loved Kelly’s number one takeaway from her conversation with him. Rich Roll said this: “Change is only grand in retrospect. Day by day, it’s small choices and tiny adjustments. Believe in the incremental.” I love this. It’s the truth. The only way I have made any lasting changes in my life is when I took my goal day-by-day. Today, I will limit my sugar. Today, I will go to bed by 9:30. Today, I will write a blog post (I have been blogging almost daily since 2018 and it has changed my life. But I honestly had no idea what exactly I was setting out to do, when I started it . . . .)

+ I got a lesson/reminder from the Universe taught to me yesterday in the most interesting of ways. I am currently taking a Zen meditation/Asian art class by a wonderful Japanese woman, who is passionate about teaching. I didn’t have any supplies, so I started loading up on paints, and brushes, and hanko stamps (those red marks which you often see in the corner of Asian artwork). I got most of my things from Oriental Art Supply in California and a few things from Amazon, but I also started perusing eBay for “extras.” One extra that I ended up purchasing had nothing to do with painting. Here is the description of it:

“This decorative Japanese coin features a striking combination of green and black with beautiful lettering. It is a unique piece that will add flair to any collection.”

Now I’ve mentioned before that I have piggy banks full of lucky pennies, more than one lucky three legged toads, and an adorable lucky money tree that my youngest son gave to me. So, yes! I figured that a giant green Japanese coin was a must-have for my lucky money collection. As the seller said, it would add “flair” to my collection. And I will never say no to luck and flair. My purchase arrived yesterday. Here it is:

It came with a description paper full of Japanese lettering, so my original plan was to ask my art teacher to translate it, but I’m not a patient person, so I went to Google Translate to see what I could figure out. Nothing fruitful came to any understanding for me, from trying to translate each of the symbols on the “coin” (my husband insisted it was really a bottle opener), but the translation of the paper mentioned “the most famous, tsukubai, Ryoan-ji.” During my research, I found out that a tsukubai is a small, stone, water basin usually found in temples and tea houses in Japan, to cleanse your hands and your mouth before entering these sacred spaces. Apparently, my “coin” is a representation of the top of the tsukubai, at the entrance of a famous zen temple in Kyoto, Japan called the Ryoanji Temple. The grounds of this temple house a mysterious rock garden that is supposedly so naturally peaceful, scientists have done studies to figure out if certain placements of rock and terrain, hold the “secret” to peace. Anyway, below you will find a picture of the actual tsukubai and a translation of what the face of the tsukubai is really conveying (credit: muzu-chan.net)

“it is that famous because of its Zen inscription: taken separately, the four kanji are meaningless, but if they are read including the middle square hole (口), they become 吾 唯 足 知 – “ware tada taru shiru”. A literal translation would be “I only know enough”, but a more accurate translation would be “I learn only to be satisfied”. The real meaning of the phrase is that what you have is all you need: if you learn to be satisfied with the things as they are, then you are spiritually rich, while if you’re not contented then you are spiritually poor (even if you’re materially wealthy)…”

In short, the secret of true wealth is not collecting coins (“lucky ones” or real ones), but with feeling content and satisfied right in every single moment of your life. “What you have is all you need.” Apparently my beautiful green coin/bottle opener is really a cool, ancient mystical reminder of what we all know from the depths of our souls, but in our everyday stresses, we often forget it: “You are enough.”

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.