I ate a mandarin recently and got annoyed at the number of pips in my fruit (an average of 3 pips per segment…that’s a lot of pips). I wondered how much more enjoyable that mandarin would have been had it not had any pips. It struck me later that those pips, those little seeds, are what had brought that humble mandarin from the beginning of time to my fruit bowl (no thanks to the boys at Monsanto).
Some things are so pure, fundamental and enduring that they cannot change. And if they can, they must not. These are few in my observations. Appreciate them, defend them if you need to, and definitely don’t get annoyed at the pips in your mandarins.
If you accept my argument that these are few, we agree that the majority of things do in fact change. This is one of the few certainties in life. I didn’t invent this, of course. Really I just discovered it as we all must; and occasionally need to remind myself, as we all should. There are some great quotes on change:
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude”, Maya Angelou
“Change your life today. Dont gamble on the future, act now, without delay”, Simone de Beauvoir
“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like”, Lao Tzu
Lao wrote that 2,500 years ago and it’s still entirely relevant today. The irony that change can be so enduring! Our investments, our circumstances, our goals and aspirations – these are all very likely to change. Do you lament a GFC and its impact on your retirement, or move on with what you have – time, money, friends, love? So, don’t fear change or lament the way things were, or how you planned they would have turned out. Planning for change and changing plans has kept me very busy for many years and I am confident it will continue to do so for many more. I wish you the greatest success in all your endeavours. I hope that you realise your goals and aspirations, and adjust them where necessary. Once again Lao puts it best.
“Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you”, Lao Tzu
